Peter Robinson
East Belfast · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“Although we do not always fully appreciate it, devolution underpins a level of peace and stability that we enjoy today. After 35 years of stop-go government, devolution, with local people taking the decisions, is once again the norm.”
“Mr Speaker, it is a great pleasure and a huge honour for me, in carrying out my last duty as nominating officer for the Democratic Unionist Party, to nominate my good friend and successor as party leader, Mrs Arlene Foster, to be First Minister of Northern Ireland.”
“We have agreed significant reforms to the way in which government operates, with a reduction in the number of Departments and Assembly Members and the creation of an official opposition.”
“<BR /> <BR />Politics, by its nature, is a combative endeavour and we do not always take time to recognise the role that others play. I differ from some in the House on many issues but, in my long experience in politics, there are very few who are not well motivated and who do not act in the best interests of society as they see it.”
“Every new institution composed of politicians who have known nothing other than being in opposition will have a learning curve while Members mature, develop and adapt to taking responsibility and while the more sensible ones adjust their ambitions to fit the politics of what, with effort, is achievable.”
“Through good times and bad, we have worked together, despite our many differences in background, temperament and outlook. Strangely, we were at our strongest when the threat from outside the political institutions was at its greatest.”
The complete record
Every one of 393 lines we hold for Peter Robinson, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 4 of 8.
“It may well be that we will have 100% of the seats, and, therefore, I could perhaps give you a name. Whoever the Minister is, I think that you will have a much more coherent Department with all the infrastructure issues being dealt with together.”
“I think that the remaining planning functions go to the Department for Infrastructure. I cannot tell you who the Minister will be because these will take effect after the next Assembly election.”
“Indeed, from St Andrews, it has been necessary, I think, for Ministers in a Department to win support from their colleagues for any novel, contentious or cross-cutting issue. I think that that adds to the collective responsibility that we each have one to the other.”
“Yes, I think that the silo mentality is worsened because of the system of government that we have. The Departments almost take on a party flavour. You talk about Sinn Féin Departments or DUP Departments or SDLP, Alliance or Ulster Unionist Departments, and people should be focused on what is actually being delivered by those Departments. Whatever we do here, the purpose of it is not simply some moving around of the responsibilities that each of the parties will have; this is about getting a proper, efficient, functioning Executive. I think that the longer that the Executive work together the more that we will be able to get that collectivity that is necessary in the Executive and the more that people will look at the overall picture.”
“It will take some time, I suppose, for everybody to get used to which Department carries out various functions, but, as no functions have been terminated, no policies have been brought to an end and all the functions of government will still go on, I think that the easier that the title is for people to remember, the better.”
“I think that my friend will be aware that literally hundreds of functions are carried out by Departments. We went through this at the Executive meeting, and each of the Departments would have maybe 10 major functions outlined if one were to give standing to each of those elements. We tried where possible — for most of the Departments, it was possible — to get some generic title that would cover the range of functions that they will hold. The one Department for which it was not quite possible to do that was the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs because it is very hard to get a generic term that will cover each of those sometimes diverse functions. It is to make it less confusing.”
“I am grateful for the question, not least because it allows me to ridicule those who make the comparison between the White House and a delivery Department, which is what OFMDFM was, with hundreds of staff acting as a full Department rather than just as an Executive office. It will be massively transformed; the staff complement will be significantly reduced. Only at a later stage will we be able to indicate precisely what that division will be, but, after this change, it will be one of the most effective and efficient organisations that one could possibly imagine.”
“<BR /> <BR />This will be the most extensive reorganisation of the departmental system since 1999. It provides an opportunity for a leaner, more joined-up Administration, with improved cohesion between, and within, Departments. This should mean ultimately greater efficiency in our Administration and improved services to our citizens.”
“However, once the changes have been effected, there will undoubtedly be greater efficiency. There will be fewer Ministers and departmental hierarchies. Permanent secretaries, central management units, press offices and support functions can all be rationalised. <BR /> <BR />This will be administratively challenging, but a broadly based programme board has been established to set direction and oversee implementation. The Executive have also agreed the drafting of a Departments Bill and a Transfer of Functions Order to provide a legislative basis for these changes. We aim to introduce the Departments Bill to the Assembly after the Easter recess. A more detailed Transfer of Functions Order will be available for Assembly scrutiny later this year. There will be extensive opportunity for the Assembly to consider and debate these changes.”
