Minutes of Proceedings

The meeting opened, in public, at 10:15am.

1. Chairperson's business

1.1. The Chairperson welcomed David McCabe, a new member of staff in the Committee Office.

1.2. The Committee noted Ian Hill's News Letter article about the Arts Council and agreed to write to the Minister about openness of the Council's Board meetings and its reconstitution.

1.3. The Committee agreed to accept the supporting evidence supplied by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board for inclusion in the report on the Inquiry into Cultural Tourism and the Arts and noted the Board's paper addressing key issues raised by the Committee at the meeting on Thursday 25 October 2001.

1.4. The Committee welcomed the Loughs Agency's suggestion that the Committee might wish to visit their Headquarters in Derry and agreed that the FCILC Bill, to be brought forward by DARD in the new year, would provide an ideal opportunity for a briefing session and also to see the type of work that the Agency is involved in.

2. Minutes of the meeting of 8 November 2001

2.1. Minutes of the meeting of 8 November 2001 were agreed.

3. Matters arising

3.1. Para 1.4: Visit to Scottish football stadia - The Committee agreed that the preferred dates would be 12 and 13 December 2001. Members also agreed that the objectives of the visit should be to look at modern stadia with a capacity that might be appropriate for a new National Stadium for Northern Ireland; smaller refurbished stadia; and Soccer Academy development in Scotland.

3.2. Members were made aware that Eamonn McCartan, Chief Executive of the Sports Council for Northern Ireland, had offered to facilitate the visit to the Scottish stadia with the football clubs and the Scottish Sports Council. The Committee agreed to accept this offer and to have Mr McCartan, or a senior representative from the Sports Council, accompany the Committee.

3.3. Dr Adamson thanked the Committee for its good wishes on his appointment to Belfast Civic Trust. He clarified that his appointment was as President and not as Chairman.

Mr Wilson joined the meeting at 10:35am.

4. Programme for Government

4.1. The Committee agreed a response to OFM/DFM on the draft Programme for Government.

5. September monitoring

5.1. The Committee noted that the outcome for the Department was very favourable and that money had been set aside by the Executive to cover the library staff review and the MAGNI deficit pressures. The Committee agreed to write to the Minister about whether the unmet bids would be put forward again in the December monitoring round.

Mr Hilditch left the meeting at 10:48am.

Mr Shannon joined the meeting at 11:37am.

6. Follow-up to the report on Inland Fisheries in Northern Ireland

6.1. The Committee studied in detail, the responses from the Departments affected by the report, ie DCAL, DOE, DARD and DRD. The Committee agreed to write to DOE, DARD, and DRD Committees conveying its considered views. The Committee further agreed to write to the Minister seeking clarification on a number of issues.

Mrs Nelis left the meeting at 11:50am.
Mr Agnew left the meeting at 11:52am.

6.2. The Committee agreed to revisit progress on the report's recommendations in two months time.

6.3. The Committee discussed Dan Kinney's News Letter article about the mysterious deaths of salmon in the Erne estuary. Members agreed to monitor the situation and to await the publication of the report of the Erne Salmon Management Programme.

7. Any other business

7.1. The Committee agreed to invite the Republic of Ireland's Central and Western Fisheries Boards to Northern Ireland after the beginning of March 2002.

8. Date of next meeting

8.1. The next meeting of the Committee will take place at 10:15am on Thursday 22 November 2001 in Room 152.

The meeting closed at 12:00noon.

E ONeill
Chairperson