Mr Savage:

I would like to ask the Minister about the Capital Grants Scheme, mentioned at page 12 of his paper. Will there be no further funding for farm diversification under the European Union's sub-programme for agriculture and rural development? I would also like to say that I think that an answer given earlier by the Minister was incorrect. The amount of money paid by farmers to the Livestock Marketing Commission when they bring their cattle to be slaughtered makes this process nearly self-financing.

When will the ban on beef-on-the-bone be lifted? It is important that as much meat as possible is sold. Also, why does it take so long, under the over-30-months scheme, for farmers to receive payment for animals slaughtered? Sometimes, it takes up to eight weeks for farmers to receive their payment.

4.15 pm

Mr Bradley:

My colleagues, Mr ONeill and Mr O'Connor have already raised the question of housing, and I listened attentively to the Minister's replies, but I must ask if he would recommend to the Assembly that the Housing Executive, in its present form, be retained.

Mr Hussey:

The infrastructural deficiency in the west has already been highlighted, as has the failure of Industrial Development Board not just in the town of Strabane, but in the entire Strabane District Council area and west Tyrone in general. Those two facts are not unrelated.

But the question I wish to ask is to do with the regional rate. Over the years, councils have been trying to lower their district rate, only to have their endeavours frustrated by the effect of the regional rate which increases the householders' rates bill.

A major factor that district councils have recently had to deal with has been the effect of the landfill tax. The purpose of this tax is to try to reduce the amount of waste being put into landfill. Would it not be more efficient to allow a much larger proportion of the amount of landfill tax to be recouped by district councils? This would help to keep their rates lower. They could utilise that money to provide proper landfill facilities - which can be very expensive - and by doing so, they would be fulfilling the purpose of the tax.

Mr McNamee:

Go raibh maith agat a Chathaoirligh.

I welcome the opportunity to address the Minister on roads and transport. In spite of comments about Belfast Harbour, I, like every other Member, welcome the Chancellor's package on the roads programme. The Assembly will, I hope, have responsibility for roads infrastructure, operation and maintenance, and it will be up to its Members to prioritise and identify the areas of greatest need, such as the southern part of my constituency, Newry and Armagh.

My question is about the proposal to release additional spending power to the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company. What procedures are in place to monitor the performance of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, given that additional funding is being made available to it? I am referring not just to its business viability or accounting regularity, but also to the reason for its existence - to provide a public-transport system that is a viable alternative to the private car.

I am asking this question in the light of the reduction or withdrawal without notice of bus services, especially on the Newry-Belfast route - a primary link between Belfast and the south-east. In addition, there are large rural areas which have practically no service - certainly no viable alternative to private transport.

The Initial Presiding Officer:

Minister, may I ask you to respond to that last batch of questions.

Mr P Murphy:

I shall do my best, but I cannot respond in detail on matters that are the responsibility of departmental colleagues. I shall ensure that they reply in writing on such matters.

Mr Morrow spoke about security posts. Expenditure on those falls to other budgets, but I assure him that they will not have an impact on the budget of the Assembly next year.

Mr McElduff referred to an increase in pre-school figures. If funds were available, the number of places for pre-school cohort would rise from 59% to 85%. He also raised the question of funding for the training of staff who come into contact with children. Sufficient funding is to be made available for childcare services. There will be £7 million in the first year, £11 million in the second and £12 million in the third.

Mr Savage spoke about the capital grants scheme and the sub-programme for agriculture and rural development. That was designed to improve competitiveness and to deal with other issues. The proposed cessation of that scheme reflects priorities in the agriculture budget. Grants totalling some £44·5 million will have been paid to more than 9,000 farm businesses. The Member also mentioned the ban on certain meat sales. I should like to see the return of the T-bone steak, but it has to be safe for us to eat. The market is currently examining this matter. I shall ensure that Lord Dubs writes to him on the important issue of the delay in payments.

Mr Bradley spoke about the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. There are no plans to get rid of it, and it will remain in its present form until the Assembly chooses to change it. Ultimately, it is a matter for the Assembly.

Mr Hussey referred to landfill tax. That, of course, is a national policy and is outside the scope of the Assembly. If he or others wish to raise it, I will make sure that the Government is made aware of that, particularly in relation to the striking of the district rate and the regional rate.

Mr McNamara mentioned roads and transport and the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company. He referred specifically to the Newry-Belfast route. Lord Dubs will write to him on some of those issues.

The Initial Presiding Officer:

I thank the Minister for his presentation and for making himself available for an extensive period of questioning. I tried to keep a reasonable balance among the parties. Forty-eight Members asked questions, but I rather lost count of how many questions were asked.

Mr P Murphy:

A few more than 48!

