BRITISH-IRISH PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY TIONÓL PARLAIMINTEACH NA BREATAINE AGUS NA hÉIREANN _____________________________________________ FORTIETH PLENARY SESSION 21-23 February 2010 Cavan _________________________________________________________________ OFFICIAL REPORT (Final Revised Edition) (Produced by the British-Irish Parliamentary Reporting Association) 1 Contents MONDAY, 22 FEBRUARY 2010 Page 6 Plenary Business Page 7 Programme of Business Page 7 Twenty Years of the Assembly — A Personal Reflection Page 11 Launch of the Assembly's New Website Page 13 The Economy and the Banking Sector Page 32 Fourteenth Annual Report of the Assembly Page 35 Business Reports from Committees Page 50 Presentation by the Taoiseach Page 64 Address by Garda Commissioner and PSNI Chief Constable Page 99 Business Reports from Committees TUESDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2010 Page 105 Plenary Business Page 105 Business Reports from Committees Page 116 Government Responses to Reports Page 121 Assembly Membership Page 122 Announcement Page 123 Newry Bombing Page 123 The Economy and the United States Of America Page 141 North-West Rail Link 2 Page 151 Adjournment 3 MEMBERSHIP OF THE BRITISH-IRISH PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY Steering Committee Co-Chairmen Mr Niall BLANEY TD Rt Hon Paul MURPHY MP Vice-Chairmen Mr Seymour CRAWFORD TD Rt Hon Michael MATES MP Mrs Margaret CONLON TD Rt Hon Lord DUBS Mr Jim O’KEEFFE TD Mr Robert WALTER MP A representative from the National Assemblies of Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Members in Attendance Mr Brian ADAM MSP Dr Alasdair McDONNELL MP MLA Mr John AUSTIN MP Mr Barry McELDUFF MLA Senator Dan BOYLE Mr Dinny McGINLEY TD Mr Johnny BRADY TD Mr Eddie McGRADY MP Senator Alan BRECKON Mr Joe McHUGH TD Mrs Rosemary BUTLER AM Mrs Rosemary McKENNA CBE MP Senator John CARTY Rt Hon Andrew MACKAY MP Senator Donie CASSIDY Mr Andrew MACKINLAY MP Rt Hon Lord COPE Mr Alasdair MORGAN MSP Mr Jim DOBBIN MP Mr Arthur MORGAN TD Senator John ELLIS Senator Francis O’BRIEN Mr Jeff ENNIS MP Mr Charlie O’CONNOR TD Mr Frank FEIGHAN TD Mr Fergus O’DOWD TD Mr Paul FLYNN MP Dr Rory O’HANLON TD Mr Michael GERMAN OBE AM Senator Joe O’REILLY Lord GLENTORAN CBE DL Senator Eugene REGAN Lord GORDON Mr John ROBERTSON MP Deputy Graham GUILLE Hon Stephen Charles RODAN MHK Mr Brian HAYES TD Mr Chris RUANE MP Baroness HARRIS Mr Jim SHERIDAN MP Mr Michael D. HIGGINS TD Mr Iain SMITH MSP Senator Cecilia KEAVENEY Lord SMITH Ms Julie KIRKBRIDE MP Mr Noel TREACY TD Senator Terry LEYDEN Mr Robert WALTER MP 4 Dr Dai LLOYD AM Mrs Joyce WATSON AM Lord MAGINNIS Senator Diarmuid WILSON Mr David McCLARTY MLA Others Present Professor Patrick HONOHAN Chief Constable Matt BAGGOTT An Taoiseach Mr Brian COWEN TD Mr Declan KELLY Garda Commissioner Fachtna MURPHY Officials Joint Clerks to the Body Clerks of the Devolved Institutions Mr Paul Kelly Mr Robert Lloyd-Williams Ms Alda Barry Ms Margaret Neal Committee Clerks to the Assembly Committee A: Sovereign Matters Committee B: European Affairs Ms Sighle Doherty Mr Eliot Wilson Mr Adrian Jenner Ms Jillian O’Keeffe Committee C: Economic Committee D: Environmental and Social Ms Jillian O’Keeffe Mr Nick Besly Ms Tracey Garratty Ms Jillian O’Keeffe Irish and British Secretariats Official Reporters Ms Jullee Clarke Mr Rob Littlejohn Mrs Amanda Healy Mr Tony Minichiello Sir Michael Davies KCB Mr Colm McNamee Ms Lisa Mair Griffiths Ms Brigid Conway Mr James Donoghue 5 6 MONDAY 22 February 2010 The Assembly met at 9.10 am. PLENARY BUSINESS The Co-Chairman (Mr Niall Blaney TD): I call the meeting to order. The Assembly is now in public session. I welcome you all to Cavan for our fortieth plenary meeting and our twentieth anniversary. I have some brief announcements to make and some housekeeping arrangements to inform Members of before we begin. I remind Members and those in the public gallery to ensure that all mobile phones, BlackBerrys, pagers and beepers are switched off. I remind Members that the proceedings of the Assembly do not attract parliamentary privilege. Accordingly, caution should be exercised, particularly when making an utterance of a personal nature. Senator Terry Leyden replaced Séamus Kirk, who was elected Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann in October 2009. I wish Deputy Kirk well in that role. I have to inform the Assembly that, in accordance with rule 2(a), the following Associate Members have accepted the invitation of the Steering Committee to assume the powers and responsibilities of Members of the whole Assembly for the whole of the session. On the Irish side, they are Frank Feighan TD, Senator Cecilia