Minutes of Proceedings

The Chairperson opened the meeting, in closed session, at 10:20am.

1. Chairperson's business

1.1. The Committee agreed to hold the meeting in closed session.

1.2. The Committee agreed that the Clerk would write to Mr Barry McElduff, who left the Committee on Monday 4 February 2002, thanking him for his contribution to the Committee during his membership. The Committee recorded a welcome to Mr John Kelly who joined the Committee on Monday 4 February 2002.

1.3. The Committee have been advised that the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland has commissioned a strategic review of the Northern Ireland Geographic Information System. As part of the visioning process a Conference Workshop is being held from Wednesday 20 February to Friday 22 February 2002 at Lusty Beg Island, Kesh, Co Fermanagh. The Department has asked for two representatives from the Committee to participate. Members agreed that the Clerk would seek more information and revisit the matter at a future meeting.

2. Minutes of the meeting of 31 January 2002

2.1. The draft Minutes of Proceedings were agreed.

3. Matters arising

3.1. There were no matters arising.

Dr Adamson attended the meeting at 10:30am.

4. Report on the Cultural Tourism and the Arts Inquiry

4.1. The Committee continued the initial scrutiny of the draft report, prepared by the Specialist Advisor and agreed that the Clerk would redraft identified areas.

4.2. Mr Wilson reiterated his position, as expressed at the meeting on 17 January 2002, that the words "terrorism" and "terrorist" should not be removed from the draft report and could not support the redrafted version omitting the words, which had been prepared by the Clerk, as requested, for consideration at the meeting. Mr Wilson recalled that only one member had strongly objected to the use of the words at the previous meeting. Mr Wilson advocated that the Committee was not preparing a tourist brochure, and that the report should reflect the negative facts that had an adverse effect on the development of Northern Ireland as a tourist destination during the period 1969 to 1993.

4.3. Mrs Nelis reiterated her position, as expressed at the meeting on 17 January 2002, that the words "terrorism" and "terrorist" should be removed from the draft report. Mrs Nelis stated that she would prefer a word such as "conflict", but could not agree to the inclusion of words, which were perceived differently in her constituency. In the absence of consensus on the paragraphs, the Committee agreed to continue its consideration of the rest of the report.

4.4. The Committee agreed to return to the matter when the initial consideration of the draft had been completed.

Mr Shannon attended the meeting at 11:12am.
Mr Hilditch attended the meeting at 11:16am.

4.5. The Committee agreed to seek further information about the World Tourism Organisation's definition of 'culture'.

4.6. The Committee agreed that the report would include reference to the Shankill Crozier and the Broighter Gold Horde, both of which have a Northern Ireland dimension, but are held in the National Museum of Ireland.

Mr Shannon left the meeting at 11:48am.
Mr Wilson left the meeting at 12:00noon.

4.7. The Committee agreed that it would visit the Saint Patrick's Centre in Downpatrick.

4.8. The Committee agreed to obtain annual visitor attendance figures for the W5 Science Park.

Mr Hilditch left the meeting at 12:12pm.

5. Date of next meeting

5.1. The next meeting of the Committee will take place at 10:15am on Thursday 7 February 2002 in Room 152.

The Chairperson brought the meeting to a close at 12:34pm.

E ONeill
Chairperson