Speeches by Robinson.

“Is it your position then, Peter, that you accept that the characterisation of it being “toxic”, “divided” and “disrespectful” was shared with Peter May by one or two individuals, and you accept that for those directly involved, that may be how they feel, but you say that is different from it being the culture of the en…”

“Good morning, Peter.”

“I think it is positive and encouraging that, as you mentioned, you were commissioned jointly by the ICRIR and the NIO—that this was not an “us and them” endeavour but something that was commissioned jointly. This is a simple question, but it gives you the opportunity to talk about your findings more productively. Perha…”

“Okay. Sir Declan, do you accept the characterisation of it being “toxic”, “divided” and “disrespectful”?”

“I beg your pardon, but there is nothing in the framework document that suggests the level of access to information that Sir Declan has just outlined.”

“I beg your pardon, but there is nothing in the framework document that suggests the level of access to information that Sir Declan has just outlined.”

“I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) on securing this debate. Does the Minister understand that when he speaks of co-operation between the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, it rings hollow when immigration officials in Dublin airport indicate where the bus to Belfast is? They proacti…”

“I know that some very hard-working MLAs would not like that categorisation.”

“He has asked me that question already, so I have engaged in that discussion with him. I repeated what I said to you: we can happily engage in those discussions, but that the AERC is engaged in that work currently, that we do not believe there should be any à la carte or fundamental change to the consensus aspiration me…”

“They would not like it at all. The truth is that you will have people of differing reflections and recollections. You will have people who were happy that a stand was taken on a constitutional position, and on something that, by the way, did not have the consent of the people of Northern Ireland—a decision taken over t…”

“Good morning, Chair; thank you for having me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give evidence to the Committee and for completing a bit of parliamentary trivia, as I am the first member of a Committee to give evidence twice over a decade. We have achieved something at least.”

“I am not sure how beneficial continuing this conversation would be in the run-up to an election. I get a sense, as I mentioned this earlier, that there are people clearly engaged in this discussion because they think it electorally useful for them. There has been an insatiable desire on the part of a number of parties …”

“And we have one.”

“When I sat on Belfast city council, it used to be that 95% of everything we did was agreed, unseen and unheard, and the 5% that anyone talked about was the disagreements. That is sometimes true of the Executive as well. We stood on a manifesto pledge of delivering £1 billion for health, and we did it in the first two y…”

“I do not think it is the case that all signed up. Some may lament the 2006 reforms, but they were attained and agreed by the majorities within both communities; consensus was reached, not by everybody, but by the majorities. In “New Decade, New Approach” there was publication of the Governments’ views. There was not fu…”

“We supported them; I did not say we came up with them. We supported John McCallister’s opposition Bill, too.”

“I have already answered. This process is engaged with the Assembly and Executive Review Committee, and that process should continue.”

“I think about some of the reflections of the witnesses already. It is all too easy to forget that in Northern Ireland, we have an important system of government and a Government of necessity. If you were to compare and contrast it with Westminster, you would have a Cabinet with Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal De…”

“There are a couple of things I want to respond to. It is not the wrong attitude when I suggest, for example, that a change to titles will not make a fundamental impact on delivery. I do that because you will hear people continually point to frustrations with delivery of Government, and then suggest that that is the cat…”

“I will answer your question. I think it is important that if you are interested in the views of the DUP, then you hear them, rather than hear what you wish to.”