Claire Hanna: I want to formally wish the Minister well. I admire his defence of these Estimates. I know that you probably did not even have time to open your pencil case before the Department had to issue them, but, as somebody who has shared a constituency with you for the last five years, I do hope that we will see the energy and ambition that people correctly associate with you put into future...
Claire Hanna: If we are out of the European Union, it will take a lot of money from London and a lot of policy and imagination from this Executive. As the young people say, "Good luck with that".
Claire Hanna: Will the Member give way?
Claire Hanna: The Member has brought this up before. Nobody is suggesting that there is not social need out there or that there are not problems that need to be solved. The Member needs to accept that people are critical because it is an invite-only scheme — only preferred suppliers and organisations have the opportunity to tender for the work. Nobody wants to take the money away from the early years...
Claire Hanna: It is interesting that the deputy First Minister noted that he would wait to see the outcome of the election before setting a hard course. That is a good idea; it is a pity nobody else is allowed to do that. In the disastrous event of a Brexit, which powers that are currently with the European Union does he see being devolved to Northern Ireland? Has he done an audit of those powers?...
Claire Hanna: Will the Member give way?
Claire Hanna: Did you just walk in halfway through the sentence? The Member will recall that, prior to the part where I talked about more effectively slicing the pie, I talked about growing the pie and seeking some information on the revenue raising that would be part of that.
Claire Hanna: Will the Minister give way?
Claire Hanna: First of all, in the previous debate I did not say that; I proposed taking £800,000 from the extensive administration budget in OFMDFM, which had gone up year on year. We have made proposals, and tomorrow we will again. You choose to ignore them. My colleague in health set out some. We have set out things for childcare, and you ignore them as well. We also made a suggestion about...
Claire Hanna: You could email it to me.
Claire Hanna: We appreciate the Minister's energy, but we support the view that there has not been sufficient time to scrutinise the statement. The first big report of the mandate was the paramilitary report. The First Ministers completely bypassed the Assembly on that occasion. At least you have taken questions, but one hour for Members to scrutinise is not sufficient. I am looking at a couple of the...
Claire Hanna: You can tell us now.
Claire Hanna: Will the Minister give way?
Claire Hanna: I thank the Member for giving way. You will see from Hansard and from our website that, 20 minutes after we were given the figures, I asked for clarity on the difference between the figures. If it was so simple, perhaps you could have responded to me at the time when I asked for clarity. You did not. You clearly found the discrepancy on your lunch break.
Claire Hanna: Certainly. I asked for clarity because it underlines the point that this Government are doing their business behind closed doors. You bypassed us on the paramilitary report and you bypassed us on this, and, if you give people 20 minutes' notice to peruse 37 pages of figures, we are entitled to ask for some clarity. Regarding the second figure, you will see that it was correct in the tweet...
Claire Hanna: Sorry for cutting in on this dance. It is worrying that, every time we have gone into these negotiations, we have come out with something a little bit weaker. Does the Minister agree that having a well-trained and well-skilled workforce is essential to capitalise on the benefits of low corporation tax? Does he agree that, to achieve this, reinstating investment in higher education should...
Claire Hanna: T4. Ms Hanna asked the Minister of Finance whether he is aware of a speech made by Micheál Martin in the Dáil last Wednesday, stating that there was something rotten in the state of Denmark and that evidence would likely emerge in relation to the sale of the NAMA loan portfolio, and, if so, does he agree with Deputy Martin that the nothing-to-see attitude from Governments is no longer...
Claire Hanna: I thank the Minister for that comprehensive answer. Can he outline what information his Department will release in response to the request from the Committee for Finance to release previously redacted or withheld information?
Claire Hanna: I thank the Minister for her answers and congratulate her on her new post. In the November monitoring round, the then Finance Minister announced £40 million for elective care procedures, precisely to address those waiting lists. Will the Minister outline how much of that money was spent and, if it was not all spent, where the surplus went?
Claire Hanna: For those I have been speaking to over the weekend, the overwhelming emotions are still shock and anxiety. As much as the party across wants to gloss over the arguments and myth-making of the last few months, for something this major —