Jim Allister's Functioning of Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill completes the further consideration stage
Minister Edwin Poots made a statement on a recent north-south meeting regarding agricultural issues
The Harbours Bill reached the further consideration stage
Minister for Communities, Deirdre Hargey, appeared in the chamber for Question Time
Image source, NI AssemblyThat's all from the assembly for today.
We'll be back at 09:00 in the morning for a meeting of the Education Committee.
Do join us then. In the meantime have a great evening.
The votes have been counted and amendment 45 passes.
Members agree to amendments 46 to 49.
Jim Allister doesn’t move his amendment number 51, so MLAs move on to amendment 52 which passes.
The remaining amendments pass on oral votes.
The has completed its further consideration stage.
The speaker then adjourns the assembly.
Amendment 34 is defeated by 45 votes to 40.
Eyes down for the next lot.
Amendments 35 to 44 pass on the nod, apart from 37 and 41, which are not called.
The house divides on amendment 45, brought by the SDLP's Matthew O'Toole and Pat Catney.
Image source, NI AssemblyAmendment 28 passes by 71 votes to 13.
So, it's on to the next lot of amendments.
Jim Allister does not move amendment 29.
Thirty, 32 and 33 all pass on an oral vote.
Amendment 31 is not moved, and the house divides over amendment 34.
It's been brought by Jim Allister and refers to the use of official emails and communications systems.
First Minister Arlene Foster has described a gun attack by the Continuity IRA on what turned out to be a civilian helicopter as "crazy".
The shooting happened during a security operation in County Fermanagh, but police have confirmed that no police helicopter was deployed, only a fixed-wing aircraft.
The PSNI subsequently established a civilian helicopter was in the area at the time.
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A search operation is ongoing near Newtownbutler after a claim by the dissident group that a device had been left in the area.
The group later claimed to have fired shots at a police helicopter.
The votes are in and amendment 23 passes.
MLA continue voting on the long list that remains.
Amendment 24 to 27 pass without issue, but 28 is a sticking point and the house divides for members to cast a vote.
MLAs begin the long process of voting on amendments.
They agree to number 18, 19 and 20.
Number 21, which was proposed by the SDLP’s Matthew O’Toole, is not moved.
Members move on to amendment 22 which passes without issue, but the house divides over amendment 23.
You can read each of the amendments in detail here., external
It’s been a long day for members in the chamber, so before moving to votes on the debated amendments, they take a short comfort break.
Image source, NI AssemblyFinance Minster Conor Murphy winds on the debate and reiterates his opposition to the bill.
He says he has "considerable concerns about the wisdom of legislating in this way and I believe that there are others in the chamber who agree with that position".
He says there is still an opportunity for the assembly to defeat the bill at the final reading.
Referring to an amendment on lobbying, he says, "that ensures that a member of the public expressing a view to a minister or a special adviser is not counted as lobbying. Lobbying implies someone seeking personal or organisational advantage".
The minister says the bill "risks making administration a matter of defensive compliance and bureaucratic box ticking".
Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon has announced that Irish language signs will be rolled out along the West Belfast Gilder route.
The signage will appear from Millfield to McKinstry Road.
Ms Mallon said the move is "in line with the commitments to the Irish language in New Decade, New Approach".
"This will see signs on board these Glider vehicles across the west, for the first time in both Irish and English," said the minister.
Image source, Pacemaker"This will see signs on board these Glider vehicles across the west, for the first time in both Irish and English," said the minister.
"This is a step in the right direction for language equality," the SDLP minister said, adding, "these measures will be implemented as quickly as possible".
Jim Allister is called to respond to the debate so far.
The bill sponsor says there are some issues of “non-controversy and some of controversy” included in this amendment group.
The TUV MLA turns to the issue of departmental records and amendments put forward by the minister in relation to this.
“What may need to be contained today, may not need to be contained tomorrow,” says the MLA, and asks the minister to provide clarification.