“Sponsorship and support for a number of key institutions will also be retained, notably the Attorney General’s Office, the Equality Commission, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission, the historical institutional abuse inquiry, the Maze/Long Kesh Development Corporation, the Victims and Survivors Service and the Commissioner for Victims and Survivors. <BR /> <BR />That, then, is the general shape of the future departmental system as agreed by the Executive. It will be subject to further refinement of details as work proceeds on the legislative implementation of these decisions. <BR /> <BR />These are machinery of government changes. No functions are being done away with and no policies terminated. Staff will follow functions, and there may be a certain amount of early disruption.”
“As is clear from the previous description of the functions of the other Executive Departments, OFMDFM will be transferring most of its delivery functions. It will retain its role in supporting the Executive and the central institutions, including coordination of the Programme for Government, international relations, civil contingencies and the executive information service. Policy responsibility and coordination will remain in relation to equality, good relations, the Together: Building a United Community strategy and Delivering Social Change.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Department for Infrastructure will exercise the existing responsibilities of DRD, but will also take on a range of functions from other existing Departments: vehicle regulation, road safety and Driver and Vehicle Agency functions from DOE; the Rivers Agency from DARD; inland waterways from DCAL; and, from OFMDFM, the strategic investment unit and several regeneration sites, including the Crumlin Road Gaol. <BR /> <BR />The Department of Justice will continue the existing functions of DOJ, but will also take responsibility for public safety from DHSSPS, and the support function for the Planning Appeals Commission/Water Appeals Commission from OFMDFM. <BR /> <BR />Finally, our Department, OFMDFM, will be significantly transformed. Its new name will be the Executive Office.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Department of Education will continue the existing functions of DE, together with a range of children’s services, including OFMDFM’s policy responsibilities for the childcare strategy and for children and young people. The definition of children’s services transferring to this new Department will need further refinement, though it is agreed that child protection will remain with the Department of Health. <BR /> <BR />The Department of Finance will continue with the existing functions of DFP, but also take over from OFMDFM the government advertising unit and the NI Direct central editorial team. <BR /> <BR />The Department of Health will continue the existing functions of DHSSPS, except for public safety. It will also take on OFMDFM’s policy responsibilities for older people and the active ageing strategy.”
“It will also take on OFMDFM's current policy responsibility for sustainability strategy. <BR /> <BR />The Department for Communities will combine the existing functions of DSD with most DCAL functions, with the exceptions being inland fisheries and waterways. It will also take over DEL's employment service and DOE's responsibilities for local government and built heritage. In addition, the future Department will assume a range of OFMDFM delivery and operational functions on the social investment fund, racial equality, united communities and good relations, disability and poverty, gender and sexual orientation, and north-west sites and strategy. <BR /> <BR />The Department for the Economy will combine the functions of DETI and DEL, except for the employment service.”
“The matter was discussed in January by the party leaders, convened in an implementation group set up to follow through on the Stormont House Agreement commitments. Furthermore, the Executive discussed departmental reorganisation extensively at no fewer than four meetings during January and February. Those discussions concluded at last Thursday's Executive meeting. I am now able to announce the decisions that have been reached on the departmental structures coming into operation next year. <BR /> <BR />The following will be the nine future Departments. <BR /> <BR />The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs will bring together most of the existing functions of DARD with the inland fisheries functions of DCAL and most of DOE's environmental functions, including regulation.”
“Mr Speaker, I want to make a statement to the Assembly on recent decisions reached by the Executive on the names and functions of future Departments. <BR /> <BR />There is a commitment in the Programme for Government to agree changes to the structures of government that will operate in the next Assembly mandate. One of the areas covered by last year's political talks was institutional reform. The Stormont House Agreement of 23 December 2014 included a commitment that the number of Departments should be reduced from 12 to nine in time for the 2016 Assembly election, with the new allocation of departmental functions to be agreed by the parties. Given the pressing timescale, it was important that early decisions were made on the names and functions of the future Departments.”
“<BR /> <BR />When he asks what would happen if the United Kingdom was to come out of the European Union, I hope that he is not suggesting that we should put off taking a decision on the level of corporation tax until after the negotiations in Europe and the subsequent referendum. If we wait that long, we will have wasted at least a year of the free time that we have before the introduction of corporation tax. <BR /> <BR />My answer to the second question about what would happen if the United Kingdom was to decide to reduce its level of corporation tax from 20% to 18% or 16% is that that would be tremendous, and I hope that it does. That would reduce the gap and would, therefore, reduce the cost to our block grant.”
