I have received a letter from the First Minister, the Rt Hon Peter Robinson, notifying me of his resignation, under section 16B of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, with effect from 11 January 2016. Mr Robinson also sought leave to make a statement, and I will call him shortly. However, before doing so, I am sure that all Members would want me to convey the Assembly's best wishes to him as he leaves the office of First Minister and would wish to recognise his long years of public service.

Some Members:

Hear, hear.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am grateful for the opportunity to make this statement. It is typical of the fairness and courtesy that you have demonstrated during your time in office that you provided me with this opportunity and made all the necessary arrangements. I can assure you that I do not intend to trespass on your generosity by speaking for too long.

It has been a great privilege to serve the people of Northern Ireland for almost 40 years, with nearly eight of those as First Minister. In this Assembly, we have had our share of trials and ordeals but, through them all, we have emerged much stronger. 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.

Crucially, after centuries of Division, we had to outlive the growing pains of learning to work together, fashion shared policies and create a more inclusive society. It is a feature of every societal transformation that some will be displeased at the pace of change, some believing it to be too fast, and others feeling that it is too slow. Yet, so much has been achieved and the platform now exists to do even more.

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.

In whatever capacity they serve, I admire those who devote their lives to public service. When we take a step back, and with the perspective of history, we can see just how far we have come, because we now live in a new era. You have only to look around you to see the progress that there has been, not just in the physical structures that did not exist a decade ago, but in the lives of our people. 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. That has allowed us the platform to recast Northern Ireland's international image and bring in more jobs than at any point in our history. Whereas, once, tourists avoided coming here, we now attract people from right across the globe.

We not only provided for partnership government but agreed the devolution of policing and justice functions. In recent months, we have resolved the welfare reform issue and put the Assembly's finances back on a stable footing. We have secured the devolution of corporation tax and agreed a rate and a date for commencement. 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.

In politics, there is never a full stop and much remains to be done, but I believe that this is the right moment for me to step aside and hand over the burden and the privilege of office. Dealing with the legacy of the past is a work in progress, and reconciliation will be an ongoing enterprise, but, even there, real progress has been made. The foundations have been laid, and it will be for others to continue building.

It would be remiss of me not to thank the deputy First Minister and all those whom I have served alongside in the Executive over these past years. 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 collective revulsion across the community and across the Chamber following the murders of Sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar, as well as those of Constables Stephen Carroll and Ronan Kerr, was the surest sign to me that we were never going to go back to the dark days of the past.

I thank my party colleagues for the opportunities that they have given me, and I wish all of them well for the future. I am absolutely certain that in Arlene I have a worthy successor. I can assure her that I will not interfere in her work, but, if she ever needs a word of encouragement or advice, I will always be there to offer it.

Mr Speaker, consistent with the terms of my letter of last Monday, I hereby resign the office of First Minister, with confidence that the political institutions that we have together created will be here for generations to come. Thank you.

I remind the House of the convention that, when a Minister is making a resignation statement, there will be an opportunity for others to comment afterwards. How that is managed is at my discretion, and, in order to be as fair and inclusive as possible, I have decided to adopt the procedure regularly used for a Matter of the Day. I am allocating the next 30 minutes for others to speak, and I ask Members to limit their remarks to not more than three minutes.

By way of a personal perspective, I add my congratulations to the contribution that you have made to our community over many years. I think that those comments will be recognised as being absolutely fair and that there will be recognition of your sacrifice and commitment. At times such as this, it is important that the Chamber, which is an arena for very robust debate, also demonstrates that it can recognise with magnanimity the sacrifice that is involved in taking on public office and, in particular, in holding high office. Today is such a day, and, for that reason, I am only too pleased to give Members an opportunity to put their comments on the record.

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I am delighted that, after you, I am the first to have the opportunity to pay tribute to Peter and thank him for his lifetime in politics, from Castlereagh Council, via Westminster, to the Assembly.

He leaves enormous political shoes to fill. Three minutes cannot do justice to the career of the person who has been the most astute unionist political leader of this or, for that matter, any era in Northern Ireland's history, but when the history of this time comes to be written, his leadership will define the period. In his time, he has helped redraw the unionist political map and has ensured a better future for Northern Ireland in the most challenging of circumstances. Few have endured more difficult political times and come out the other side successfully.

