PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUB-GROUP TO CONSIDER THE ECONOMIC CHALLENGES FACING NORTHERN IRELAND

Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday, 10 August 2006 in Room 135, Parliament Buildings at 10.00am.

In the Chair: Naomi Long

Present: Dr Esmond Birnie
Michelle Gildernew MP
Kieran McCarthy
Dr Alasdair McDonnell MP
Barry McElduff
David McNarry
Lord Morrow
Sean Neeson
Robin Newton
Margaret Ritchie


In Attendance: Alan Patterson (Principal Clerk)
Colin Jones (Assistant Clerk)
Trevor Allen (Clerical Supervisor)
Paul Stitt (Clerical Supervisor)
Dr Peter Gilleece (Senior Researcher)

The meeting commenced at 10.03am in closed session.

1. Apologies

David Ford (Mr McCarthy attended the meeting as Alliance representative in place of Mr Ford).

Mitchel McLaughlin (Mr McElduff attended the meeting as SF representative in place of Mr McLaughlin).

Ian Paisley Jnr (Lord Morrow attended the meeting as DUP representative in place of Mr Paisley Jnr).

Peter Weir (Mr Newton attended the meeting as DUP representative in place of Mr Weir).

2. Draft Minutes of Meetings on 8 August 2006

These were agreed for publication on the Assembly’s website.

3. Matters Arising

Members noted details on the breakdown of the £16bn infrastructure package provided by the Strategic Investment Board.

Members noted procedural advice from the Preparation for Government Committee on the issues of substitutes chairing future meetings of the sub-group and whether members of the Preparation for Government Committee, who were also sub-group members, could nominate a substitute for sub-group meetings or were required to attend.

Members noted that, as agreed, Graham Gudgeon had been asked to submit a written response.

Dr Birnie joined the meeting at 10.12am.

Members noted that no response had been received from the Northern Ireland Youth Forum in relation to them giving evidence to the sub-group. It was agreed to seek the advice of the Preparation for Government Committee as to how a meeting with the Youth Forum could be facilitated.

4. Additional Evidence Received from Witnesses

Members noted the additional information, requested at recent evidence sessions, received from the following organisations:

Industrial Taskforce;
Strategic Investment Board; and
Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment.

5. Written Evidence

Members noted the written submissions from the following:

International Centre for Learning and Development;
University of Ulster;
UU Tech;
Planning Service;
Northbrook Technologies;
Action Renewables; and
Mivan.

Members noted the concerns expressed by Mivan’s Chief Executive in his written submission and agreed that these would be considered at the next meeting along with the other submissions received to date.

Members agreed that this meeting would be in open session.

6. Press Cuttings

Members noted recent press articles relevant to the sub-group’s terms of reference.

7. Evidence Sessions

The meeting continued in open session at 10.20am.

The sub-group took evidence from Alan Clarke, Tom McGrath and Sue Ward of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

Dr McDonnell joined the meeting at 10.22am.
Mr Neeson joined the meeting at 10.55am.
Dr Birnie left the meeting at 11.00am.
Mr McElduff left the meeting at 11.03am.
Mr McNarry left the meeting at 11.10am.
Dr Birnie joined the meeting at 11.15am.
Mr McElduff joined the meeting at 11.20am.
Mr McNarry joined the meeting at 11.25am.

The sub-group took evidence from Victor Hewitt of the Economic Research Institute of Northern Ireland.

Ms Gildernew left the meeting at 11.30am.
Ms Gildernew joined the meeting at 11.55am.
Mr McNarry left the meeting at 12.10pm.

The sub-group took evidence from Seamus McAleavey and Frances McCandless of the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action.

Mr McNarry joined the meeting at 12.45pm.

The meeting continued in closed session at 1.05pm.

8. Any Other Business

Members agreed a draft press release for issue, subject to minor amendments.

Members agreed to seek the following additional information from the relevant government departments:

a further breakdown of the statistics on economic inactivity received from DETI, including comments on why the levels of sick/disabled were significantly higher when compared to the Republic of Ireland;
numbers in receipt of the various disability benefits, including age breakdown and the number of applications and awards over the past 10 years;

information on the approximate value of social security benefits which are properly available and which have not been claimed; and

information on benefit fraud.

Dr Gilleece presented his research paper on the Contribution of Educational Policy to Economic Growth in the Republic of Ireland.

Mr McNarry left the meeting at 1.30pm.

Members agreed to seek further information from the Department for Employment and Learning on the relative qualifications of the Northern Ireland labour force, including comparisons with the rest of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

9. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the sub-group was arranged for Tuesday 15 August 2006 at 10.00am.

The meeting adjourned at 1.57pm.