Speeches by Robinson.

“In working it through, do we envisage a world in which you are able to honour the manifesto commitment that local politicians have restored decision making over these funds in Northern Ireland?”

“It is perfectly legitimate for Government to say, “We are changing structural funds.” It is perfectly legitimate for Government to say, “We are retaining decision making over those funds.” But it is also perfectly legitimate for this Committee to ask why the Labour Government are not honouring the manifesto pledge to r…”

“On the question of money for Casement, issues were raised privately between ourselves, and then publicly by others, about the nature of the allocation. Are you in a position to add some further detail today?”

“You described it to me as an equity grant, because it is an equity stake.”

“Do the Executive have to accept that?”

“The allocation of £50 million.”

“Just as when we discussed this last week, that was not the question. My question is: do they have to accept it?”

“Thank you. Again, that is not an answer to the question.”

“It is a simple question about the mechanics of this. The second question is whether the £50 million is additional?”

“To the FTC limits that are allocated to the Northern Ireland Executive.”

“In the Blue Book there was a pictorial indication, in table form, of FTC for the Northern Ireland Executive over the next five years, and it has flatlined: £100 million per year for each of those five years. I wonder why there isn’t an indication of an additional allocation of £50 million FTC.”

“It is flat, so I think that whether it is additional or not is a fair question.”

“Thank you.”

“Briefly, Secretary of State, I do not intend this as a combative question, and I agree with your condemnation of violence. As I am sure you are aware, I do not just say that publicly on the airwaves; I say it practically on the streets. I have been there at times to provide a positive voice, whenever I worry that thing…”

“That is fair, but as far as I understand, in the June monitoring round process, there is a paper for £5 million for the cost of mutual aid and disorder. There would be a requirement for £5 million to £7 million in this financial year to start the recruitment process, but there is no paper or formal bid for those moneys…”

“Secretary of State, I am disappointed to hear you rule out extending the timeframe for ICRIR, particularly for Omagh. There are other requests already there that go right up to 2005 and 2006. If there was unanimity of view across the political parties of Northern Ireland asking you to extend the ICRIR deadline from 10 …”

“If there were, would you consider it?”

“But, as you know, there are explorations around the extension of ICRIR into the southern jurisdiction. The Omagh bombing inquiry can look only at issues pertaining to UK state actors, UK state agencies and UK state authorities—nothing of the Republic of Ireland. If ICRIR were extended on a cross-jurisdictional basis, t…”

“I think that is a shameful portrayal of what the memorandum of understanding represents. It can only allow the facilitation of information to answer questions as to whether the Omagh bombing could have been avoided because of the actions of UK state authorities. There is no introspection within the memorandum of unders…”

“It is shameful, because it is totally constrained by its terms of reference.”