Few will ever know, or indeed fully appreciate, the lifetime of service and single-minded commitment that Peter has brought to public life. He has been a leader, not just of the DUP, but of unionism and, indeed, of Northern Ireland as a whole. It is a daunting task for me to follow him in not just one but two of those roles. There are many who deservedly share the credit for the Northern Ireland that we have now but few more than Peter Robinson.

His legacy is not just that he became First Minister but that he ensured that devolution survived the early rocky years. It is because of Peter's work that what was remarkable at one time now seems routine. Few believed that devolution led by the DUP and Sinn Féin would ever happen; fewer still believed that it would last. Yet it has, even through the toughest of times. In every era of history someone is called upon to fulfil the role of leadership. Never in the recent history of Northern Ireland was anyone so crucial as Peter Robinson.

On a personal note, I would not have had the chance that I had but for the work of Peter, first of all, in encouraging me to join the DUP, then helping me through the ranks of the party and, lastly, providing me with the opportunity to serve the people of Northern Ireland as a Minister. I will always be grateful for that. More than all, he has been a political mentor to me. I have watched and listened at first-hand, and I hope that even a little of his insight has rubbed off on me.

Mr Speaker, I am certain that at critical moments over this last seven — nearly eight — years, there was no other unionist leader who could have held things together and ensured that devolution proceeded. Peter was never better than in a crisis, and, on more than one occasion, did not simply survive difficult events but prospered from them. It was almost as if he revelled in adversity and thrived in the face of impossible odds. At a political level, the return of 38 DUP MLAs was a remarkable achievement. To exceed the result of 2007 and elect more MLAs than any party since 1998 was truly historic.

In recent decades, few unionist leaders have been able to choose the time and manner of their departure from office; Peter has done so and leaves office with devolution and the Union secure. Peter Robinson would have been a significant political figure no matter where he was born on these islands. It has been our collective good fortune, and to Northern Ireland's benefit, that he was born here.

Finally, I know that I speak for all on these Benches when I wish Peter well in his retirement, although I am quite certain that he will not be putting his feet up just yet. He can enjoy his well-deserved retirement in the knowledge that, when his time came to serve his country and community, he was not found wanting and leaves behind him a far better Northern Ireland because of his work.

Peter, we will never adequately be able to thank you for the service that you have given; we can only strive to build on the strong leadership that you gave us. You said late last year that listening to tributes to oneself was "surreal" and that you were still very much alive. Well, I hope that you enjoy listening to what we have to say today, because nobody — nobody — deserves the plaudits more than you.

I have the names of some Members who have indicated that they wish to speak. I ask all Members who would like to contribute to continue to rise in their places, and I will endeavour to accommodate as many as possible. Of course, the briefer you are, the more opportunity there will be for others. I call Mr Martin McGuinness.

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Thank you, Mr Speaker. I too rise to express my deep appreciation for the leadership shown by Peter Robinson, particularly over the last eight years.

It is no secret that we first met during the course of that famous weekend in March 2007 at Stormont Castle. I was accompanied by Gerry Kelly and Conor Murphy; Peter by Nigel Dodds and Ian Paisley junior. Of course, the outcome of the engagement was our agreeing every word, dot and comma that Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams would say the following Monday, in a statement that confounded the world's media, which thought that it was here to proclaim another failure in the peace process. As a result, I spent one year in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister with Ian Paisley. Incredibly, despite our different ideological outlooks and allegiances, Ian Paisley and I developed a positive working relationship and, just as importantly, a friendship that existed until the day he died. I very much treasure that friendship with Ian, his wife Eileen and the Paisley family.

Peter took over in 2008 and, in one of the first conversations we had, he said to me, "No matter what happens on the streets, we must ensure that these institutions do not collapse." We were mindful that the institutions had collapsed on several previous occasions, albeit under other political parties. During our stewardship of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, we faced many huge challenges, not least the challenges posed by those who try to plunge us back to the past, including those so-called dissident republicans who murdered the young soldiers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar in Antrim, those who killed constables Stephen Carroll and Ronan Kerr and those who killed prison officer David Black. We also faced huge pressure from the extremes of loyalism through the reaction to the decision taken at Belfast City Council on flags and the situation at Ardoyne. That is without dwelling on or mentioning the pressures that were imposed on our Executive by an austerity agenda that came from the Tories at Westminster. During that period, against the backdrop of a world economic downturn, the work that I did with Ian Paisley and the work that I did with Peter through our regular visits to the United States paid huge dividends in foreign direct investment and the provision of jobs for our people. Even at a time of economic downturn, we were able to buck the trend in investment and deliver for the citizens that we represent.

