Speeches by Hanna.

“Are you confident that that is not what is happening, and that when interventions are made, they are intelligence-led?”

“This is probably a question for Rob and Miles. Do the NCA have a view on the recently commissioned scoping exercise by the UK and Irish Governments into paramilitary group transition?”

“I think we have largely covered some of the issues around data collection. On extraction, we have heard submissions to the Committee about the lack of data collection and about immigration actions that appear to be not intelligence-led, but rather based on visual evidence—the colour of people’s skin. Are you confident …”

“Can you think of a reason why a company like that, with no discernible trading footprint and those assets, which have been widely reported in the media, has not been investigated by law enforcement agencies?”

“Is a shop called Green Cross (Art and Bookshop) Ltd on your radar? Based on that information, which has been widely available in the media, would the NCA investigate it?”

“Our Committee’s papers indicate that you are currently investigating around £1.5 million of assets linked to crime and paramilitary groups. If you became aware of a company, for example a bookshop, that appeared to have £200,000 of assets or more but no discernible commercial activity—no premises, no staff, no online t…”

“Do you or other law enforcement agencies have the necessary tools, powers, legislation and political cover to go after the ill-gotten gains of those linked to paramilitary organisations, or are other tools or legislation required?”

“Given the role of groups like the UVF, UDA, CIRA and the INLA in organised crime, particularly in drug supply, would you assess their activity as primarily political or primarily criminal? Therefore, do you think that a political agreement is likely to have an impact on their criminal activity and bring it to an end?”

“10. What recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of reducing VAT for the hospitality sector in Northern Ireland.”

“As well as the business pressures, a majority of households in Northern Ireland and many businesses use heating oil as their main heating source, so they are particularly exposed to shocks such as that which we are experiencing due to the wrong-headed conflict in the middle east, and they are not protected by the energ…”

“Thank you very much, Secretary of State. Do you recognise that we are in a bit of a fiscal doom loop, in that every year or two there is a crisis? The Executive say, “Give us more money,” and you say, “No. Spend what you have more effectively.” Then the Executive say, “We’ve overspent,” and you say, “Here’s a loan, but…”

“It has commenced that, but it is slow walking it—nothing is coming out of that process.”

“I have one small question for Minister Patrick. The Northern Ireland Office reported a £1.97 billion underspend on the expected drawdown from the Executive. Would you suggest that that is linked to brilliant efficiencies, or maybe to inadequacies in capital spend? Will that be taken into account when you are doing the …”

“We will come to the end of the road on collapse only if we address the mechanisms that allow people to collapse so readily, and to keep the Executive down so readily. While those tools are so easily available, they will be used.”

“We seem to disagree on the link—I am surprised by that—and on the effect that that instability and long periods of absence have on the public finances. How do you propose to go forward with the request from the Assembly, validly endorsed by a majority of MLAs, to convene discussions on reform?”

“Do you disagree that the Stormont instability is linked to this, and that if we fail to reform Stormont we are not going to address the problem? I am asking whether you agree with that as a proposition, and how you propose to respond to the majority of MLAs asking you, as the Secretary of State, to convene discussions …”

“I do not disagree with any of that. A multi-year budget would go a very long way. I am sure that the current and former Health Ministers would concur. But do you accept the link between Stormont dysfunction, the decision-making logjam and the periods of absence, and that if we fail to reform Stormont we will be back he…”

“The local growth fund was a UK Government policy that had been working to support some people outside of the labour market into decent work, helping to address Northern Ireland’s low productivity rates. The UK Government have changed that policy and the capital revenue split in a way that works for the Treasury, but no…”

“Separate from the dual market opportunity, what other challenges relating to the Windsor framework are you encountering within businesses?”

“I wanted to ask you about businesses realising or not realising the benefits of dual market access, some of which appears to be down to its not being promoted actively, and some of the continuing frictions and complexities. I wanted to ask you about those—what feedback and patterns are you noticing from Northern Irelan…”