Mervyn Storey: I thank the Minister for his answer and for the interest that he has taken in this issue in relation to the establishment of the pilot scheme. Clearly, from what he has said, there is a demand in rural areas for such a scheme. Will he outline his plans to progress the scheme in the weeks ahead?
Mervyn Storey: On behalf of the Committee for Justice, I will outline the detailed engagement that it has had on the provisions to be included in this legislative consent motion. Department of Justice officials attended the Justice Committee on 14 January to provide oral evidence on the provisions that had been identified at that time for inclusion in the forthcoming Bill to be introduced at Westminster....
Mervyn Storey: Will the Member give way?
Mervyn Storey: I thank the Member for getting to that point. What is being proposed is equally about human beings. Sometimes, in the House, we have a very narrow view of what constitutes a human being. I have heard the Member in the House rightly defend, in other circumstances, minorities, small groups, people who are isolated and people who are vulnerable. If that is the argument, surely she has to carry...
Mervyn Storey: I thank the Member for giving way. I am always concerned when Members talk in the House about how something will give a greater return for the taxpayer or, as is the case in this instance, say that a measure will dramatically speed up the justice process. Members must realise that there are over 600 people on remand, currently. That is my understanding. We are not seeing the system speeding...
Mervyn Storey: I thank the Minister for giving us that explanation. It raises a further question, however, which is this: what has primacy, the Executive or the House? Is it what was enacted, or is it subsequent political agreements? The Minister is right that it is a five-party mandatory coalition. I was not part of the deliberations at the time, but I have subsequently been moved to take up the position...
Mervyn Storey: Before addressing the amendments, with your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to make some general remarks about the Bill in my capacity as Chair of the Justice Committee. I pay tribute to my predecessor, now the First Minister, who at that stage was the Chair of the Committee, and to the work of his colleagues in the preparation of the report. The Committee supports the Bill, which will...
Mervyn Storey: I thank the Minister for her statement to the House. There can be nothing more devastating for families than not knowing what happened to their loved one and the victim's body never being found. I concur with the Minister's final comments about those two families, and I add the Arkinson family. Obviously, these are issues of grave concern, particularly for those families. On behalf of the...
Mervyn Storey: Before I address the amendment, with your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will make some general remarks about the Bill in my capacity as Chair of the Justice Committee and to set out the context in which the Committee reached its decisions on the legislation. The Committee appreciates the need for a stable, long-term personal injury discount rate to be set in Northern Ireland, with...
Mervyn Storey: Will the Minister give way?
Mervyn Storey: Will the Member give way?
Mervyn Storey: To clarify, I am the same person in here as I am out there. I am happy to talk to anybody. I may enjoy a bit of banter in the House, but my message will be the same out there as it is in here. I say to the Member from Upper Bann that it was worse than that. In the two years prior to that, Sinn Féin decided not to move on housing. It is playing a game of bluff. Now, all of a sudden, there is...
Mervyn Storey: Will the Minister give way?
Mervyn Storey: I thank the Member opposite for bringing the motion to the Chamber, and I welcome it. When I come to the House, there is one thing for which I am always thankful, and that is corporate memory, because it seems as though some people have very short memories. Although I would prefer not to make it a political issue, let us face up to some realities. Some truths have to be told to some new...
Mervyn Storey: Yes.
Mervyn Storey: Thank you. I welcomed that opportunity. I said the same thing then as I say now: it is not one size fits all. It will take a combination of the private sector, the Housing Executive, housing associations and various other methods and means to ensure that we deliver good-quality homes for the people of Northern Ireland. I had the great joy of going to see the Apex scheme in the city of...
Mervyn Storey: The Northern Trust has the lowest number of intensive care beds and a business case for 49 additional beds that has been sitting for months. In its winter plan, it states that the initial projections show a potential shortfall of over 200 beds across the acute hospital sites in the Northern Trust. Given all that, what practical steps is the Minister taking to ensure that the situation with...
Mervyn Storey: I thank the Member for giving way. She talks about a coherent approach. A colleague and I have four projects on the north coast that are gone because of opposition to wind or tidal from people who believed that the environment was going to be damaged. How do we get a balance? In the debate, one says, "Wind, tidal; great, wonderful", but, when we go to produce them, we find that four companies...
Mervyn Storey: Will the Member give way?
Mervyn Storey: Does the Member agree that countries such as Russia also need to be looked at? I believe that Russia is a communist state that rides on the back of the benefits of capitalism. Maybe it is time that Russia decided to look at its economics and at how it can help the rest of the world.