The Initial Presiding Officer:

It was considerably more than 48, and they extended over some two and a half hours. It is clear that Members have valued this opportunity, and I thank them for restraining themselves to a notional period of about a minute to put questions. By doing so they were courteous to each other and ensured that a significant number of questions could be put.

Motion made:

That the Assembly do now adjourn. - [The Initial Presiding Officer]

The Initial Presiding Officer:

Sixteen Members have submitted applications to speak on the Adjournment. As agreed by the Committee to advise the Initial Presiding Officer, and as indicated to Members in All-Party Notices, Ministers and party Leaders are excluded from the selection process, as are all Members who have already made a substantive contribution to the debate in the Assembly Chamber. When the agreed exclusions were made, 14 Members remained, with six being chosen to contribute today, representing the widest possible range of parties. Members will have seen on the noticeboard the names of the six Members who have been chosen to speak. I regret to say that Assembly Member Tom Benson is ill and unable to be here, so five Members will speak.

 

Third-World Development (Assembly Links)

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Ms Hanna:

Our television screens have been filled during the past week with images of the devastation caused by hurricane Mitch. The loss of life and damage caused in a few hours has been unimaginable, even by the standards of what this community has gone through in the last 30 years - and I do not seek to trivialise the suffering in our own community. In Nicaragua, which has a population less than that of Ireland, more than 10,000 people are dead, more than two million people are homeless and the infrastructure has been destroyed to the extent that aid agencies are saying that the country has been set back 30 years. And the numbers are still increasing.

This year has been a terrible one for disasters. We had devastating floods in Bangladesh and China that caused the deaths of many thousands and made millions homeless. The victims are suffering from diseases caused by stagnant water, fungal infections, and diarrhoea.

The vital statistics of global poverty are mind-numbing: 1·3 billion people survive on the equivalent of less than a dollar (60p per day); nearly one billion people are illiterate; more than one billion lack access to safe water; 840 million go hungry or face food insecurity; nearly one third of the people in the least developed countries are not expected to survive to the age of 40.

The poet, John Donne, said: "No man is an island". I want the Assembly to consider my proposals because we cannot isolate ourselves from or insulate ourselves against what is happening in the rest of the world.

First, I am asking the parties meeting to discuss Ministries and the allocation of portfolios to set up a Committee to deal specifically with the Third World and international development because the Good Friday Agreement does not deal with this subject. This Committee could have four main objectives for the allocation of local resources: to refocus aid on the eradication of poverty; to build partnerships with developing countries and the private sector in order to strengthen commitment to development targets; to strengthen public understanding and support for international development; and to help ensure that the full range of government policies affecting developing countries takes account of sustainable development objectives.

Secondly, Northern Ireland owes a great debt of gratitude to the rest of the world which has done so much to help us begin to resolve our problems. I refer to the practical aid. To date, over £350 million have been provided by the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and New Zealand through the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) for use in Northern Ireland and the border counties. The IFI aid is in addition to the billions which have been transferred to us from the European Union under the structural funds. For us it is payback time. We should now take up the challenge of repaying the rest of the world.

One of the great scandals is the level of Third-World debt. The United Kingdom alone is owed £8 billion by Third-World countries. In Nicaragua, before the disaster struck, servicing that debt cost £1 million per day in interest alone - one third of the value of its exports. Nicaragua has no chance of meeting its obligations. Some will say that Third-World countries, particularly those which were dictatorships, borrowed the money to buy armaments.

4.30 pm

Countries like Nicaragua are fledgling democracies. We have a duty to help such countries and their people, who are often the poorest of the poor. Many things divide us in Northern Ireland, but in all communities there is a deep well of generosity towards those in other parts of the world who are less well off. Much of this generosity springs from religious motivation.

Missionaries from Northern Ireland - Catholic, Presbyterian, Church of Ireland, Methodist, Baptist, and others - are to be found in every corner of the globe. The work of locally based agencies such as Oxfam, Trocaire, Concern International, Action Aid, Save the Children and Christian Aid is well-known and deeply appreciated. Northern Ireland is consistently found to be at or near the top of the league table of charitable giving among United Kingdom regions.

Part of that deep well of humanitarianism and compassion is a result of our shared suffering. One hundred and fifty years ago Ireland experienced a famine which led to one million deaths and, over several generations, the emigration of three million people. Our economy has serious difficulties, but when prosperity returns we will have a moral duty to help those much less well off than ourselves.

It has been a world-wide phenomenon that societies become less generous as they grow more prosperous, and we will not be immune from that trend unless we adopt a clear and defined target to meet. The size of our aid budget is a litmus-test of our commitment to civil rights and civilised values. We should adopt a target because we have benefited greatly from the generosity of others. It is in our own interest to help stop the cutting down of rain forests, global warming and the waste of fossil fuels. We can afford to do it, and it is the right thing to do.

