The TRANSITIONAL
assembly

Tuesday 13 March 2007

Assembly Business

Assembly Business
Roll of Membership

 

The Assembly met at 12.00 noon (Madam Speaker in the Chair).

ASSEMBLY business

Rev Dr Ian Paisley: On a point of order, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker: No points of order will be taken until after Members have signed the Roll of Membership. Members, please take your seats.

I offer my congratulations to all of you following the election. As well as welcoming back former Members, I extend a particular welcome to those Members who are present in the Chamber for the first time.

Members may have noted that, in accordance with Standing Order 7, today’s meeting did not begin with Prayers. Members will also be aware that the main item of business to be conducted today is the signing of the Roll of Membership, as provided for in Standing Order 4.

Before this meeting of the Assembly, the Clerk drew up a list of seats in the Assembly held by members of each party, as it appeared to him. Members had the opportunity, up until one hour before the start of this meeting, to correct their membership as stated on that list by writing to the Speaker. I wish to confirm that I have now published the list, as required by Standing Order 4(g), and that copies have been made available in Members’ pigeonholes and in the Rotunda.

assembly business

Roll of Membership

Madam Speaker: As required by Standing Order 4(a), a Member shall be regarded as having taken his or her seat only when he or she has signed the Roll of Membership. I do not, therefore, propose to take any points of order until the Roll has been signed by all Members present.

I shall now explain the procedures that will be followed for the signing of the Roll. These have been discussed and agreed through the usual channels.

I shall invite Members of the Assembly to come forward in their party groupings to sign the Roll. I will call the parties in alphabetical order by the name of the party. However, with the endorsement yesterday of the Business Committee, I have agreed to a request from a Member who has a pressing commitment that I should call him before I start to call the party groupings. The Independent Member will be called after the party groupings.

When each party name is called, I ask Members of that party to rise in their places and proceed through the Aye Lobby on my right. Members should then come forward to sign one of the two Roll pages placed here on the table in front of the Speaker’s Table.

Members should enter today’s date and print and sign their name, and may enter a designation of identity — “Nationalist, Unionist or Other”. I draw Members’ attention to Standing Order 4(e), which provides that a Member who does not enter a designation of identity will be deemed to be designated “Other” for the purposes of the Standing Orders.

The process of signing the Roll may take some time; I ask Members for their patience during this procedure.

We shall now proceed.

I invite Sir Reg Empey of the Ulster Unionist Party to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

The following Member signed the Roll of Membership:

Empey, Sir Reg                  Unionist

Madam Speaker: I invite Members of the Alliance Party to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

The following Members signed the Roll of Membership:

Farry, Stephen                    Other
Ford, David                         Other
Lo, Anna                              Other
Long, Naomi                       Other
McCarthy, Kieran               Other
Neeson, Sean                     Other

Madam Speaker: I invite Members of the Democratic Unionist Party to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

The following Members signed the Roll of Membership:

Bresland, Allan                    Unionist
Browne, The Lord                Unionist
Buchanan, Tom                   Unionist
Campbell, Gregory              Unionist
Clarke, Trevor                      Unionist
Craig, Jonathan                   Unionist
Dawson, George                  Unionist
Dodds, Nigel                        Unionist
Donaldson, Jeffrey              Unionist
Easton, Alex                         Unionist
Foster, Arlene                      Unionist
Hamilton, Simon                 Unionist
Hay, William                        Unionist
Hilditch, David                     Unionist
Irwin, William                       Unionist
McCausland, Nelson         Unionist
McCrea, Ian                         Unionist
McCrea, William                 Unionist
McIlveen, Michelle             Unionist
McQuillan, Adrian               Unionist
Morrow, The Lord                Unionist
Moutray, Stephen               Unionist
Newton, Robin                     Unionist
Paisley, Ian                          Unionist
Paisley Jnr, Ian                    Unionist
Robinson, George              Unionist
Robinson, Iris                      Unionist
Robinson, Peter                  Unionist
Shannon, Jim                      Unionist
Simpson, David                  Unionist
Spratt, Jimmy                      Unionist
Storey, Mervyn                    Unionist
Weir, Peter                           Unionist
Wells, Jim                            Unionist
Wilson, Sammy                  Unionist

12.15 pm

Madam Speaker: I invite the Member of the Green Party to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

The following Member signed the Roll of Membership:

Wilson, Brian                         Other

Madam Speaker: Order. There should be no applause in the Gallery, please.

