Question Time: Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister Tuesday 26 November 2013
Deputy First
Minister, Martin McGuinness, addressed concerns around the stalling Welfare Reform
Bill during today’s Question
Time. Difficulties surrounding issues such as the proposed bedroom
tax have seen the legislation pulled by the Social Development Minister.
The UK’s Work and Pensions Minister, Michael Penning, has added to the
pressure by saying that Northern Ireland faces a penalty charge of £5m a
month from January 2014 if there has still been no resolution. While the deputy
First Minister conceded that he is “conscious of any funding that might be
withdrawn from the block grant”, he refused to be unnerved by the significant
pressure coming from the Treasury. The main concern is to “protect the most
vulnerable members of (our) society” by ensuring that we come out with the best
possible Welfare Reform system. He pointed to the difficulties that Westminster
has faced in implementing Welfare Reform saying, “I am not sure why people are
in such a rush for us to get it wrong as well”.
Junior
Minister, Jennifer McCann, provided Kieran McCarthy with an assessment of the
implementation of the proposals in ‘Together:
Building a United Community’, the strategy created to improve community
relations and bring our society together. In response to Mr McCarthy’s
suggestion that the department might feel “ashamed” at the lack of progress
made in the six months since the announcement
of the strategy, Ms McCann disagreed saying “substantive progress” has been
made on many of the initiatives and that “the Member has to appreciate that this
is a very large project that we are embarking on”.
During topical
questions, Basil McCrea asked the deputy First Minister for his thoughts on
devolving further financial powers to Northern Ireland. Mr McGuinness outlined
his commitment to seeing the devolution of Corporation Tax powers highlighting
the benefits this could have in terms of foreign investment and job creation,
declaring that “it will be a massive step forward for our administration”. He
acknowledged the different party stances concerned with the devolution of certain
other financial powers saying that these could be addressed through cross party
dialogue.
Also
discussed were foreign ventures in the US and China, Shackleton
barracks and the upcoming flag protests in Belfast city centre.
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