Thirdly, as part of our Third-World development programme, we should have some provision for voluntary services overseas, particularly for young people or those with transferable skills. One of the most successful initiatives of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) has been the wider horizons programme, which has taken young people from their local setting and sent them to other parts of the world where, at times, they have worked to help others less well off than themselves.

Programmes like the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and Operation Raleigh have similar objectives. The results have been wholly beneficial in terms of personal growth and development and in fostering a wider perspective in the young people. It is also a useful corrective to the introspection and introversion which we are all prone to at times. In some cases it would be a local version of President Kennedy's Peace Corps.

Beside me is a large plastic bucket. I am not normally in favour of sticking-plaster solutions to major problems. We should have an integrated, strategic approach along the lines I have indicated. However, I am taking contributions from Assembly Members, officials, visitors and, of course, the media. A clerical Member of the House is well-known for appealing for a silent collection from his congregation - bank notes only. I want to make the same appeal today, and I want to assure Members that every penny contributed will go to the joint appeals from Concern International, Oxfam, Save the Children, and Christian Aid. I want people to give until it hurts in a very immediate way.

The Initial Presiding Officer:

Order. Earlier I made a ruling about newspapers. I am not sure that what I said applies in quite the same way to buckets. I have been on the look out for newspapers, but not buckets.

Everyone here is extremely supportive of the Member's sentiments. I suggest that on the specific matter of a public collection of funds it might be worthwhile for her to speak with me afterwards. There is nothing to stop a private collection around the party rooms. That is a matter for her and the other parties.

 

Ulster-Scots Academy

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Dr Adamson:

My theme is an Ulster-Scots academy and the objective of a new east-west link. In the Good Friday Agreement under the heading "Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity - Economic, Social and Cultural Issues", paragraph 3 states

"All participants recognise the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to linguistic diversity, including in Northern Ireland, the Irish language, Ulster-Scots and the languages of the various ethnic communities, all of which are part of the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland."

Here is another version:

"Aithníonn na rannpháirtithe uile tábhacht na hurraime, na tuisceana agus na caoinfhulaingthe i ndáil le héagsúlacht teanga, ar a n-áirítear i dTuaisceart Éireann, an Ghaeilge, Albainis Uladh agus teangacha na bpobal eitneach éagsúil, ar cuid de shaibhreas cultúrtha oileán na hÉireann iad uile."

That was some sort of Irish, but not Ulster-Scots.

The following is in the language of my boyhood:

"Aaboadie takin pairt kens weel tha muckle thing it maun be fur tae hae carefu mind o an be gart thole wi owre ocht respeck anent oor throughither heirskip o leids, takin in fur Ulster tha Gaelick an Scotch leids, an tha leids o tha wheen ootlanner resydenters, ilka yin o quhilk bis part o tha fowk poustie o tha islann o Airlann."

Ulster-Scots is regarded by academic specialists, almost without exception unless they are totally politically orientated, as a regional variant of the Scots language, also known as Lallans or Lowland Scots, which is still spoken to some extent throughout Scotland, although it must be admitted that in many ways it is now almost residual and is treated as such in academic circles.

Mr Shannon:

Will the Member give way?

Dr Adamson:

I will give way only for Ulster-Scots.

Mr Shannon:

It might take me longer to put it over, so my question will not be in Ulster-Scots.

Does the Member agree that one of the major differences between the proponents of Irish and those of Ulster-Scots is that the former use their language as a political weapon against our culture? Unlike Irish, the Ulster-Scots language and cultural tradition are to be found in both communities and are acceptable to all.

Dr Adamson:

Ulster-Scots is stigmatised and has no status or recognition. Native speakers - I have been one, although I am no longer a great speaker of Ulster-Scots - who complete second and third-level education abandon the language because of its low status. It receives no public funding, has no access to broadcasting or newspapers, and has no equivalent in the BBC to the Irish language or Gaelic in Scotland. It has no representatives on public bodies concerned with the arts, museums, cultural traditions or education.

For 400 years there has been no formal education in Scots or Ulster-Scots. The fact that the language has survived not simply as a spoken tongue but with its own literature is remarkable.

All Ulster-Scots writers since the lowland Scots settlers of the early 1600s (who were all taught in Scots), and all writers contributing to the enormous corpus of Ulster-Scots literature were self-taught. They had only the benefit of earlier and contemporary writings. None were schooled in Scots - all in English.

