Proceedings of the Committee on the Preparation for Government

Minutes of the meeting held on Monday, 3 July 2006 in Room 144, Parliament Buildings.

In the Chair: Jim Wells

Present: John Dallat 
Dr Sean Farren
David Ford
Michelle Gildernew MP
Danny Kennedy
Kieran McCarthy
Dr William McCrea MP
Dr Alasdair McDonnell MP
Alan McFarland
David McNarry
Lord Morrow
Conor Murphy MP

In Attendance: Nuala Dunwoody (Clerk Assistant)
Debbie Pritchard (Principal Clerk)
Jim Beatty (Assistant Clerk)
Pauline Innes (Clerical Officer)
Peter Gilleece (Senior Researcher)

Observing: Francie Molloy (Chairperson) 

The meeting commenced at 2.06am.

1. Apologies

Mr Durkan MP (Mr Dallat attended the meeting as SDLP representative in place of Mr Durkan MP)

Ms Long (Mr McCarthy attended the meeting as the Alliance Party representative in place of Ms Long)

Mr McGimpsey (Mr McNarry attended the meeting as UUPAG representative in place of Mr McGimpsey)

Mr McGuinness MP

Mr Paisley

2. The Lord Morrow of Clogher Valley

The Chairperson congratulated the Lord Morrow on taking his seat in the House of Lords.

3. Previous Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of 28 June 2006 were agreed.

4. Report of meeting between the Chairpersons and the Secretary of State on 29 June 2006.

Mr Molloy joined the meeting for this item.

The Chairpersons reported to the Committee on their meeting with the Secretary of State on 29 June 2006.

5. Items of Business for Plenary

Mr Kennedy proposed that the Committee should recommend to the Business Committee that a Take Note debate should be held in the Assembly to consider the Hansard Reports of the Preparation for Government Committee and that the Preparation for Government Committee should proceed to conduct ongoing business and establish the necessary sub-committees to bring forward the work of the Preparation for Government Committee.

There was not consensus and the proposal fell.

Dr McDonnell MP left the meeting at 3.10pm.

6. Future Work of the Committee

The Committee considered a table of issues prepared by the Clerks from the Hansard Reports. Mr McFarland asked that ‘Comprehensive Agreement’ and ‘First Minister/Deputy First Minister issues’ should be inserted as headings on the table.

Dr McCrea proposed that the setting up of a Committee on Economic Regeneration should be referred to the Business Committee to take forward.

There was not consensus and the proposal fell.

Lord Morrow left the meeting at 3.42pm.

Mr McCarthy left the meeting at 3.45pm.

It was agreed that the meeting would be adjourned to allow members to consult their parties before the next Committee meeting.

7. Hansard Reports

It was agreed that after copies of the final Hansard Reports had been distributed to Assembly Members, they would be posted on the Assembly website.

8. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Committee will be on Monday, 10 July 2006 at 2.00pm in Room 144, Parliament Buildings.

The meeting adjourned at 4.05pm.