Image source, NI AssemblyMr Allister says he will oppose amendment 23 but will be supporting amendment 24.
Turning to concerns some members raised around amendments relating the use of private technological equipment to send emails.
“There is no other reason to not want to have this, other than to want to hide things,” says the MLA.
“Having come through RHI (renewable heat incentive) it is important that we should set a standard of what is expected and put it into legislation,” says Mr Allister.
In conclusion, the TUV leader says he doesn’t think “this bill answers all the problems crawling out from RHI, I don’t. I think there is a definite piece of work to do be done by the executive in regard to the civil service”.
Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political reporter
Image source, PA/ReutersStormont's agriculture minister has hit back at a claim by the NI secretary that trade disruption across the Irish Sea is due to Covid-19 and not Brexit.
On Tuesday, Brandon Lewis said images of empty supermarket shelves had "nothing to do with the Protocol".
But Edwin Poots said Brexit will affect the supply of many processed foods.
He described Mr Lewis as "the emperor with no clothes - but instead of a small boy pointing out he's naked, the whole crowd is pointing it out".
You can read more on this story here.
Image source, NI AssemblyGerry Carroll says the recording of meetings and the presence of civil servants at meetings "are some of the most basic forms of accountability and transparency that should be expected of ministers".
The People Before Profit MLA says that "when a minister is acting in an official capacity, engaging in official business, one has to wonder what they would have to hide".
Jim Wells, the DUP MLA who has had the party whip removed, begins his comments by congratulating Jim Allister on getting his private members’ bill to this stage.
He tells MLAs, “I’m whip-less and Spad-less and it’s absolutely blissful”.
The South Down MLA says “I detect from Sinn Féin that they know they have lost the battle” against the bill.
Image source, NI Assembly“If all we have achieved, is reduce the number of Spads, reduce their pay to a sensible level, we’ve stopped them operating out of Connolly House and we’ve made them think twice before they leak information to outside bodies, then this bill will have been a success,” says Mr Wells.
A group of Senedd members drank alcohol on Welsh Parliament premises, days after the ban on serving drinks in pubs took effect.
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Image source, NI AssemblyThe amendments contained in this second group "speak to the key reforms that are required to our government," says the SDLP's Pat Catney.
"It is important, however, that we strike the right balance. The provisions must be effective in promoting reform and transparency but they must not be cumbersome," says the Lagan Valley MLA.
“The amendments before us once again prove the weakness of the original legislation,” says John O’Dowd.
The Sinn Féin MLA says “today in total, we will have brought forward as a collective, we will have brought forward 81 amendments to that 15 clause, 17 page bill”.
Image source, NI AssemblyMr O’Dowd says the bill was “published in great gusto” in a bid to “cure all the ills of the assembly, of the executive and resolve the issue of the RHI report”.
“It’s no longer Jim Allister’s bill, it’s a bill brought together by a variety of resources and individuals trying to make bad legislation workable,” he adds.
Image source, NI AssemblyAndrew Muir outlines the amendments the Alliance Party will support.
He says his party wants to see a register of lobbyists.
Mr Muir says the party will oppose amendment 34 on the use of official email systems and devices.
"I have my own i-Pad, my own laptop, my own i-Phone. I use my own devices very largely, that's the way of the world nowadays in 2021," he adds.
Mr Muir says passing the law would mean passing "bad law".
Matthew O’Toole says amendment 21, relating to record keeping, won’t be moved by his party.
Rather the SDLP will be supporting the finance minister’s amendment, number 22, which deals with the same issue.
Mr O’Toole adds that the SDLP won’t move amendment 37, but will be supporting number 36, which he describes as possibly “the most important amendment of today’s groupings”.
Image source, NI AssemblyAmendment 45, which relates to clause 13, which is “about scrutiny by committees” will be moved by the SDLP, says Mr O’Toole.
He says there are “clearly inconsistencies” about the “level of information” that committees get.
The former civil servant says he’s "not in any way naive about the capacity of legislation to completely reform the culture of our politics”.
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