Minutes of Proceedings

The meeting opened at 11.00am in private session.

The Chair declared the meeting open and pointed out that the meeting was being covered by Hansard.

1. Apologies

Mr Tom Elliot
Mr Alex Maskey

2. Minutes of Proceedings of meeting held on 9 November 2010

Members agreed the Minutes of Proceedings of the meeting held on 9 November 2010.

11.01am John O’Dowd joined the meeting.

3. Matters arising

None

4. Chairperson’s Business

None

5. Correspondence

5.1 Incoming Correspondence

Members noted the following correspondence:

• Correspondence from an organisation called Strictly Boardroom relating to boardroom appointments.
• A note of the meeting of the Chairpersons’ Liaison Group held on
  16 th November 2010.

11.02am Jonathan Bell joined the meeting.

5.2 Outgoing Correspondence

Members noted a request for legal advice sent by the Committee Clerk to the Director of Legal Services relating to the operation of sections 16A-16C of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as circumscribed by section 29B of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

11.03am Conall McDevitt joined the meeting.

6. Consideration of the Party Submissions etc

The Chairperson referred members to:

• The timeline, compiled by the Committee Clerk, for concluding discussions in relation to sections 16A-16C of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
• Further legal advice from Jonathan McMillen of Legal Services in relation to the operation of section 29B of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
• The summary of Party submissions as drafted by the Committee Clerk.
• The original Section 16 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
• The Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006.

Jonathan McMillen of Legal Services made a short presentation to the Committee on the further legal advice he had provided in relation to the operation of section 29B of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

11.06am Jonathan McMillen left the meeting.

The Chairperson presented a number of broad options open to the Committee in taking the issues forward.

Agreed: Following discussion, it was agreed that members would converse with their parties on these issues, to enable a decision to be taken at the next meeting scheduled for 30 th November 2010.

The Committee Clerk reminded members of the tight timescale for completion of the review of the operation of sections16A-16C of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

Agreed: It was agreed that it would be necessary for the Committee to meet on a weekly basis in order to meet the deadlines outlined in the timeline for completing the review.

11.13am Raymond McCartney joined the meeting.

The Chairpersonasked members to keep today’s meeting papers and bring them to the next meeting.

7. Any other Business

None.

8. Date, time and place of next meeting

It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would take place on
30th November 2010, at 11.00am in Room 21, Parliament Buildings.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 11.14am.

Mr Jimmy Spratt
Chairperson, Assembly and Executive Review Committee
30 November 2010