Minutes of Proceedings
Session: 2008/2009
Date: 28 April 2009
Venue: Room 106
The meeting began at 12.35 pm
1. Introduction
1.1 The Speaker noted an apology from the junior Minister, Rt Hon J Donaldson.
1.2 The impact on business of the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety’s involvement in matters related to the swine flu outbreak was noted. It was agreed that all those items of business affected would be rescheduled under agenda item 4.
2. Minutes of the meeting held on 21 April 2009
2.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 21 April 2009 were agreed and were signed by the Speaker.
3. Matters Arising
3.1 There were no matters arising.
4. Finalisation of Order Paper for Plenary meeting on Tuesday 5 May
Private Members’ Business
4.1 The Speaker referred members to a letter from the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment advising that there would be no Ministerial response to the adjournment debate, scheduled for Tuesday 5 May, on the ‘Management of Assets and Pensions at Visteon Corporation’. Members noted the letter and were content that the adjournment debate would still proceed.
4.2 The Speaker informed members that the Alliance Party had tabled slightly revised wording for the motion on ‘Costs of Division’ scheduled for Tuesday 5 May. Members noted the revised motion and were content for it to appear on the final version of the Order Paper.
5. Provisional arrangements for Plenary meetings in week commencing 11 May
Executive Business
5.1 Aside from Question Time on Monday 11 May, there was no further Executive Business notified for that day. Members noted that the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister wished to make a Statement on Tuesday 12 May relating to the North-South Ministerial Council Institutional Format meeting held on 28 April 2009.
Committee Business
5.2 There was no Committee business.
Private Members’ business
5.3 Members agreed to schedule two private Members’ motions on Monday 11 May and two private Members’ motions on Tuesday 12 May. It was further agreed that business on the Monday should be the rescheduled DUP motions affected by the issue referred to at paragraph 1.2 above.
5.4 Business for the Tuesday was considered under the system of allocating private Members’ business, with the DUP and the SDLP having one slot each. The following motions were proposed to fill the two available slots:
- ‘Dairy Sector ’ (W McCrea, E Poots, W Irwin, T Clarke)
- ‘Proposal to Establish an Ad-Hoc Committee on the Economic Downturn ’ (M Durkan, D O’Loan, C Hanna, A McDonnell, A Attwood).
5.5 Members therefore agreed to reschedule the motions on ‘Health Provision for Older People’ (I Robinson, T Buchanan, A Easton) and ‘Children Missing from Care’ (M McIlveen, E Poots, I McCrea, M Storey) for Monday 11 May; and to schedule the motions on ‘Dairy Sector ’ (W McCrea, E Poots, W Irwin, T Clarke) and ‘Proposal to Establish an Ad-Hoc Committee on the Economic Downturn ’ (M Durkan, D O’Loan, C Hanna, A McDonnell, A Attwood) for Tuesday 12 May. Members agreed that up to 1 hour 30 minutes should be allocated for each debate, with the usual speaking times.
5.6 In relation to a query from Mr Weir about the Ad-Hoc Committee motion, the Speaker advised that, subject to further clarification from the Department of Finance and Personnel about the matters that are of concern, he would take advice on the terms of the motion.
5.7 Members agreed to schedule one adjournment topic for Tuesday 12 May. Members therefore agreed to reschedule Mr D Bradley’s adjournment topic ‘Non-Acute Hospital Provision in Armagh City’, which had been affected by the issue referred to at paragraph 1.2 above, for Tuesday 12 May.
5.8 There was some discussion about the impact of the unavailability of the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, the notification given to the Speaker by the Minister, and the alternative options the Executive had considered, such as the possibility of another Minister attending on Mr McGimpsey’s behalf. The Speaker assured members that the Executive had immediately been asked to explore alternative arrangements and that, as soon as it became clear that there would be no response to any of the debates, he arranged for the Members concerned, and all whips, to be advised of the position. Decisions on whether or not to move those items were left entirely to Members/parties. The Speaker indicated his intention to convey his grave concerns about this specific matter, as well as concerns about Ministerial availability generally, to the Executive.
6. Any Other Business
6.1 The Speaker advised members that he would be considering Hansard and the footage of proceedings in relation to points of order that were raised before the suspension of the sitting about the attendance of Members in the Chamber during Ministerial statements.
7. Date and Time of next meeting
7.1 Members agreed to meet at approximately 1.00 pm on Tuesday 5 May 2009 in Room 106.
The Speaker brought the meeting to a close at 12.58 pm.