It is hardly surprising that Ulster-Scots literature has degenerated completely over the centuries. The vocabulary has been eroded at the expense of English in vernacular speech and in written works. The literary use of dialectal or individualistic pronunciation, spellings, or ignoring previously accepted standard Scots, is due partly to the erosion of the language and partly to ignorance about the Ulster-Scots literary tradition among Ulster-Scots themselves. I contend that that underlines the need for the establishment of an Ulster-Scots academy, and for a functional approach to language policy in association with the new Scottish Parliament, thus creating the new east/west link which would be of value to both.

The broad aim of the academy - taking Ulster-Scots out of a dark age of four centuries without any literary-based linguistic research - will involve the following: rediscovery of the Ulster-Scots literary tradition; encouragement of writing in Ulster-Scots and a renaissance of Ulster-Scots literacy; elevation of the linguistic study of Ulster-Scots to that of a living European language in its own right; and study of the grammar and syntax of the language. That is more or less what happened to Irish in the 1920s. Then, of course, there was no academic impetus to develop or sustain the Irish language, and Mr De Valera's translation department - believe it or not - was asked to do the job.

The promotion of Ulster-Scots in Scotland, or indeed Irish, should not be about kick-starting the languages - especially Ulster-Scots - to bring them roaring back into life and racing down the highways of the world. To think of them in that way grossly overestimates what education can do.

However, we can re-evaluate and teach aspects of Ulster-Scots which have been regularly ignored in the Northern Ireland curriculum. Such activities will promote a sense of identity by developing a deeper sense of the literature and culture of Ulster in all its forms.

We should not seek to produce a course of education with the intention of supplanting or even reducing the significance of standard English. In fact, quite the contrary. If our main business is to develop an expanded awareness of the diversity of language in Northern Ireland, this will necessarily develop the knowledge of the absolute need for standard English as a working language. We should therefore provide more support for English as the common tongue of these British Isles.

The Scottish Parliament will be a complex institution, centred, of course, on the shaping and enactment of legislation by its members, but undertaking a broad range of less prominent business as well. In assessing the ways in which Scotland's languages might be used, it would be better to look at things the Parliament will do and the ways in which Gaelic (Gallic in Scots) might be used in specific contexts, rather than seek to devise a blanket policy, which would mean unachievable objectives or misallocated resources.

Resources will obviously be an important factor in shaping language policy, both here and in Scotland. Translation can be an expensive proposition for government in all its forms. It has been estimated, for example, that some 40% of the European Union's administrative budget is for translation and interpreting services.

The issue of value for money must always be borne in mind, but it must not be used as an excuse for an unduly restrictive approach. A policy that would ensure reasonable use of language in Parliament and in the Assembly, as opposed to a policy of total bilingualism or even trilingualism, would surely demand only a tiny share of the operating budgets.

I return to a letter that I wrote to Dr Mowlam on 22 April 1998 requesting an urgent meeting to discuss provision for Ulster-Scots. An acknowledgement was received from the Secretary of State's Private Office stating that a reply would be forwarded as soon as possible. No reply was received. Four times I telephoned the Secretary of State's Office. I was told they would get back, but there was no return call - "Don't phone us; we'll phone you."

Everyone who signed the Agreement should be bound by it. Let me end with words from it:

"All participants recognise the importance of respect, understanding and tolerance in relation to linguistic diversity, including in Northern Ireland the Irish language, Ulster-Scots and the languages of the various ethnic communities, all of which are part of the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland."

 

Equality

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4.45 pm

Mr J Kelly:

Go raibh maith agat a Chathaoirligh.

It has been refreshing, a Chathaoirligh, to listen to someone speak in his native language without any disrespectful interruption, and I thank Dr Adamson for the manner in which he conducted himself.

I speak about equality. It would be remiss not to remember that this is the 200th anniversary of the United Irishmen's rebellion, which was based on the legend "Liberty, equality and fraternity" - equality being the cornerstone. It is well to remember too that that rebellion was spearheaded by Presbyterians who were seeking equality in their own land.

I quote from another document:

"The Republic guarantees civil and religious liberties, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government which had divided a minority from the majority in the past."

That was not taken from the '98 declaration nor from the American Declaration of Independence; it was taken from the proclamation of 1916.

The proof positive of change for our community will be the experience of equality and parity of esteem. The reality of equality and parity of esteem means, for Unionists, the loss of their veto over political change and progress.

Let me paraphrase words of my Colleague and party leader, Mr Gerry Adams: "They have not gone away, you know." We have not gone away. By "we" I mean the Nationalist population of this part of this island. We have been here for generations. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents lived in this part of Ireland. They were born and wed, went through life and were buried here. We are not going to go away.