I pay tribute to the leadership that Peter showed from that first engagement right through. We faced many challenges and many difficulties, but we came through them in the end. As I said, I had a friendship with Ian Paisley that existed until the day he died. I have no doubt that I have a friendship with Peter that will exist until the day we both die.

My political career does not go back decades like the former First Minister's, but we have come from different places and have been on different sides of different arguments. I understand, as does everybody in this Chamber, the commitment that it takes to be a full-time political representative, the toll it takes on your family and the toll it takes personally. I have no difficulty in recognising the effort and commitment that Peter Robinson has given to Northern Ireland and the people he represents. He is a formidable political character and, obviously, a capable strategist and party builder. He has a tremendous work rate, although maybe not the best diet in the world.

After years of rejecting, it has to be said, what we saw as possible solutions to the problems here, Peter Robinson has cemented unionism's commitment to these institutions and ensured that we have lasting institutions in this part of the world. The SDLP had long argued and struggled for the creation of these types of institutions, and it has to be said that, although we might disagree on how they have evolved or delivered, it is clear that Peter Robinson's commitment and leadership has ensured that they will survive the test of time, as they have over the last number of years. I wish him a very long and happy retirement and hope he gets the time to enjoy it.

The last time that I was in Mr Robinson's company was, sadly, at Roselawn over Christmas at the funeral of the journalist Liam Clarke. The order of service focused on the words that Liam wrote when he realised that he was terminally ill. Those words encouraged us to think about the importance of personal relationships rather than winning arguments. That will be my theme because, after all, three minutes would not do justice to the number of disputes between the DUP and the Ulster Unionists down the years, so I will stick to interpersonal relationships.

I have known Mr Robinson for what seems like a very long time. As a journalist, one of the first interviews that I remember was in 1988. I do not know whether Mr Robinson remembers, but he was just back from Duisburg, a German city where he had been involved in secret talks with ourselves, the Alliance Party and the SDLP. The BBC gave me three minutes to get the low-down on what he had been up to. He would not even tell me what the weather had been like. It is 7°C and drizzly currently. On 10 October 2002, in the UTV studios, I sat between Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness as they engaged with each other for the first time ever. As it said in the 'News Letter', "McGuinness, Robinson in studio war; the picture you thought you'd never see." Who knew then that it would end as it does now?

More recently, of course, I have developed a relationship with the First Minister politically, not least our cooperation in the General Election of 2015 to ensure that we returned to the position where the Majority of our 18 Members of Parliament are pro Union. That cooperation was most keenly seen and evidenced in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.

Mr Robinson has been around the DUP a very long time, so it is perhaps surprising to remember that he only ever led the DUP into one Assembly election, but, as Mrs Foster said, it was an incredibly successful one. I am sure that, at least privately, a part of Mr Robinson will join me in hoping that history reflects that that was the peak of the DUP's electoral successes.

[Laughter.]

Let me wish Mr Robinson and his family a healthy and prosperous future.

Good wishes and wishful thinking.

[Laughter.]

I will try to get away from the party politics a little and just express some good wishes to Peter Robinson from my colleagues. I am a few years older than Colum Eastwood, but I do recall that, when I became involved in full-time politics as general secretary of the Alliance Party, Peter Robinson had already been a Member of Parliament for 10 years. That is a measure of an extremely long and very significant career covering very significant events in the life of this region. During those times, his party and mine have had many disagreements; in fact, probably more disagreements than agreements. However, today, I want to recognise his commitment to the political process and the work that he has done, much of it as deputy to Ian Paisley but, in recent years, as the leader in his own right.

There is no doubt that he has played an extremely key role in this institution and the life of Northern Ireland for many years but most particularly since the restoration of devolution. He mentioned the devolution of Justice. I do not believe that that would have happened without the commitment that he made to ensuring that devolution was fully embedded and capable of taking on the difficult task of Justice, particularly in the light of the tragedies that he has highlighted that we have suffered in recent years.