“I am grateful. I should have asked to intervene earlier when he was suggesting that there was some difference between us over corporation tax and where FDI goes. I agree with him: FDI will go wherever a company wants it to go, based on whether the skills and a sufficient number of people to be employed are there. That issue relates not to corporation tax but to the infrastructure more generally around Northern Ireland and whether the necessary skills exist in each area, and, in that regard, Magee and other issues come into play. So we are not in a different place on that issue, although he might think that we are.”
“I believe that they have given us the hope of a very prosperous future for Northern Ireland.”
“That is why you want to cut out the costs where you can, whether it is through restructuring or by looking at other areas of the public sector where we can have greater efficiencies. I hope that many of the proposals that the Finance Minister has trailed on efficiencies will be taken up by those who want to ensure that we have more money available for front-line services. <BR /> <BR />I encourage everybody in the House, late in the night though it may be, to enthusiastically go through the Lobbies with the Minister. They should forget about the whingers, who have nothing to offer and who made no proposals at any earlier stage about how it could be done better. They should go through with those who have had a very careful hand on the tiller and who have brought us through very difficult times.”
“<BR /> <BR />I congratulate my friend for bringing forward a sensible Budget based on having to deal with the difficult economic situation that the whole of the United Kingdom is in. For anybody from UKIP to suggest that somehow the Tories were going to bring in more difficult proposals if they were to be returned when his party actually supports that type of austerity is hard for me to swallow. I believe entirely that the Minister had the right priorities of protecting our health and education budgets and ensuring that we have the ability to bring in new jobs and increase skills. Of course, there will be difficult divisions of those funds between the various Departments.”
“It means that there is less money in the pockets of people of Northern Ireland and less money going into shops and businesses in Northern Ireland as a result of it. I do not run away from the issue either, and I have to say to the Member for Lagan Valley who raised the issue of tuition fees that I think that we took the right decision on them. I do not believe that a person's access to university should be based upon how rich or poor their father or mother is. Therefore, I think that we took the right decisions. <BR /> <BR />However, every year costs go up, and I do not think it unreasonable to review the level of tuition fees. I would not oppose a modest increase in the fees, providing, of course, that it is used to help to get more university places so that we can have more skilled people to take the jobs that are coming through.”
“We do have to take difficult decisions, and the Finance Minister has to front those difficult decisions. The truth of it is that we do not have the ability to bring in large amounts of money unless we are prepared to take some decisions that will punish our people even more. <BR /> <BR />I have to say that, in terms of political courage, I admire the Alliance Party standing up and saying that it wants to introduce water charges at £300 or £400 to every family in Northern Ireland. It is that party's view and not mine; I believe in a low-tax regime. That is why I prided Northern Ireland for having the lowest local taxes in the whole of the United Kingdom. You can bring in more money if you are prepared to do that, but there is a downside to it.”
“We have been able to bring events to Northern Ireland to be able to showcase Northern Ireland to the world with organisations that would not have dreamed of coming to Northern Ireland before. Businesses are coming in and looking at Northern Ireland that would not have touched Northern Ireland before, and the UKIP Member, who has absented himself once again, says we are losers. These are stories of success. <BR /> <BR />Of course there are difficulties, and those difficulties, I have to say, come around because of a global banking crisis, not because of the actions of this Executive or even because of the actions of the United Kingdom Government. In spite of those difficulties, we have been able to make very considerable progress in terms of our economy in Northern Ireland.”
“For 25 consecutive months, our unemployment levels have been going down. That indicates success. <BR /> <BR />It is wonderful how some people attribute success to things that would have happened anyway but say that failures are the responsibility of the Executive. The truth is that we have been able to bring more foreign direct investment into Northern Ireland, even during the recession, than any other part of the United Kingdom on the basis of population. We have been able to bring in more foreign direct investment than London and more than the south-east of England, and we have been able to bring in more foreign direct investment than at any time in our history. We have done more in terms of our infrastructure than at any time in our history. We have lower local taxes than any other part of the United Kingdom.”