By the same token, we do not want the members of the other community to go away. They too have been a part of this island for centuries. That is where we start from as Republicans, as Nationalists, in an attempt to work out a political framework within which we can be guaranteed equality of opportunity, the ability to strive for our political objectives, free from harassment and free from laws that would deny us our national identity.

As was mentioned in an earlier debate, the British Government have just released a consultation paper on public expenditure for the North of Ireland for 1999-2002 - the result of the comprehensive spending review launched by the Labour Party in May 1997.

This has serious implications for the equality agenda in the Six Counties. The Belfast Agreement was important because it placed the equality issue at the very heart of current and future political developments in Ireland. Nationalists accepted the Agreement on that basis. Now the British Government appear to be running away from that commitment as quickly as they can. It appears from the consultation document on the review that provision for Targeting Social Need has lost its status as a third expenditure priority. Targeting Social Need as a third expenditure priority gave recognition, on paper at least, to the fact that, by all major indicators of social and economic disadvantage, the Catholic community generally experiences higher levels of disadvantage. This is stated in the Government Paper 'Aspects of Britain'.

Mr Hussey:

I resent the expression "the Catholic community", though I would accept "the community in the west" - an area where many Protestants live.

Mr Maskey:

I thought that all Members had agreed that there would be no interruptions. Mr Hussey is using Mr Kelly's time.

The Initial Presiding Officer:

It would be quite wrong for me to deny the Member an opportunity to permit an intervention.

Mr J Kelly:

As I was saying, the Catholic community generally experiences higher levels of disadvantage. Even the Tories had a paper commitment to using Government expenditure in pursuit of equality. New Labour appears to have dropped that commitment.

In the CSR, the Government admit that there may be adverse consequences for the "new and reinvigorated" TSN and, in particular, "one or more PAFT categories". Given that resources for TSN appear to be solely targeted within health, education, and the welfare to work programme, it appears that TSN is no longer a priority. The Government suggest that their support for Springvale is somehow an alternative to TSN. One has to ask what meaningful impact Springvale will have on Nationalists and other equality constituencies west of the Bann? As the threat of serious job losses hangs over the textile industry in Derry, there is a pressing need for a reinvigorated commitment to using Government expenditure to address the legacy of economic injustice and discrimination in the Six Counties.

The CSR document targets health and education as high priorities for Government expenditure, rather than giving an expressed commitment to Targeting Social Need as a whole. Does this mean that the Government hope to reduce inequality by targeting these two areas? Do the Government hope that there will be some trickle-down effect on women, the disabled, Catholics, Nationalists and ethnic minorities by increasing spending on health and education? Targeting need requires focused spending with goals, timetables and evaluation - not some nebulous commitment to economic development. In any democratic society, the targeting of these areas should be the norm. We are here in Stormont - which for many Nationalists represents the very seat of "the Protestant state for a Protestant people" - a domain of white, middle- and upper-class Protestant men.

We all need to get used to the idea that government in the North of Ireland now belongs to everybody. This institution, its government Departments and the policies developed should reflect this new reality. People need to accept not only that there are going to be Catholics about the place, but Nationalists and Republicans, disabled people, ethnic minorities, women and, dare I say it, lesbians and gays as well.

Equality is the key component in achieving "peace, stability and prosperity" in the North of Ireland, according to the Belfast Agreement. Yet in the consultation document on public expenditure, equality is not even mentioned as one of the key aims of the comprehensive spending review. The four supporting aims mentioned in the document must, as a necessity, be underpinned by a commitment to equality and by policies and legislation to promote equality of opportunity and outcome.

Sinn Fein will continue to insist that equality is central to the whole process of government, including, crucially, decisions involving government expenditure. We will also continue to make government accessible to all the equality constituencies that, by discrimination, have been excluded from government in the past. To this end I will be hosting a consultative conference on equality at Stormont on 30 November. This is one way of getting government back to the people and making sure that Stormont and the rest of the apparatus of government is returned to the people of the Six Counties.

As Sinn Fein's equality spokesperson in the Assembly, I will be hosting the conference. Involvement will extend to as wide a representation of equality constituencies as possible, and the conference will be open to anyone who wants to attend. There will be three key inputs. First, there will be input from key experts who will provide context setting and models of good practice. Speakers include Haroon Saad, the head of the Equal Opportunities Unit at Birmingham City Council. Second, there will be input from all the parties in the Assembly on their vision of how to progress the equality agenda, and third, there will be input from all the key equality constituencies - women, Nationalists, minority ethnic groups, disability groups, lesbian and gay groups, youth and older people's groups, and so on.

The Initial Presiding Officer:

I must ask you to bring your remarks to a close.

Mr J Kelly:

We will not be trying to direct the content of discussion in the consultative conference, but we want to ensure that all the equality constituencies are well represented.

