BRITISH-IRISH PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY Forty-fifth Plenary Session 21 - 23 October 2012, Glasgow MEMBERSHIP OF THE BRITISH-IRISH PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY STEERING COMMITTEE Co-Chairs Mr Laurence ROBERTSON MP Mr Joe McHUGH TD Vice-Chairs Mr Séamus KIRK TD Rt Hon Paul MURPHY MP Mr Pádraig MacLOCHLAINN TD Mr Robert WALTER MP MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE Oireachtas Members British Members Mr Joe McHUGH TD Mr Laurence ROBERTSON MP Senator Paul BRADFORD (Associate) Mr Joe BENTON MP Senator Terry BRENNAN (Associate) Lord BEW Senator Paul COGHLAN Baroness BLOOD MBE Mr Seán CONLAN TD Mr Oliver COLVILE MP Mr Noel COONAN TD Mr Jim DOBBIN MP Senator John CROWN Lord DUBS Senator Maurice CUMMINS Lord EMPEY OBE Mr Frank FEIGHAN TD Mr Paul FLYNN MP Senator Jimmy HARTE Lord GERMAN OBE Senator James HEFFERNAN Lord GORDON of Strathblane (Associate) Senator Imelda HENRY Mr Stephen LLOYD MP Mr Martin HEYDON TD Rt Hon Lord MAWHINNEY Senator Cáit KEANE Rt Hon Paul MURPHY MP Mr Pádraig MACLOCHLAINN TD Mr John ROBERTSON MP Mr Mattie McGRATH TD Lord ROGAN Senator Paschal MOONEY Mr Chris RUANE MP Mr Patrick DONOVAN TD Mr Jim SHERIDAN MP Ms Ann PHELAN TD Lord SKELMERSDALE Mr John Paul PHELAN TD Mr Arthur SPRING TD Senator Jim WALSH Welsh Assembly Members Scottish Parliament Members Mr David MELDING AM Mr John SCOTT MSP Ms Elin JONES AM (Associate) Mr Willie COFFEY MSP Mr William POWELL AM Mr James DORNAN MSP (Associate) Mr Ken SKATES AM Mr Michael McMAHON MSP Mrs Joyce WATSON AM (Associate) Ms Mary SCANLON MSP Tynwald Member Northern Ireland Assembly Members The Hon Stephen RODAN SHK Mr John McCALLISTER MLA Mr David McCLARTY MLA States of Jersey Member Mr Barry McELDUFF MLA Mr Jim WELLS MLA Connétable Daniel Joseph MURPHY States of Guernsey Member Deputy Roger PERROT OTHERS ATTENDING AS GUEST SPEAKERS Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, Mr Iain McMillan CBE, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Director of CBI Scotland Mr Graham Smith, Ms Ailish Forde, General Secretary of the Scottish Head of Industry Affairs and Alcohol Trades Union Congress (STUC) Policy, Diageo Ireland Mr Riddell Graham, Ms Jane Richardson, Director of Partnerships, VisitScotland Corporate Relations Director, Diageo Scotland Professor Sir William McKay KCB, Chairman of the Commission on the Mr Fergus Ewing MSP, Consequences of Devolution for the Minister for Energy, Enterprise and House of Commons Tourism, Scottish Government OFFICIALS Joint Clerks to the Assembly Clerks of the Devolved Institutions Dr Robin James, British Co-Clerk Mr Steven Bell Ms Sinéad Quinn, Irish Co-Clerk Mr Robert Lloyd-Williams Mr Peter Hall Media Adviser to the Assembly Mr Ronan Farren COMMITTEE CLERKS TO THE ASSEMBLY Committee A: Sovereign Matters Committee B: European Affairs Mr Frank Power Ms Alison Groves Mr Marek Kubala Mr Frank Power Committee C: Economic Committee D: Environmental and Ms Jullee Clarke Social Ms Judith Boyce Mr Nicolas Besly Ms Jullee Clarke British and Irish Secretariats Official Reporters Mrs Amanda Healy Ms Ellie Chainey Miss Priscilla Hungerford Mrs Glenice Hoffmann Sir Michael Davies KCB Mr Murdo MacLeod Ms Jullee Clarke Mr Tony Minichiello Miss Franca Ghelfi Mrs Nicola Murphy Mr Simon Tierney Monday 22 October 2012 The Assembly met at 9:35 am. Introductory Remarks and Adoption of Draft Programme of Business The Co-Chairman (Mr Laurence Robertson MP): Good morning. The Co-Chairman Mr Joe McHugh TD and I welcome you to the 45th plenary session of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA), which is now in public session. It is a great pleasure to be here in Glasgow for the first time. I remind Members that the proceedings of the Assembly do not attract parliamentary privilege. There are a number of new Members since the previous plenary session. They are Lord Empey from the UK Parliament, Deputy Roger Perrot from Guernsey and Connétable Daniel Murphy from Jersey. I also have to inform the Assembly that, in accordance with rule 2A, the following associate Members have accepted the invitation of the Steering Committee to assume the powers and responsibilities of Members for the whole of the session. They are Senator Terry Brennan and Senator James Heffernan from Ireland, Lord German and Lord Gordon of Strathblane from the UK, Mr James Dornan MSP from Scotland and Ms Elin Jones AM and Mrs Joyce Watson AM from Wales. I beg to move the adoption of the draft programme of business. We had a tremendous session in May in Dublin, which will be a very hard act to follow. I am delighted to say that, because of a lot of work put in by a great number of people too numerous to mention, we are very hopeful that