Leaving aside a brief spell in Regional Development in the first Assembly, he had a major role as Minister of Finance in seeing how matters were put into order for devolution on restoration in 2007. He has then had a very significant career as First Minister. There is no doubt that his efforts, alongside those of the deputy First Minister, kept these institutions going through some very difficult times, particularly over the last couple of years. He referred to trials and ordeals. There is no doubt that the Assembly has survived very significant trials and ordeals, and he played a large part in ensuring that that happened.

Presumably, he will regard the Fresh Start announcement before Christmas as being the summit of his work. It will, of course, now be for others to deliver on that so-called fresh start to ensure that we fully embed the principles of moving forward. He talked about the pace of change. In this corner of the House, we were probably seeking a faster pace of change than was possible elsewhere. Even saying that, I acknowledge that, without his work, we would not have had the solid embedding, the strength of the institutions or the strength of the political process against those who would seek to disrupt and disturb it. He has played a very significant part in ensuring a better future for all of us.

I first stood for election in 1977 — 40 years ago next year. In that time, I have known Peter Robinson as a colleague and a friend. We engaged throughout Northern Ireland on a whole series of political meetings and discussions. Those discussions, particularly in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, involved conversations about how we could move the country forward. They involved going to places such as the United States of America, South Africa, mainland Europe and elsewhere. Of course, Peter brought to unionism an incisive knowledge and belief that terror had to stop, those who advocate terror had to cease doing so, those who did not recognise the courts had not only to recognise but support them and the rule of law, and, when they did so, anything was possible. That was the nub of the difficulty that we had for so many years. He never shirked the responsibility that he had for all those years.

We wish you well for the future, Peter. We hope that you will not take your retirement too seriously and that you will be available, if called on, for advice. We hope and pray that you and your family will enjoy your retirement. May God richly bless you for the future.

I certainly wish the retiring First Minister a long and healthy retirement. Forty years of a political career, in Peter Robinson's case, has been a quite remarkable event. He has scaled many heights and attained much in his ambition. He undoubtedly is, was and, I suspect, under another guise, will continue to be a very formidable parliamentarian. His contributions have been very notable. His debating skills are in a class of their own, and anyone who has encountered him knows that.

Our paths and policies in our early political years coincided significantly. In latter years, you could say that they have diverged emphatically. However, the retiring First Minister and I, from our different perspectives, would probably have the view that the other took the wrong road. In holding that view of each other, I suppose that that is something about which we still agree.

[Laughter.]

No one expects me, I would have thought — if they do, they will be disappointed — to endorse or embrace the legacy that the retiring First Minister leaves us: a legacy of terrorists in government; a dysfunctional system that, just last year, he described as "not fit for purpose"; a system that gives year after year of failure and disappointment, as it has; and a system that denies the most elementary of democratic rights — the right of a people to change their Government and the right to vote a party out of government. None of that I embrace, but continue to oppose.

Pinned to my noticeboard in my office, it may surprise some people to hear, I have a speech of Peter Robinson's. It is a speech of 8 May 2001, and, from time to time, I take it down and read it. I read it again this morning. The message of that speech is very clear: it conveys the grasp that Peter Robinson has of Martin McGuinness and that he knows the real Martin McGuinness, all he stands for and all he did. I recommend that anyone who wants to contrast the earlier career of Mr Robinson with his latter actions read that speech, in which he talks, amongst other things, about the "unseemly and immoral sham" that is Belfast Agreement devolution. I could not put it better myself. My only regret is that he ended his career by embracing Belfast Agreement devolution and inflicting it upon us. However, that apart, I wish him and his family many years of happy retirement, and of healthy retirement, because I think that, as he has realised, health is very important. In that, —

Thank you. The Member has had some indulgence already.

— I am sure that we all join.

I would like to add to the previous congratulations from many Members to Peter Robinson on what has been a long and distinguished career. As somebody who hopes that he is still at the beginning of his political career, I am not placed to judge the achievements of Peter Robinson. Others, maybe those who are longer in the tooth and more experienced, will do that. I am sure that there will be plenty written about his career, but, undoubtedly, it will be seen as having been successful. That said, as an elected Member, I have the right to disagree and to purport a very different political opinion. When Mr Robinson speaks of the pace of change, I always say that I am very proud of how far Northern Ireland has come, at the same time as being very frustrated that it has not moved further, faster. I believe that transparency in politics still has a long way to go. Despite the many achievements of Peter Robinson in his time, that is a legacy that remains. There is still suspicion and mistrust in politics because we do not have the levels of transparency that exist elsewhere on these islands.

