Ms Brid Rodgers: We are genuinely committed, and we are concerned about the future. We are determined to live up to our responsibilities to the vast majority of the people of this island who voted for the Good Friday Agreement. Others are jumping to conclusions that they wish, and need to arrive at, for their own destructive purposes. For them, the welfare of the ordinary citizen seems to be a matter of...
Ms Brid Rodgers: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am referring to matters that have been referred to in the press already, which are matters of speculation —
Ms Brid Rodgers: I did use the word "alleged". I specifically —
Ms Brid Rodgers: Mr Speaker —
Ms Brid Rodgers: Mr Speaker, I said: "Why were allegedly serious and sensitive documents found in the possession of a senior member of Sinn Féin?" Why —
Ms Brid Rodgers: Can I say that the documents are alleged to have been found? I correct myself, and say that everything that I say is with regard to allegations. Allegations have been made, and they have created suspicion. I ask the British Government how much they knew — [Interruption].
Ms Brid Rodgers: I have been asking questions; I can make no assumptions because I do not know any of the facts. I want to ask the British Government how much they knew. For how long have they known that information? Why were the rest of us kept in the dark if they did know about it? We will put those questions to the Prime Minister tomorrow when we meet with him. I want to say to the PSNI that the manner in...
Ms Brid Rodgers: The House should be rightly concerned about the implications of last Friday’s events — just as it should be concerned about the implications of the recent Ulster Unionist Council motion, which severely dented Nationalist confidence in the Ulster Unionist leadership and its real commitment to the Good Friday Agreement. That motion was an attack on all of the institutions of the Good Friday...
Ms Brid Rodgers: No, I will not give way: I only have seven minutes. Having taken a leap of faith in David Trimble, despite its grave reservations about certain scenes on Garvaghy Road in 1995, the Nationalist community felt betrayed by that Ulster Unionist Council motion, which moved it into the anti-Good Friday Agreement camp. Since last Friday’s events, the anti-agreement Unionists have been rubbing...
Ms Brid Rodgers: This is a vastly different place to what it was 10 years ago. Yes, there are still problems. Yes, the Loyalist paramilitaries have continued to carry out murderous attacks on innocent Catholics in Larne, Carrickfergus, north Belfast, Coleraine, and everywhere else. That does not seem to have come under the notice of Dr Paisley — [Interruption].
Ms Brid Rodgers: Yes, sectarianism is still rife. Yes, people are being brutally beaten in south Armagh and in Derry, as happened recently. Despite that, progress has been made and is still being made, and we can build on that progress. The SDLP is genuinely concerned about the future. Its members are determined to live up to their responsibilities to the vast majority of people, North and South —...
Ms Brid Rodgers: I pay tribute to the Members from the SDLP, the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Féin who have found it worthwhile to come to the House to debate the state of the agriculture industry. I regret that the Chairperson of the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development and his two party Colleagues on the Committee have not thought it worthwhile to come to the debate. They purport to be...
Ms Brid Rodgers: Before I move the amendment, I want to say that it is very regrettable that the Chairperson of the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development Committee has absented himself from the House and is not here to respond to my amendment. I am moving the amendment in response to the Committee’s views, which I have taken seriously.
Ms Brid Rodgers: It is regrettable that the Chairperson is putting his own party political stunts ahead of his duties to the Committee, the Assembly and to —
Ms Brid Rodgers: I beg to move the following amendment: In page 3, line 35, at end insert — "(4) The scheme shall provide that payments shall not be made under the scheme in respect of a business which was first carried on after a date specified in the scheme". The amendment relates to clause 5, which deals with compensation for existing businesses. Clause 5, subsection (3), provides that the Department may...
Ms Brid Rodgers: In my view the reason is academic; as Chairperson of the Committee, he should be here to respond to the amendment.
Ms Brid Rodgers: Before I make my statement, I should like to say that I very much regret that the DUP has withdrawn, since the Chairperson of the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development will not be present to fulfil his duties to the Assembly, his Committee and the agriculture industry. (Mr Deputy Speaker [Mr McClelland] in the Chair) The seventh meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council in its...
Ms Brid Rodgers: With regard to the Peace II programme, the Rural Community Network, in partnership with Irish Rural Link, was successful in its application to deliver the measure. Those organisations will establish the cross-border network, which is expected to be operational in December 2002 and January 2003. Applications will be accepted then.
Ms Brid Rodgers: I have answered that question in my answer to the previous one, which was about the same issue.
Ms Brid Rodgers: It is hoped that the steering group will finalise the all-island animal health strategy by the end of the year. The differences between North and South are outlined in the matrix. There are differences of approach in dealing with brucellosis and tuberculosis. I will take account of the consultation on the review of brucellosis and tuberculosis and of the policy in the South. Northern Ireland...