I now invite the Member from the Progressive Unionist Party to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

The following Member signed the Roll of Membership:

Purvis, Dawn                         Unionist

Madam Speaker: I now invite the Members of Sinn Féin to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

The following Members signed the Roll of Membership:

Adams, Gerry                         Nationalist
Anderson, Martina                Nationalist
Boylan, Cathal                       Nationalist
Brady, Mickey                        Nationalist
Brolly, Francie                        Nationalist
Butler, Paul                             Nationalist
Clarke, Willie                          Nationalist
Gildernew, Michelle               Nationalist
Kelly, Gerry                             Nationalist
McCann, Jennifer                  Nationalist
McCartney, Raymond          Nationalist
McGill, Claire                         Nationalist
McGuinness, Martin             Nationalist
McHugh, Gerry                      Nationalist
McKay, Daithí                        Nationalist
McLaughlin, Mitchel             Nationalist
Maskey, Alex                         Nationalist
Maskey, Paul                         Nationalist
Molloy, Francie                      Nationalist
Murphy, Conor                       Nationalist
Ní Chuilín, Cáral                    Nationalist
O’Dowd, John                         Nationalist
O’Neill, Michelle                    Nationalist
Ramsey, Sue                         Nationalist
Ruane, Caitríona                   Nationalist

12.30 pm

Madam Speaker: I invite Members of the Social Democratic and Labour Party to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

The following Members signed the Roll of Membership:

Attwood, Alex                        Nationalist
Bradley, Dominic                 Nationalist
Bradley, Mary                       Nationalist
Bradley, PJ                            Nationalist
Burns, Thomas                     Nationalist
Dallat, John                           Nationalist
Durkan, Mark                        Nationalist
Gallagher, Tommy               Nationalist
Hanna, Carmel                     Nationalist
Kelly, Dolores                       Nationalist
McDonnell, Alasdair            Nationalist
McGlone, Patsy                    Nationalist
Maginness, Alban                Nationalist
O’Loan, Declan                     Nationalist
Ramsey, Pat                         Nationalist
Ritchie, Margaret                  Nationalist

Madam Speaker: I invite Members of the Ulster Unionist Party to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

The following Members signed the Roll of Membership:

Armstrong, Billy                    Unionist
Beggs, Roy                            Unionist
Burnside, David                    Unionist
Cobain, Fred                         Unionist
Coulter, Robert                     Unionist
Cree, Leslie                           Unionist
Elliott, Tom                            Unionist
Gardiner, Sam                      Unionist
Kennedy, Danny                  Unionist
McCallister, John                  Unionist
McClarty, David                    Unionist
McCrea, Basil                       Unionist
McFarland, Alan                   Unionist
McGimpsey, Michael           Unionist
McNarry, David                     Unionist
Robinson, Ken                      Unionist
Savage, George                    Unionist

12.45 pm

Madam Speaker: I invite the Independent Member to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

The following Member signed the Roll of Membership:

Deeny, Kieran                                                 Other

Madam Speaker: I invite any Member present who has not already done so to come forward to sign the Roll of Membership.

I thank Members for their co-operation.

Rev Dr Ian Paisley: On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I wish to revisit a matter that I raised in this Chamber before the end of the last Assembly mandate — namely, the security of Members. Madam Speaker, I wonder whether you are of a mind to finish the task that has already been started so that the work that has already been done will not be lost. Perhaps you could inform new Members of the plans for their security when coming to and going from this House and when they are in the Chamber doing the business of the Assembly.

Madam Speaker: Thank you for that point of order, Dr Paisley. We have been making contingency plans, and I hope that the new Members have already been informed of the current situation by party Whips. As Dr Paisley said, the Commission for the Transitional Assembly was working on this matter before today’s meeting, and it has received the final report of the review of security.

Members will understand that it would be inappropriate for me to discuss that report in the Chamber. However, I intend to meet the Secretary of State to discuss the outcome of that review, and the Commission has agreed to engage in discussions with the parties in the coming weeks. We will issue invitations to you, Dr Paisley, and the other party leaders to discuss this matter. The Commission must consider not only the implementation of the review; there is also the matter of cost.

Ongoing security has also been looked at. As most Members know, we have introduced an additional PSNI presence. We have asked people to be vigilant about where they go, and I ask every Member, not just the new ones, to listen to the advice of the Doorkeepers or of any of my staff. If anyone has any queries, please go in the first instance to the Deputy Chief Executive or the Keeper of the House, who will advise about what can and cannot be done until we get the security review finished. Like you, Dr Paisley, I want that completed as soon as possible, and I thank you for asking about it.

I thank Members for their co-operation and patience during the signing of the Roll. The Roll will be placed in the Chamber on sitting days to enable any Member who has not yet signed it to do so. Standing Order 4(a) states that my decision on whether a Member has taken his or her seat in accordance with that Standing Order is final. I can only make that decision after scrutinising all of the entries on the Roll. I intend to make an announcement on this matter at the start of the next meeting of the Assembly.

Adjourned at 12.51 pm.

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