Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin)

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 3 and 5 together.

The draft programme for cohesion, sharing and integration was originally to be brought forward before the end of last year. That and subsequent commitments on timing were made in good faith; it was our expectation that they would be met. However, it was not possible to meet that date. Reaching agreement on the cohesion, sharing and integration (CSI) strategy remains one of the top policy priorities of OFMDFM.

Our commitment in the Programme for Government under PSA 7 is:

“Making peoples’ lives better: Drive a programme across Government to reduce poverty and address inequality and disadvantage”.

It includes a number of actions under objective 5, which is to:

“Promote equality and the enforcement of rights”.

We are determined to honour those, including the implementation of a programme of cohesion and integration for a shared and better future for all.

The CSI strategy is important, and we will continue to work at it until we have honoured that pledge. While we continue to work intensively towards an agreed strategy that will benefit all our people now and over the longer term, work to promote community relations and good race relations has continued over the past two years, led and supported by the First Minister, me and the whole ministerial team.

Let me repeat: there are many examples of that commitment. We have invested £29 million in good relations work in the current comprehensive spending review (CSR) period to build a shared and better future; that is not insubstantial. Additionally, we provide match funding to EU funding under the Peace III programme. As the Department accountable for three of the programme’s priorities, we are strategically placed to ensure co-ordination of activities at the local level. Junior Ministers continue to chair the north Belfast working group, focusing on interface issues in Belfast and across the North. We have spent £500,000 this summer on resourcing work on the summer interventions programme. Overall, since devolution in 2007, we have spent £1·5 million on that intervention work.

In our district councils’ community relations programme, we have spent £4,372,000 since May 2007 and have committed a further £2,759,000 this financial year. In Coleraine, we have been working proactively with our key partners, both statutory and non-statutory, following the killing of Mr Kevin McDaid in May, and we have provided an additional £23,000 to Coleraine Borough Council for diversionary work on top of the £86,000 awarded to it for good relations activities. Junior Ministers have met our key partners twice as part of our ongoing commitment to the area. Similarly, in Craigavon, the junior Ministers have been chairing meetings with all our key partners on the issues and tensions there that we have seen recently on our TV screens. We are supporting and facilitating diversionary work on a multi-agency basis.

Flags monitoring has been undertaken on our behalf by the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University since 2006. The last survey will be conducted at the end of this month, and we expect to receive the report by the end of this year.

Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin)

I agree with the Member’s last statement. From our perspective, in recent weeks, we have had people stating their position in the public domain on how that should be taken forward. That is old news. What we must do now is recognise the importance of the work of getting our officials together and facing up to the challenges that clearly exist as a result of the inability to agree a way forward thus far. I will not stand here and recite all the difficulties, because that in itself could exacerbate the situation, and I have no intention of doing that.

As we move forward, it is important to ensure that our officials are working on the issue, and I can confirm that we have officials working on a draft of the strategy paper, to address my and the First Minister’s concerns. We are both committed to resolving the issue as soon as possible. It will not be easy, but the effort has to be made. With goodwill on all sides of the House — not only from the First Minister and me — we can get to where, I think, all of us want to be.

Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin)

Although I stand by the rights of Members to hold personal religious views, those views must be consistent with our role as public representatives, and we can give no cover to sectarian beliefs or actions. It is a serious mistake for Members to, on their websites, describe the Pope as the Antichrist and to say that the Pope is not welcome here. Many across society were shocked at those comments and hold no truck with them whatsoever.

Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin)

People have a huge responsibility at council level to contribute to the lessening of tensions in our society. All of us, regardless of what party we come from, what position we hold or what authority we have on district councils, have a huge responsibility to work with each other in a joined-up way to ensure that the messages that go out from councils and elected representatives make it clear that hate crime of any description — sectarian or racist — is totally and absolutely unacceptable.

We have given substantial funding to the councils, and our ongoing reviews of those situations make it incumbent upon us to recognise the importance of dealing with the issue in such a fashion that will see a return for the money that is spent, because it is citizens’ money. The announcement of funds for projects in different parts of the North, whether it be Coleraine, Craigavon, the Derry area or the north-west, is money well spent. However, it is well spent only if political leaders are prepared to lead. The fact that we have uninterruptedly come together in the House over the past two years sends a message to people that it is only by working together in a spirit of co-operation that we can hope to resolve the problems that exist.

There are problems in many different council areas, but none of them will be resolved without the goodwill and commitment of locally elected representatives. I am not pointing the finger at any particular party. All of us, as elected representatives, have a responsibility to work together, and that is happening in many parts of the North.

Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin)

I must say that I was a little concerned when I heard the call for my canonisation — [Laughter.] Not only did Gerry say it once, he said it twice, and I told him when I met him at 9.00 am today that he was totally out of order, as one can only be canonised by the Catholic Church after one has died.

Martin McGuinness (Sinn Féin)

Obviously, people will have watched with interest what has happened over the past couple of weeks. I will not disguise the difficulties that exist, but I will not labour those difficulties either. Instead, we must recognise the enormous achievements of putting together the Assembly and the Executive given the different allegiances.

The First Minister and I are well able to stand up for ourselves, but I do not want to be in a confrontational situation with anyone regarding how we take the process forward. Our duty to ensure that policing and justice powers are transferred is a responsibility to deliver for our citizens; not for Catholics, republicans or nationalists, but for everyone. Establishing a policing service that commands the greatest allegiance in our society is one of the most important things that we can do over the coming weeks and months, and that will be good for everyone. A policing service that has the overwhelming support of the community will be more efficient and effective as we face down the criminals, gangsters and drug pushers who try to take advantage of the fact that in some parts of the North, they believe that they can survive.

I have watched the activities of the protest groups, even though they are only micro-groups, that have grown up recently. Indeed, I was walking along my street just a few weeks ago and witnessed two adults and a child handing out anti-Sinn Féin leaflets, and my driver pointed out that one of the adults had been convicted of drug dealing eight years before. Furthermore, when one looks closely at those who burst into district policing partnership meetings, in Derry or in other parts of the North, it is evident that some elements in those groups are gangsters and criminals who wish to use the issue of policing to destroy everything that has been built up in the past number of years.

Therefore, there are huge challenges ahead, and the First Minister and I have a responsibility to lead in a positive and constructive fashion. I am determined to do that.