On a personal level, I thank Mr Robinson. When I sought meetings with him, he obliged. I always appreciated that, knowing the many commitments that he had. Whatever his future holds after his time in the Assembly, I wish him good health and happiness.

May I begin by saying a sincerest word of thanks to Peter Robinson for the leadership that he gave? I thank him and his family for all of the sacrifices that they made over decades of politics to take us to the place we are in Northern Ireland. I will take some of the words, from a few moments ago, of Lord Morrow, our party chairman. Many of us echo these words, personally, as MLAs and as a political party. Peter, we and Northern Ireland owe to you a debt that we can never repay. In Peter Robinson, we had the best strategic thinker of unionism. He used his God-given forensic intelligence for the good of everyone, and I mean everyone, in Northern Ireland.

I was recently at an international manufacturing conference at Queen's University. It led with a slide that said that United Nations figures show that Belfast is now the second-safest city in the world. We are second only to Tokyo. We see that Northern Ireland's unemployment levels are about one third less than the European Union average. That is a healthy unemployment rate. We compare over the past five years to both the rest of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. There is now immense interest in Northern Ireland into the future. We look to you, Peter, because you were a linchpin and foundation of that success. I almost said, Peter, that you were a rock.

We look to the past: a legacy of death, when people tried by means of violence to expel us from the United Kingdom. You were a rock against that. When I look to where we are in the present, both socially and economically and with the structures of the Northern Ireland Assembly, I see the hope that we now have going into the future. You were a linchpin in establishing that present. Into the future, you have laid for us the foundations of a Northern Ireland with economic costs that are about 85% of those of the rest of the United Kingdom and 95% of those of the Republic of Ireland. Today, we are able to take around the world a message that Northern Ireland will have the lowest rate of corporation tax in the United Kingdom from 1 April 2018.

You have a deep love for Northern Ireland, and I know that you have deep satisfaction that the leadership is being taken over by the safest of safe hands — someone who will progressively continue that legacy to take Northern Ireland forward.

Many want to thank you for running that race. You were not a shepherd who followed the sheep, but you were a shepherd who was able to stay in sight of the leadership that Northern Ireland needed to take it forward. You led to the primacy of politics and to a peaceful and economically successful Northern Ireland. More than anything, your legacy of excellence has defeated the previous maxim that all political careers end in failure.

Happy new year to you, Mr Speaker, and to all our colleagues. It is a fresh start indeed.

Last night, I watched the BAFTAs for a very short time. You know where the winners make the crummy speeches and the losers grin through gritted teeth, thinking, "It should have been me"? I am not looking in any particular direction, Mr Speaker.

[Laughter.]

It is for some to be careful what they might wish for.

This afternoon, I use the occasion to wish, very sincerely, good health and good luck to the outgoing First Minister and all the best to Northern Ireland. As First Minister, Peter Robinson was at all times courteous and respectful to me and my party leader in UKIP, Nigel Farage, and that, I am glad to say, was reciprocated. We grew up in politics together. He was, is and, I am sure, will remain a formidable opponent. His progress far outstripped mine and that of most, if not all, of his contemporaries.

As for advice, it is time to stop the fags, ditch the booze and cut out the late nights. Well, that is what you told me not so long ago.

[Laughter.]

Two out of three is not too bad. In reality, if 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' comes knocking, just tell them that you have left the Stormont Executive jungle. I think that you could say that 'Strictly Come Dancing' looks more promising. As you have always said, it takes two to tango. You have certainly proved that.

As regards where we are and where we are going, thanks to you, outgoing First Minister, we are still moving on to wherever that is. In a short time, your successor moves in.

From your party's perspective, you will be a hard act to follow. So, too, UKIP wishes Arlene Foster well in the role that she will have to address so very soon.

Somehow, Peter, I am sure that it will be said often that "you haven't gone away, you know". Wherever this journey takes you, God speed and walk tall, and thanks for what you have done for Northern Ireland.

Some Members:

Hear, hear.

I recognise that a number of people did not have the opportunity to contribute at this point. However, I advise the House that there will be a further opportunity for Members to speak when the next item of business has been concluded, and I will recognise those Members who did not have the opportunity just now. We will move on.