Results 1-20 of 604 for speaker:Alex Attwood

Northern Ireland Assembly: Private Members’ Business: Northern Ireland Block Grant (17 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: That should be done by adopting the SDLP approach to the detailed working through of budgetary needs.

Northern Ireland Assembly: Private Members’ Business: Northern Ireland Block Grant (17 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I have three points to make, and I will make them very quickly. Gregory Campbell said that, over the next five to 10 years, he wanted support for indigenous businesses and the indigenous economy. He is right. Recently, I spoke to somebody who plays a strategic role in an economic development agency in the North; I will share the name of that person privately with the Minister after the...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Legislative Consent Motion (16 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I welcome the debate, and I am glad that there will be a legislative context in which we can take forward these matters. However, I am mindful of the fact that constraints arise from the legislation that need to be rectified at the earliest possible opportunity. My comments are meant as constructive encouragement, and I hope that the deputy First Minister will accept them in that spirit. My...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Consideration Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I understand the point that the deputy First Minister has made. However, I put two observations to him in reply. The first is that, although he indicated certainty with respect to the sunset clause, that is, to some degree, in tension with his own officials. At the OFMDFM Committee meeting of 14 October 2009 which considered the justice legislation, departmental officials said that, after the...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Consideration Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: Will the deputy First Minister give way?

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Consideration Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: Will the Member give way?

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Consideration Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I anticipated that the Member was trying to conclude, and that is why I asked him to give way. For Mr Hamilton to say to the SDLP, never mind its constituency, that it does not have genuine concern for law and order flies in the face of any objective evidence base or realistic assessment about where the SDLP stands on the issues. Does Mr Hamilton think that that accurately reflects the SDLP...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Consideration Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I may be able to clear up the confusion on both sides of the Chamber. There is no confusion, because, looking at the Hansard report, we have been able to confirm that if the d’Hondt process were to be run, the SDLP would be entitled to the eleventh Ministry, whatever it may be. The critical issue, Mr Hamilton, is that —

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Consideration Stage (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: The critical point is that, regardless of whether the SDLP looked for the justice Ministry, on 8 July 2009, outside 10 Downing Street, on the record and in front of cameras, Mr Hamilton’s party leader, the First Minister, said “I’m going to veto” an SDLP nominee for justice Minister. There is no confusion, because the issue was put on the table by the leader of the...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Finance and Personnel: Public Sector Jobs (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: 5. asked the Minister of Finance and Personnel whether he will continue to pursue the recommendations of the Bain report on the location of public sector jobs, recognising the social and environmental value of these proposals.         (AQO 352/10)

Northern Ireland Assembly: Finance and Personnel: Public Sector Jobs (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: Earlier, the Minister referred to people who could not see or hear. He might want to learn to listen a bit more, because Dr McDonnell’s question was about economic policy units and not about the number of Departments. I trust that he will answer the question in writing in due course. Whatever the arguments about the relocation of existing public services, does the Minister agree that...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Clause 1 (The Department of Justice) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I did not breach that convention too badly, given that the Assembly and Executive Review Committee has spent quite some time discussing the entitlements of a justice Minister and how some difficult, sensitive and urgent matters might be handled. That is germane to the business of the Committee, and my passing reference, in the context of this morning’s meeting, did not stray too far...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Clause 1 (The Department of Justice) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I will give way in a second. That approach leads to a situation where a party, under democratic inclusion, is denied its entitlement to a Ministry in the Government, whatever that Ministry may be. My party has tried to behave responsibly; nobody can deny that, regardless of our differences on policing and justice matters or our appetite for reform and change, which may be greater than...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Clause 1 (The Department of Justice) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I have some concluding remarks to make on amendment Nos 1, 2, 3 and 4. Proposed new clause 2B simply legislates for the grave, perhaps catastrophic, circumstances that may arise in May 2012. I understand that some Members may not want to talk about that, because they hope that, given the potential for political negotiations between now and then, such circumstances will not arise. Nonetheless,...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Clause 1 (The Department of Justice) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I hear jeering from my right and laughter from my left, and neither is appropriate. The essential political issue of this week, recent weeks and, no doubt, coming weeks has been the nature and character of the devolution of justice and policing. We have struggled for a long time to bring about the devolution of justice and policing, and having those powers will be important for the community...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Clause 1 (The Department of Justice) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: Perhaps if the Member had been here for the beginning of my speech — although I am sure that his absence was for reasons beyond his control — he might have been minded not to make that intervention. I remind the Member that there was nothing negative about what the SDLP did in those difficult years up to 2007, when it went on the Policing Board to fulfil the mandate of the Good...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Clause 1 (The Department of Justice) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: Thank you for that ruling, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will return to the Bill and to the other pieces of legislation that surround and govern the Bill. We are able to have this debate because of the twilight struggle — for want of a better term — during those years when members of the SDLP and other parties on the Policing Board and in the district policing partnerships made their...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Clause 1 (The Department of Justice) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I ask the Member to bear with me, because I will give her absolute reassurance. I intend to read into the record the pedigree of the sunset clause that Sinn Féin endorsed and the SDLP’s views on sunset clauses, later in my contribution. I will come to that when I go further into amendment No 2 and to amendment No 3. Under the legislation as drafted, the Department will dissolve....

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Clause 1 (The Department of Justice) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I beg to move amendment No 1: In page 1, line 2, after “established” insert “upon the designated day”. The following amendments stood on the Marshalled List: No 2: New clause After clause 2, insert the following new clause: “Duty of First Minister and deputy First Minister to report on certain matters 2A. The First Minister and deputy First Minister acting...

Northern Ireland Assembly: Executive Committee Business: Clause 1 (The Department of Justice) (10 Nov 2009)

Alex Attwood: I concur, and I anticipated your intervention, Mr Deputy Speaker. I made those points because, as a result of the experience of the last 30 months, we should caution ourselves. In May 2012, under the provisions of the Bill, the justice Department will be dissolved. No one disputes that. People say that, between now and then, political agreement will be reached on what will happen in May 2012...