“In terms of this idea that we are all losers in this Assembly and Executive, I know that the level of debate is pretty low when these kinds of terms are used. It might be worthwhile for us to remember some of the successes that we have because I am one of the few people in this House who is old enough to remember previous occasions when there were economic downturns, and when we had to wait for years after the rest of the United Kingdom came out of that economic downturn for us to crawl out of the decline as well. That is not happening this time. We are bringing ourselves out at the same time as the rest of the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />Unemployment in Northern Ireland is 5·7%. When I entered the House of Commons, 30-odd years ago, unemployment was at 18%. Who is the loser in that?”
“This is what is called rebalancing the economy. It is a sound policy to have. It is the only economic policy that makes sense for Northern Ireland. It is the one that has been endorsed by political parties. It has been endorsed by economists, and it has been endorsed by political commentators. It is recognised that this is the right way to go. Of course, there will be bits and pieces where, if you take them on their own, people will say, "That is something that I would rather not do", but it does make sense in the overall scheme of rebalancing our economy.”
“The context is a reduction of half a billion pounds a year in our pay bill, so it makes financial sense to do it. <BR /> <BR />More than that, it makes political sense, because what we are attempting to do is rebalance our economy, and every serious economist has been telling us for years that we have to change our dependency on the public sector and build up the private sector. That is why the issue of corporation tax is completely connected to reform of the public sector, because what you are attempting to do with a reduction in the level of corporation tax is to bring in jobs that have a profit centre in Northern Ireland locally and, therefore, will increase the strength and growth within the private sector while, at the same time, you are slimming down and streamlining the public sector.”
“Again, it is part of the five-party agreement that we have to deal with that issue, and it has to be done in a way that ensures that we do not lose expertise or damage the services that we provide, so it will require care. <BR /> <BR />The idea that we are going into this blind is wrong. The head of the Civil Service and those under him, who are working directly on this matter and have been preparing for it for months, know exactly what they are doing. It is a difficult task to carry out, and it is over a four-year period. However, at the end of that, it will have reduced the pay bill by about £500 million — half a billion pounds — a year. So, when somebody talks about borrowing £700 million to make this happen, let us have it in a context that is sensible.”
“<BR /> <BR />Mr McCallister had not quite washed out of his system welfare reform and the restructuring of the public sector in Northern Ireland from the previous debate, so he gave us a replay. It was no more convincing on this occasion than it was on the last, so let me tell him something about the restructuring. Northern Ireland has significantly more public servants per head of population than anywhere else in the British Isles: England, Scotland, Wales or the Republic of Ireland. A 10% reduction in our public service profile would still leave us over-represented; that is the fact of the matter. Unless the Member is going to stand up and tell me that Northern Ireland public servants are less capable than those elsewhere in the British Isles, I believe that our public servants are capable of doing the job with fewer numbers.”
“Therefore, we need to restructure the health service in a way that ensures that, while you do not necessarily take away provision in a local area, you have to look at the spread of provision and how it is divided across the Province. I am not afraid of taking those difficult decisions and I am glad to hear that the Member is content to be a part of taking them. Quite honestly, I doubt that there are very many in this Assembly who would argue with the need to do that but, sadly, in politics, there will be people who will want to take some political advantage out of people who will do what is required and what is right. There is a requirement for maturity not just in debate but on the decisions that will have to flow thereafter.”
“That does not mean that you take it all or do it all in the way that is suggested, but to walk away and just continue with things the way they are is not the answer. You might escape the wrath of those who live closest and want the facilities there at present, but you will not escape the wrath of a future generation who will find a health service that cannot be funded and a depletion of services across the board. <BR /> <BR />The truth is that there are many people who are beginning to recognise that there are levels of expertise in certain hospitals for certain illnesses and diseases. There are people who are prepared to drive past present local hospitals to get to that expertise, and all the professional advice is that that is the sensible thing to do.”
“When you get to my age, I can say that I am quite happy that people are living longer, and I am sure that, at some stage, I will have to lean on the health service, as many in the House will have to as well. <BR /> <BR />Of course, we need to look at how we do things to see whether we can offset the additional cost by doing things in different ways. That is what Transforming Your Care was about. It is also a factor, and I agree with him on this, that there are difficult decisions that we will have to take when it comes to the use and location of various facilities that the Department of Health is responsible for. I do not think that this House should easily set aside the professional and expert advice that it has been given.”