Keaveney, Senator Joe O’Reilly and Senator Eugene Regan. On the United Kingdom side, we have Jim Dobbin MP, Baroness Harris of Richmond, Julie Kirkbride MP and Jim Sheridan MP. I wish to inform Members that there will be a suspension for a family photograph to be taken outside the conference centre, weather permitting, at 1.00 pm. As I said earlier, you are all very welcome. Paul, do you wish to say a few words of welcome? The Co-Chairman (Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP): Yes. I echo your words, Co-Chair. I wish to thank you and your colleagues for inviting us to a very splendid and fine hotel. I am particularly touched that Michael Mates will open the plenary session by talking about the 7 20 years of the body. It strikes me that, 20 years ago, the sort of things that the body would have been talking about were very different to what we will talk about over the next two days. I am sure that Michael will comment on that in more detail. It is worth noting that we have seen considerable progress in Northern Ireland over the past few weeks. I am sure that everybody is very pleased with that. Finally, I wish to say that there is an opportunity for all of the various jurisdictions represented here to compare best practice with regard to how each Parliament and Government is dealing with the problems of the recession and how their various economies are going. We have a very interesting two days ahead of us. Thank you for organising this. The Co-Chairman (Mr Niall Blaney TD): Thank you Paul. I think that you covered all aspects, and I do not think that any more remarks are required from me. We will get on with business as time is ticking on. PROGRAMME OF BUSINESS The Co-Chairman (Mr Niall Blaney TD): Members have received a copy of the proposed Programme of Business. Is the proposed Programme of Business, as amended, agreed? Programme of Business, as amended, agreed. The Co-Chairman (Mr Niall Blaney TD): Members will note that there are forms on the tables. Those should be filled out by any Member who wishes to put questions to the speakers or to take part in debates. Please note that those are colour coded. Members wishing to put questions to today’s first guest speaker, Professor Patrick Honahan, are asked to fill in the pink form and hold it up for collection. As you can see, our agenda is full, so it is possible that not all Members wishing to put questions will have the opportunity to do so. The Steering Committee has suggested that, if necessary, a time limit of three minutes should be imposed on speeches. We have placed a particular emphasis on securing very 8 good speakers for this session, so we beg your indulgence because, obviously, not every Member will be able to speak on every item today. We ask you to keep your comments as brief as possible and to ask direct questions. By doing so, we will have a very fruitful day. 20 YEARS OF THE ASSEMBLY — A PERSONAL REFLECTION The Co-Chairman (Mr Niall Blaney TD): Members will wish to note that this is our fortieth plenary meeting, marking 20 years of what was the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body and is now the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. To mark the occasion, Michael Mates MP, one of the founder Members of the Assembly, will share with us a personal reflection on his first 20 years. However, this is the last hurrah for Michael and a whole number of Members in the room. Certainly, we wish you all well. We are delighted that you could join us here for this occasion. Immediately after Michael’s address, another founder Member, Jim O’Keeffe, will formally launch our new website. I now ask Michael to address us. [Applause.] 9.15 am Rt Hon Michael Mates MP: Thank you very much, Co-Chairman. Before this old man starts his reminiscences, perhaps it is appropriate to take a few seconds to explain why this very Englishman has been involved in Irish matters for so long. I first came to Northern Ireland in June 1955. I was sent here as a national service officer, just commissioned to the Royal Ulster Rifles. The British Co-Chairman told me in the car yesterday that he was seven years old at the time. The Irish Co-Chairman has not told me anything. [Laughter.] Not only was he not a twinkle in his father’s eye — but if he was, he was a very young twinkle — I am not even sure whether his parents would have met in 1955. Therefore, it covers a long time, but it is the reason why I have been so devoted to all the various causes here. I was here in 1955. I then went to Germany with the Royal Ulster Rifles but came back in 1959 for some months. Then, in 1962, I was garrisoned in Omagh, at Lisanelly barracks, 9 and a little longer, later, for three years.