this will be a very enjoyable and informative session as we concentrate particularly on two themes: the Scottish economy and business and, of course, Irish-Scottish relations, as well as the overall British-Irish relations. We are very grateful to the First Minister of Scotland, Mr Alex Salmond, for his letter of welcome, which has been included in Members' packs. We are sorry that he could not join us here today. We are delighted that the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mrs Theresa Villiers MP, is with us and will address us very shortly. I pay tribute to the former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mr Owen Paterson MP, who has gone on to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). I have to tell you that he came to my constituency a few days ago, and the security that he had in that role far outweighs the security that he had in his previous role. I think that it was something to do with badger trials or something like that. We are delighted that Mrs Villiers is here with us today. I thank her very much indeed for coming. I am not going to go through the entire programme; we have that in our packs, and each session will be introduced as we get to it. I draw the Assembly's attention to one change in the programme: as was previously announced, the Scottish Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism will speak at 12.00 noon — not 11.30 am — tomorrow. The Steering Committee, which met last night, therefore proposes that the progress reports from Committees C and D be moved from this afternoon and taken in the 11.30 am to 12.00 noon slot tomorrow, together with Government replies to previous Committee reports. The revised programme is available at the back of the room. I beg to move the adoption of the programme. Question put and agreed. The Co-Chairman (Mr Laurence Robertson MP): Thank you very much. I am delighted to now hand over to my Co-Chair, Joe McHugh. Address by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The Co-Chairman (Mr Joe McHugh TD): Thank you, Co-Chair. It is my great pleasure to invite the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mrs Theresa Villiers MP, to make the first contribution of the day. I acknowledge the work programme that you, Co-Chair, have prepared, along with Robin and the British side. It is going to be a fairly packed agenda, and I look forward to it. Without further ado, I welcome Theresa. It is an opportunity for you to set out your stall in relation to your new post. No doubt we will have an interactive session in which people will have questions to ask following it. Obviously, it being a political forum, there will be observations as well as questions. You are very welcome; we are absolutely delighted that you are here today. I know that you will be in Dublin on 7 November. I look forward to meeting you formally on a range of issues. I wish you the very best of luck in your new post. We look forward to your contribution today. [Applause.] Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP (Secretary of State for Northern Ireland): Thank you for that very warm welcome. I am delighted to be able to attend this Assembly for the first time. I know how much this institution has done to foster closer relations between the UK and Ireland. I am also conscious of the crucial role that so many of you here today played in delivering the political stability that Northern Ireland enjoys today. It is thanks to the work of Members of this institution and so many others that I am able to talk to you this morning about a Northern Ireland that is looking forward to a confident future. I was glad to see that the BIPA model is now being emulated with the inaugural meeting last week of the North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association. I gather that some of you took part in that successful event. Over the past week since David Cameron did me the great honour of appointing me as Secretary of State, I have really enjoyed getting out and about in Northern Ireland and meeting people, listening to their views and concerns, and finding out what really matters to them. The introductory meetings that I have had across the political spectrum have given me invaluable insight into the challenges that we face. I look forward to building on those initial discussions and working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive in pursuit of our shared goals on political stability, security and the economy. I start with the economy. From the outset, I have emphasised that helping to revive the Northern Ireland economy is an overriding priority for me as the new Secretary of State. I have also been emphasising that Northern Ireland has a huge amount going for it.