“He perhaps is in a slightly depressed form today because of the very significant drop in UKIP support in the polls. Of course, we, the 38 of us who won elections, are the losers, as opposed to the one of him who won an election under a different label and has not won any election under his new label. <BR /> <BR />However, I want to go on to comments from the Member for Lagan Valley, which were more sensible. I agree with him on the health issue. Having been a Finance Minister, I know about and I watched the steady increase in the cost of health in Northern Ireland. It is in common with that in most places around the world. People are living longer, their expectations are greater and there are more costly drugs on the market. All those issues have combined to push up the cost.”
“Of course, we will then move to the final year, which is the extended year, of the Executive and Assembly and deal with the Programme for Government. <BR /> <BR />I found this interesting. I am sorry that he is not in his place; I am not sure where he is. The fact remains that he said that we had "cobbled together" the Stormont House Agreement. This is the chief adviser to David Trimble telling us that we have "cobbled together" an agreement. I suspect that this agreement will be implemented in a way that his — David McNarry's — Belfast Agreement was not able to deliver. He wants to forget his past as Trimble's right-hand man and tries to set himself up under his new UKIP regalia as someone who is somehow separate from his history and who has the answers to all our problems.”
“All you have to do is ask for it. It is there. You can get the Programme for Government. The Programme for Government takes us up until the May period, and then a new Programme for Government for the remaining period, which will be an extension of the present one, plus some enhancements, will be in place for the last year of our term. <BR /> <BR />It seemed that it had disappeared or had never been there in the first place. However, the Assembly has passed the Programme for Government, it is the product of the collective work of the Executive Ministers, it is published and available online and in the Library, and, if the Member cannot get it from any of those sources, I am quite happy to give him my copy.”
“We have taken this into account in our Budget calculations for the 2015-16 financial year. <BR /> <BR />I had decided to speak before Mr McNarry, a Member for Strangford, rose to make his comments. I have to say that he spoke like someone who was reading another person's work. It was not David McNarry who I was listening to. I do not know whether he has taken on an intern from some primary school in the area or how he got the researcher who brought forward the information, but it was gobbledygook. It was nonsense. It might have been strung together, he might have had it well punctuated, the delivery left a little to be desired, but the content was not impressive whatsoever. He threw out this question as though he had got a real nugget: "Where is the Programme for Government?". Walk down to the Library, David.”
“<BR /> <BR />I say this to the SDLP: please do not start to do on corporation tax what you have done on the Budget and welfare reform by being pernickety, niggling and attempting to find any small issue on which you can try to set yourself up as being different from the rest of us. It is essential that we speak together on this issue, advocate the new level of corporation tax and try to get the best benefit we can from it. <BR /> <BR />An issue about the penalties arising from welfare reform and whether we would get them back was raised. The Stormont House Agreement is clear on the issue. The penalties stop at the moment we have welfare reform dealt with by legislation and have agreed regulations. At that stage, which we imagine should be at the half-year point of the financial year, the penalties will stop.”
“So, it is on our agenda to deal with those disparities. The issue of corporation tax is irrelevant to those disparities, except to this extent: the more jobs you get into Northern Ireland, the more people will be employed and the less unemployment there will be. <BR /> <BR />It is not as if going from one part of Northern Ireland to another is the same as going from one state in the United States to another. We are a relatively small country, and there is a certain mobility about our labour. Only during the course of the past few days, I went down to the Ulster Bank, where 350 new jobs were being announced for RBS. As we went round, it was as though we were going to the whole of Northern Ireland and meeting people from every county of Northern Ireland. So, there is a mobility about our labour.”
“I am as keen to see jobs in the north-west or any other part of Northern Ireland as I am to see them in the Belfast area. Indeed, the deputy First Minister and I have had discussions fairly recently with a very significant prospect for the north-west of the Province. So, we are trying to drive forward the argument that there is a pool of skilled labour in the north-west of the Province and that we have to try to attract more jobs into the Londonderry and general Fermanagh and Tyrone areas, because —”
“The difference between the two figures, apart from the sheer subtraction that is necessary, is that the larger figure was based on a corporation tax level in the rest of the United Kingdom of 26%, but it is now based on the level that we know it is going to be at in 2017, which is 20%. That causes the differential. Of course, I hope that Invest Northern Ireland will go out and attempt to beat those targets, but that is the reason why the figure was revised. <BR /> <BR />Let me deal with the issue of regional disparity, because the leader of the SDLP raised it at the meeting yesterday and was told that there was no empirical evidence whatsoever to suggest that lowering the level of corporation tax was going to have any adverse impact in relation to regional disparity.”