There should, however, be some tangible outcome in terms of broad commitments to the equality agenda. We have to put equality at the centre of government in the Six Counties, and this is one way of beginning to do that.

Mr Hussey:

I understood that in an Adjournment debate interventions were allowable, with the permission of the Member speaking.

The Initial Presiding Officer:

The purpose of this type of Adjournment debate, which those who are Members of other Houses will realise is atypical, is, over a number of sittings, to give Back-Bench Members who have not spoken a chance to do so. That is why those who have made substantive contributions have been excluded.

The Member may accept an intervention or not. As I said at the end of the last sitting, if a Member accepts an intervention, it will come out of his or her time. That is one of the differences between interventions and points of order. Interventions are not in themselves out of order, but Members should not feel any compulsion to accept them.

Mr Maskey:

I do not object to someone asking any of my colleagues a question, but it was agreed by all of the parties at the initial CAPO meetings that the format of these debates would be precisely as you have outlined, Mr Initial Presiding Officer. Members who are not able to speak in the normal cut and thrust of debates are able to make their points. They can get up and address matters, perhaps in relation to their own constituency, or some other matter such as was raised today by Ms Hanna, for example, or Mr Adamson. It is not a question of objecting to people intervening; it is a question of acknowledging the nature of this format which is to allow people to ask questions unhindered.

 

Irish League Football

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Mr Hilditch:

I would like to take this opportunity to bring before the House two issues concerning the future of Irish League football. When or if this Assembly ever gets around to dealing with the social affairs of the people of Northern Ireland, the Minister responsible for sport will find these matters sitting prominently on his desk.

5.00 pm

The first issue is health and safety. Since May 1993, local authorities have been the enforcing bodies for the health and safety legislation for sports grounds. However, the existing legislation is limited in Northern Ireland, and that means that only piecemeal improvements have been made. This is disappointing as soccer can still attract crowds to venues which do not lend themselves to effective crowd management.

Prior to 1990, safety problems experienced mostly at soccer grounds had been blighting sport in Great Britain for a number of years. Incidents such as the disasters at Ibrox, Bradford and Hillsborough had focused attention on the subject, specific legislation was enacted to improve safety. This legislation requires safety certificates to be issued by local authorities to ensure that clubs implement the recommendations contained in the Taylor Report.

Mr R Hutchinson:

Does the Member agree with me that unless the tranche of money which is being held by the Secretary of State for Irish League Football grounds is used to help football teams in the premier division and in the first division that are faced with bills for health and safety, many of them will be put out of existence? That is sadly the case with Carrickfergus and with Larne, where I come from and where there has been a strong tradition of Irish League Football.

Mr Hilditch:

I welcome my Colleague's support.

Funding has been made available to help clubs in England, Wales and Scotland meet this safety standard. Generally this has resulted in a healthier viewing environment in sports grounds throughout Great Britain. Similar legislation, coupled with the appropriate funding, could now be introduced in Northern Ireland with appropriate control to ensure that it was properly applied.

Although the very large crowds which attend cross-channel events are not a feature of life in Northern Ireland, the figures are still of sufficient size to initiate safety concerns. It is clear that persevering with the existing health and safety legislation will achieve little and that more direct controls are essential. Failure to introduce these controls places spectators at risk, imposes an unnecessary burden on enforcement officers, police and the emergency services and leaves Northern Ireland with a sporting environment in which there is the potential for a major incident at any time. Either Westminster or the Assembly must act before it is too late.

As I have already said, the legislation specific to football-ground safety in Great Britain has not been enacted in Northern Ireland, and inspectors have resolved the problem using existing health and safety legislation. Inspections have been carried out at a number of venues, and these have revealed a number of structural problems, while interviews with clubs and the governing body and liaison with police and emergency services have indicated that serious safety management problems exist.

To date, local authorities have had difficulties in achieving significant improvements owing to the absence of specific legislation and, especially, funding. One has only to look at Coleraine Football Club, as an example, where £250,000 must be found to implement the recommendations. It is impossible for any club to meet and absorb these costs in an already back-to-the-wall financial climate.

On the positive side, an inter-departmental committee was set up comprising representatives from the local authority environmental health departments, the Department of Education for Northern Ireland, the Department of the Environment, the Health and Safety Agency, the RUC and the Sports Council for Northern Ireland. It met regularly to discuss progress, and a working party was set up in 1992 to review controls over safety in grounds in Northern Ireland.

It is understood that a final report has been prepared which is currently with the Department of Education. However, despite the support of successive Conservative and Labour Governments, the latest word is that it is now the intention to leave this matter to the Assembly in the hope that a slot can be found to include this extremely urgent and very important piece of legislation in our programme.

