Speeches by Robinson.

“Using the TACO acronym almost makes it seem trivial, but there are structural deficiencies that Government could productively be engaged in trying to fix. It was clear to us, at least in December 2023, that, when Government were writing off £559 million and then giving money to satisfy a pay award, they did so for one …”

“Good morning to you all. Sir Robert, you will recall back in December 2023 there were discussions at Hillsborough Castle. It is becoming a recurring theme. At that stage, the Government agreed to write off £559 million. There was consternation that they did not backdate that to the start of the CSR period, but a recogn…”

“In fairness, I just want to add a little to what you said about the police funding. You are right about how comparable the amount of money is that Northern Ireland gets alongside the CST. The problem is that that means that it is not additional. It is exactly the same as any police force in the rest of the United Kingd…”

“Ms O’Reilly, on the transformation fund, I think you are being kind to the Executive and giving some space for them to work through applications to the fund that would be truly transformative. My big concern about transformation funds is that Departments put in applications for IT or systems refresh, so things that, or…”

“Good morning, Secretary of State.”

“It is interesting to hear you repeat some of the things that I have said to you over quite a long period of time, and I am glad that we are getting somewhere.”

“Good morning to you all. Sir Robert, you will recall back in December 2023 there were discussions at Hillsborough Castle. It is becoming a recurring theme. At that stage, the Government agreed to write off £559 million. There was consternation that they did not backdate that to the start of the CSR period, but a recogn…”

“It is okay. It is for Julie.”

“Good morning, Secretary of State.”

“Thank you. I think you are provoking our curiosity to follow this a bit further.”

“It was back-ended. Do you see any likelihood, as we sit today, almost four or five months into a financial year with no Budget agreed, of those repayments being made?”

“Using the TACO acronym almost makes it seem trivial, but there are structural deficiencies that Government could productively be engaged in trying to fix. It was clear to us, at least in December 2023, that, when Government were writing off £559 million and then giving money to satisfy a pay award, they did so for one …”

“It was back-ended. Do you see any likelihood, as we sit today, almost four or five months into a financial year with no Budget agreed, of those repayments being made?”

“You will know that, privately, during that session, I said that there needs to be a level of trust and courage among the Executive parties, and I am saying it publicly today because I believe that to be true. You have fairly outlined the difficulty around multiparty Executive discussions. I think that you have done tha…”

“I agree. Looking at England, 18% of all employees are within the public sector. In Northern Ireland it is 26%. That is only one tension. The other tension is that many of the employees are governed by national pay awards and their negotiating bodies do so on a national basis. The internal tension is that you would reta…”

“That is an answer to a question, but it is not really the answer to my question. I want to hear from our Secretary of State a full-throated recognition that there is a deficit, that Sir Declan needs access to the unredacted material, and that the Secretary of State will secure agreement from the Irish Government for su…”

“The Secretary of State will know that, given the legacy of our past, two Governments are involved. Was he concerned, as we were, that Sir Declan Morgan shared with the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee two weeks ago his concern that he will not have access to unredacted intelligence material from the Irish Government?…”

“Thank you.”

“We heard that in the Irish Republic the Garda Síochána regularly board trains and buses. When I asked Mr Montgomery, he indicated that he does not have the power to do that in Northern Ireland. Have you ever been asked to provide that power legislatively?”

“We have just had a panel with myriad individuals giving evidence. Border Force say there are issues that are for PSNI, PSNI say there are issues for Border Force, and NCA say they are happy to work with anybody as long as they are in partnership. There was no sense of cohesion. As the Minister who has self-identified a…”