Proceedings of the Committee on the Preparation for Government

12 June 2006

Minutes of the meeting held on Monday, 12 June 2006 in Room 144, Parliament Buildings.

The meeting commenced at 4.02pm

Mr Molloy welcomed everyone to the meeting. He advised members that the Secretary of State had issued a direction on 12 June stating that the deputy presiding officers would chair meetings of the Committee. As Mr Wells was unavailable he would chair the meeting today and Mr Wells would chair the meeting on 13 June 2006.

1. Apologies

Mr Kennedy (Mr McClarty attended the meeting as the UUP representative for Mr Kennedy)
Mr Morrow (Mrs Dodds attended the meeting as the DUP representative for Mr Morrow)
Mr Murphy MP (Mr O’Dowd attended the meeting as the Sinn Fein representative for Mr Murphy)

2. Minutes of Last Meeting

The minutes of the meeting of 6 and 7 June were agreed.

3. Declaration of interests

The Chairperson reminded members that under Standing Order 20(d) ‘Before taking part in any debate or proceeding of the Assembly, a member shall declare any interest, financial or otherwise, which is relevant to that debate or proceeding, where such interest is held by the member or an immediate relative.’ Members were advised that ‘proceeding’ of the Assembly includes meetings of the Committee.

4. Privilege

The Chairperson advised members that under paragraph 6 of schedule 1 of the Northern Ireland Act 2006 ‘a written or oral statement made by a member in or for the purposes of the Assembly is to be privileged from action for defamation unless it is proved to have been made with malice.’ This privilege also extends to meetings of the Committee. Members were asked to note that privilege does not extend to press conferences or statements made to the press.

5. Quorum

The Committee agreed that the quorum should be seven, not including the Chairperson.

6. Meetings to be held in closed/public sessions

The Committee agreed that the question of whether meetings should be held in closed or public session should be considered at the start of each meeting.

The Committee agreed that that the Chairperson who is not in the chair at a particular meeting would be allowed to attend the meeting as an observer.

7. Deputies

The Committee agreed that deputies could attend if members of the Committee were unable to do so.

8. Sub-committees

There was not consensus on the issue of Sub-committees.

9. Consensus

The Committee agreed that it would regard ‘consensus’ as ‘general all party agreement’ which would include ‘no fundamental disagreement’ from any party.

10. Next meeting of the Committee

It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday 13 June at 11.00am with Mr Wells in the chair.

11. Statements from each of the parties

The Chairperson reminded the Committee that its role, as directed by the Secretary of State, was to scope the work, which in the view of the parties, needs to be done in preparation for Government. Each of the parties then made a brief statement.

It was agreed that each of the parties would produce for consideration at the next meeting of the Committee, a paper setting out the issues that, in their view, need to be addressed

It was agreed that the Clerk would produce a paper drawing out any themes emerging from the presentations made by the parties during the meeting for consideration at the next meeting.

12. Notetakers

There was not consensus on the issue of allowing notetakers from each party to attend meetings. 

13. Press release

The Committee agreed to issue a brief press release on the main issues discussed during the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 4.54pm