It should be noted that the required funding will be between £20 million and £25 million on a phased basis. Let us hope that we do not have a major disaster at any of our grounds while we await the legislation and funding becoming available! Our senior clubs' grounds compare very favourably with those in the lower divisions in England's football league and even more so with clubs from the second and third divisions of the Scottish League, each of whom has obtained substantial financial assistance to upgrade those grounds and, in some cases, to build new stadiums with a 75% grant.

As part of the present Government's commitment to assisting all recognised soccer leagues in the United Kingdom to meet acceptable standards, I demand that proper recognition and assistance be given to the administrators, management, players and supporters of the Irish League who have kept football alive for 30 years during our darkest days.

In the same vein, the aforementioned people deserve clarification on another issue, the much hyped and publicised alleged relocation of Wimbledon Football Club to Belfast and the establishment of Belfast United. First, I ask Wimbledon Football Club to state publicly if it is its intention to relocate to Belfast. If it should confirm or deny the name change to Belfast United, I would then ask whether it is its intention, if it relocates, to pay the six-figure sum package similar to that offered to Dublin clubs some time ago.

Secondly, I call upon the Government to clarify whether they intend to release land, at a cost of approximately £2 million to the taxpayer, to a private business consortium. If this figure is the Government's commitment, who then will build a stadium at an approximate cost of £55 million, considering its limited use, with other existing long-term leases at other venues?

Thirdly, and lastly, we need to know if the English FA Premiership and UEFA are both prepared to break or amend their rules to allow a club of such stature to be based in Northern Ireland. Clarification on these points is urgently required to allow the Irish League to map its own future, otherwise it is back to pie in the sky. The public and the administrators of our local game have the right to know what is going on behind the current media headlines, which are creating the uncertainty. Members can obtain more information from their local clubs.

At some stage in the future, the Assembly will be making some important decisions on the future of Irish League football.

Mr Shannon:

Would Mr Hilditch like to comment on the controversy currently raging in the local press on the match between Donegal Celtic and the RUC? Also, does he agree that the political activists were totally defeated in their spiteful and vindictive interference in football, and in sport in general?

I welcome the match, and the football teams, to Castlereagh Park, in my constituency of Newtownards.

Mr Hilditch:

I welcome, as I am sure will the Assembly, the brave decision of Donegal Celtic Football Club in not scoring an own goal and going ahead with the Steel and Son's Cup semi-final at Castlereagh Park against the RUC, but instead kicking Sinn Fein into touch.

 

Electricity Supply (Newry and Armagh)

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Mr Fee:

Thank you, Mr Initial Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to raise a matter of intense aggravation to the people of my constituency. This is a seasonal problem that almost exclusively affects people in Newry and Armagh, particularly South Armagh. I say "almost exclusively", because I understand that there was quite extensive loss of power in County Down last night and, indeed, today.

My sympathy goes to those people who have suffered a terrible intrusion to their life and homes when they experienced a loss of power. However, it was an occasional experience for those people in County Down, yesterday and today. For the last six or seven years there have been extensive power failures in Newry, Armagh and the South Armagh region in the weeks running up to Christmas. In each of the last five years there have been prolonged blackouts on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and continuously through to New Year's Day in some or all parts of Newry and Armagh.

The Assembly has a timely opportunity today to hear of some of the problems that this situation has created. At some point in the future, it may fall to the Assembly to take action to challenge the monopoly position that NIE enjoys, to challenge their performance record, and to stand up for electricity consumers so severely disadvantaged by the contractual arrangements that allow NIE to make extortionate profits. These arrangements allow NIE to charge the highest electricity prices in Great Britain or Ireland and to engage in blatant profiteering.

It is timely also because, just as winter is drawing in again, the first major power failure of the season occurred in South Armagh on Tuesday 20 October 1998. The entire region from the Fathom Line at Newry to the border at Cullaville was without electricity for a number of hours. Obviously, the second major failure happened in County Down last night and this morning.

If this is the portent of things to come for this Christmas, there will be hell to pay. I assure Members that, as a representative of the Newry and Armagh constituency, I will ensure that the buck stops where it should: with the board of NIE.

No one should have any doubt that the substantial loss of power creates profound problems, particularly for people in isolated rural areas.

It creates obvious problems for the elderly and infirm who cannot heat their homes or cook meals, have no alternative light and may, in some cases, be completely isolated in their homes. It is a frightening, threatening, unsettling experience for many and indeed life-threatening for some. It creates many obvious problems for couples and families with young children who need bottles warmed by day and night and a continuous supply of clean clothes and nappies. These things simply cannot be done if there is a prolonged power cut.

