Summary

  • Culture Minister Caral Ni Chuilin gave evidence for the Culture Committee's inquiry into the Casement Park GAA stadium redevelopment from 10am.

  • Officials briefed the committee on the Community Resuscitation Strategy.

  • Representatives of the Youth Justice Agency briefed the Justice Committee about a revised approach to custodial arrangements for children, from 3pm.

  1. That's all for todaypublished at 16:19 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Alastair Ross runs through the final items of business and adjourns the meeting for the day.

    Join us again on Tuesday morning for what is expected to be a lengthy Assembly debate on the Welfare Reform Bill.

  2. Victimspublished at 16:06 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Tom Elliott

    Ulster Unionist Tom Elliottt asks if there have been any responses from victims.

    "Victims are a key part of this," Mr McGeown says.

    He adds that the children themselves are victims.

  3. Speech therapypublished at 15:51 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Paul Frew

    The DUP's Paul Frew says waiting times for speech and language therapy seem to be an issue.

    He says it appears that 50% of young offenders have problems with speech.

    Declan McGeown says he has arranged a meeting with a representative from the Royal college of Speech and language therapists.

  4. 'Review of a review'published at 15:43 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Raymond McCartney

    Raymond McCartney of Sinn Fein is also concerned that the study could develop into a "review of a review".

    He says they need a clear understanding of "what needs to be done, who will be doing it, and the timescale".

    Mr McGeown says they are devising "both a timeline and a terms of reference".

    He says these should be ready for circulation "before the end of March, or the first week of June".

  5. 'Building'published at 15:31 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Patsy McGlone

    The SDLP's Patsy McGlone wants to know what the difference is between the new scoping study and the recent review of youth justice.

    He is concerned about duplication of effort.

    "This is building on that review," Mr McGeown replies.

  6. 'Buy-in'published at 15:28 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Alastair Ross asks about the "buy-in" from the health and education departments.

    "We haven't got any agreements per-se," said Mr McGeown, but he adds that the departments seem open to collaboration.

  7. Scoping studypublished at 15:26 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Declan McGeown

    Declan McGeown explains the justice minister's decision to commission a scoping study on future development of the youth justice system.

    It follows the decision to end the holding of under-18s at Hydebank Wood Young Offenders Centre, in Belfast.

  8. Officials arrivepublished at 15:23 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Officials from the Justice Department and the Youth Justice Agency

    Declan McGeown, Phil Tooze, and Mary Aughey of the Youth Justice Agency, and Kiera Lloyd of the Department of Justice (DOJ) arrive to begin their briefing.

  9. In the chairpublished at 15:16 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Alastair Ross

    The DUP's Alastair Ross is in the chair for this afternoon's meeting.

  10. And we're backpublished at 14:59 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Business recommences at 3pm with the Justice Committee.

    Officials are briefing the MLAs on a revised approach to custodial arrangements for children.

  11. Committee adjournedpublished at 12:48 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    That ends our coverage of a busy meeting of the Culture Committee.

    Do join us again at 3pm when we will be covering the Justice Committee where department officials and representatives of the Youth Justice Agency will be briefing members on a revised approach to custodial arrangements for children.

  12. Registrationpublished at 12:42 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Basil McCrea

    In response to a question from NI21's Basil McCrea, Dr Margaret Boyle says there is no requirement to register ownership of a defibrillator.

    Dr David McManus says the Ambulance Service is encouraging suppliers to request this from those purchasing the items.

    Oliver McMullan of Sinn Fein proposes that the committee write to the Executive to call for all departments and arms-length bodies to register for defibrillators.

    The committee's chairman, Nelson McCausland, suggests this matter can be raised again in greater detail at next week's meeting.

  13. Defibrillator placementpublished at 12:21 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Dr David McManus

    Dr David McManus from the Ambulance Service describes a number of initiatives in which defibrillators can be accessed in Northern Ireland.

    The first is where they are placed in decommissioned phone boxes and the Ambulance Service knows of their locations.

    The second is placing them in public places that are accessible 24 hours a day.

    He explains that the third initiative was having defibrillators in wall cabinets in locations such a local village halls.

    The Ambulance Service can then pass on a key code to open it or, in some cases, it can open the cabinet remotely via telephone.

  14. CPR training in schoolspublished at 11:57 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    According to Dr Boyle, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is not mandatory in schools, however, this is something she would like to see changed.

    "It would be a good thing if all pupils could receive CPR training in primary and secondary schools as it would be a way of ensuring that a large percentage of the population would at least have a basic knowledge," she says.

  15. What is the community resuscitation strategy?published at 11:45 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Dr Margaret Boyle

    Dr Margaret Boyle from the Department of Health explains that in 2013, the former Health Minister, Edwin Poots, asked the chief medical officer to develop a community resuscitation strategy.

    She says it is aimed at co-ordinating the use of resources available and maximising the number of people trained.

  16. Community Resuscitation Strategypublished at 11:37 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Health officials

    That ends the culture minister's evidence session.

    Dr Margaret Boyle and Seamus Camplisson, from the Department of Health, and Dr David McManus, from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Trust, are now briefing members on the community resuscitation strategy.

  17. 'Public confidence'published at 11:35 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Dominic Bradley

    Dominic Bradley of the SDLP asks the minister how likely it is that the project assessment review will be carried out in 12 weeks.

    "It will be weeks, not months, and not years," Ms Ni Chuilin replies.

    She says that if things are discovered that require more time "then so be it".

    "I want to ensure we lift the carpet up and shake it out, and look everywhere to ensure public confidence is achieved."

  18. 'Reasonable assurances'published at 11:23 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Dr Denis McMahon

    DCAL permanent secretary Dr Denis McMahon says the question that the independent review will consider is whether senior officials in the department were satisfied that designs for the Casement Stadium were safety compliant.

    It needs to looks at "what are reasonable assurances that we received, and did we act reasonably on the basis of them," he says.

    "That is something that definitely does need to be looked at independently by the experts who are going to be doing this project assessment review."

  19. 'Very serious issues'published at 11:10 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    William Humphrey

    DUP North Belfast MLA William Humphrey reads from the minutes of a Sport NI board meeting on 23 June 2014.

    He says these show that Mr Scott raised a number of "very serious issues".

    Mr Humphrey reads from the board minutes:

    "Members noted that there are some challenges on the design aspect of Casement which centred on members exiting. Board members noted that DCAL had been made aware of the issues."

    Ms Ni Chuilin says she will be taking the minutes and presenting them to the inquiry.

    She stresses that "no-one took it upon themselves to elevate it to my level that there were safety concerns".

  20. 'Hurt'published at 10:49 British Summer Time 21 May 2015

    Caral Ni Chuilin says she was "shocked" when she learned of the allegations made by Mr Scott.

    "I was also hurt that someone would accuse me personally of putting at risk up to 30,000 plus spectators and residents in that vicinity," she adds.