“Maybe the rate isn't right" or "Maybe it shouldn't be done at this time", or "Maybe it's going to cause regional disparities" or whatever the excuses might be, the employer is going to say, "That doesn't sound as if it is a very stable or permanent arrangement that you are asking me to enter into." That drives away jobs. <BR /> <BR />Incidentally, a question was asked about the number of jobs. Let me explain the science behind that. The Minister was right in the figures that he gave. These are the most up-to-date figures; around 37,000 or 38,000 new jobs are expected. Previously, the expectation that over 50,000 jobs would come had been discussed.”
“Yesterday, in my view, we had a very good meeting of party leaders. We met the chief executive of Invest Northern Ireland. The message he gave clearly to those who could listen, or who were prepared to listen, was this, "Let no party go out and attempt to undermine by suggesting different rates, different starting times, or that there might or should be changes in corporation tax; let there be a united agreement by the Executive on the issue. If you do not do that, you make my job as chief executive of Invest Northern Ireland more difficult." That was his message. If I go to an employer and ask him to look at our new level of corporation tax and come to Northern Ireland as a result of that, and somebody in the background is saying, "We want to be cautious about this.”
“Those who try to disrupt the Budget process and try to stop welfare changes are, at the same time, saying that they are quite prepared to stymie the process that would see corporation tax powers being given to the Executive in Northern Ireland.”
“As a matter of courtesy, I think that I must respond and try to do so within the context of the debate. Of course, we can all dance on the head of a pin about whether the words at the top of the agreement said "Stormont Castle agreement". That is irrelevant. The pages that were put into the Library are the comments that were agreed by the various parties. The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party knows that as well as anybody else who was there on that occasion. <BR /> <BR />Let me deal with the SDLP's comments about corporation tax. Corporation tax, incidentally, will only come about because we agree to a Budget and welfare changes.”
“I would be happy to give way to Orange Lil.”
“I want to make it abundantly clear that not only was a five-party agreement reached at Stormont Castle but, along with the four other parties, the SDLP trooped down with us to Stormont House to sell that agreement to the Government. So, when people talk about us being forced to do things by the Tories and so forth — rubbish. This was our agreement. We agreed it together and we went down and sold it to the Conservative Secretary of State. Those are the facts, and nobody can gainsay those facts.”
“The suggestion that we would somehow close the doors of east Belfast and south Belfast is not only ludicrous but contrary to any sensible proposal to provide jobs for the people of the city as a whole. <BR /> <BR />We then heard some comments from the SDLP Benches about corporation tax. The more I see the behaviour of the SDLP in relation to financial issues flowing from Stormont Castle and Stormont House, the more I am appalled by their behaviour. There was a five-party agreement on financial issues. I have seen brows being furrowed and hands going up in the air as if they do not know what happened or what they have agreed to in the past, and I have heard the vulgar language in meetings from the leader of the SDLP, who is unhappy about comments that were made about backtracking in implementation.”
“I wonder whether his colleague and party leader the representative for South Belfast also advocates the banning of FDI in south Belfast. It would be interesting to find out what Mr McDonnell's position is on that issue. <BR /> <BR />What I want to be clear on is that, in any Budget that my friend puts his hand to, there will be no cut in investment in south Belfast and east Belfast. Anybody who knows anything about investment and jobs knows that, in a relatively small city like Belfast, jobs in south Belfast and east Belfast are accessible to people in north Belfast and west Belfast. Anybody who knows anything about foreign direct investment knows that no Minister directs where a company will go. They will determine, on the basis of their requirements, what part of Belfast or Northern Ireland is best for their business.”
“I speak not as leader of the party or as First Minister but as a constituency representative. I was encouraged to do so by my outrage at a comment by an SDLP Member in the last debate. I want to draw it to the attention of my colleague and to seek from him an assurance that, under no circumstances, will he take the advice and change the funding and investment priorities of the Executive to meet the demand of the Member for West Belfast Alex Attwood, who, in an intervention to the Member for Strangford Mr McNarry in the last debate, suggested that what was required to deal with the employment and investment difficulties in west Belfast was to stop investment in south Belfast and east Belfast. I have to say that, as a representative of East Belfast, I find that an outrageous statement.”