There are less obvious problems. Road safety is compromised if street lighting is knocked out. Food in fridges and freezers begins to defrost, affecting every home, every grocery store and every corner shop. Any electric appliance operated by a timer is, inevitably, affected - computers, video recorders, central heating systems, burglar alarm systems, hands-free phone sets and so on. It can be an expensive business with no statutory entitlement to compensation for losses.

Nobody will grumble too much if this is an occasional problem, like the County Down problem, caused by exceptional storm conditions or snow fall. The situation in Newry and Armagh, however, does not fall into that category. For seven consecutive winters there have been prolonged and repetitive power failures at the same time of year and in the same locations. No amount of meetings, letters or petitions has so far elicited a guarantee of secure power supply in my constituency. That is not to say that nothing has been done.

In 1993 the then Minister, Mr Atkins confirmed that £195,000 would be invested in the distribution network around the Camlough area. We were led to believe that this would resolve the problem - it did not. We were told that part of the network was obsolete and needed replacement. We were told, in some cases, that vandals were to blame for the failure of the supply. We were told, in other cases, that bad weather had caused the blackouts.

All sorts of solutions were proposed by various Ministers and officials - Mr Atkins in 1993, Michael Ancram in 1995, Malcolm Moss in 1996, and Baroness Denton at the beginning of last year. We were told that a new 33 kV line serving a new station at Newry would solve the problem - it has not. We were told that the refurbishment of the 11 kV line towards Jonesborough would solve the problem. It has not. We were told that the strengthening of the sub-station at Silverbridge, with larger transformers and a new switchboard, would solve the problem. It has not. We were told that the refurbishment and upgrading of the lines in the Crossmaglen area would solve the problem. It has not. We were also told that the creation of a new 33 kV circuit in the Slieve Gullion region would solve the problem. To date it has not.

I am not ungrateful for these efforts and for the investment. I am, however, disturbed because although most of this work was completed by last Christmas, it did not prevent the complete loss of power in the Jerrettspass area between Christmas Eve and December 27. For four solid days, over a holiday period, people could not cook or heat or light their homes.

I worry because even though all this work has now been completed, yet again we have had two major supply failures in the last three weeks. The dreadful pattern of winter power losses appears to be with us still, in spite of all the apparent strengthening of the system. I have asked myself what is the cause of this problem.

Is it the case that there is a pattern of peculiarly inclement weather in my home area which sets it apart from the rest of Northern Ireland, creating unique problems for the maintenance of a secure power distribution system? If that is true, how can so many people in that part of Newry and Armagh look out of their windows at night - as I can - and see the lights of Dundalk, Louth and Monaghan shining brightly in all weather?

Is it the case that the equipment continues to be so defective that it simply cannot cope with normal demands? That would be extraordinary given the litany of improvements that we have been told have been carried out. It would be insulting to people who live in an area through which the North/South electricity connectors stride across the landscape with scores of enormous, ugly pylons carrying their load of electricity for export to the Republic of Ireland.

The real answer to this wholly unacceptable situation can only be surmised by piecing together a number of replies to enquiries by the local MP, councillors and the district councils. In a letter to Newry and Mourne District Council the local manager of NIE referred to a huge increase in demand at Christmas. Subsequently, in a ministerial reply, it was confirmed that the annual growth of demand in Armagh city was precisely 2·5%, and in Newry and South Armagh 2·7%.

5.15 pm

Given such modest increases in the overall demand for power, and taking into account the fact that there are no massive consumers of electricity in the Newry and Armagh area - no large industries, not many hotels, restaurants or discos, and only one acute hospital - I am at a loss to know where this huge demand is coming from. Only a truthful answer from Northern Ireland Electricity will allow us to see the truly pernicious nature of this problem.

Of course, there is a huge increase in demand during the winter, particularly at Christmas, caused by the weather and by people staying at home over the holiday period. But the huge increase in demand is not in the hills of south Armagh; it is in large urban areas, such as Greater Belfast, Derry and Craigavon. The power supply to those areas has been secured for seven or eight years now by the deliberate "tripping out" of supply in rural areas. This is unfair, unjust, inequitable and possibly illegal. In any case, it is unacceptable, and it must stop.

I am glad to have had the opportunity to raise this matter, a running sore for my community, and the House will hear more of it if families are left once again with cold turkey on Christmas Day, if Christmas trees have no lights and if elderly people are left without heat.

Mr Kennedy:

I agree that there are many elderly people who suffer greatly if there are problems with heat during the winter, and I support the Member's comments on this issue.

Mr Fee:

I thank the Member for his support.

If we have the same situation this Christmas, Northern Ireland Electricity will have to deal with a real "power struggle".

Adjourned at 5.18 pm.

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