Speeches by Robinson.

“That is not what I said—it was a good illustrative example.”

“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…”

“That is not what I said—it was a good illustrative example.”

“You have to hear, rather than assume.”

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

“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…”

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

“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…”

“No, I am sorry, Ms Hanna, but you have just confirmed your majoritarian approach to this.”

“Well, I have, and you have to hear, rather than assume.”

“I do not think you can do this with an à la carte approach. The strand 1 protections—the strand 1 requirements about cross-community consent—are at the heart of our system. Setting aside the ability to bring the majority of both designations with you is not something that you should fear; it is something that should be…”

“First, I question that the good will is there. The lack of delivery that we have seen comes out of a lack of willingness to constructively work together or to recognise that the fact that we have a system that has protections built within it, but that should lead to engagement, consensus and agreement about what can be…”

“I am making the point to you, and you can accept it or not, that somebody wishing to change the law may wish to engage with colleagues, reach consensus and understand why there is resistance and, furthermore, challenge the attitude that infected this process, because a decision seemed to be reached that would get a maj…”

“You have heard me say in this Committee a number of times that I get frustrated when people talk about vetoes and blocks. Because that is the end of the process, when people have failed to engage or compromise, and want to inject majoritarianism in a system that by necessity requires consensus. If you take just this we…”

“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…”

“I have indicated very clearly my support for devolution, my belief that devolution is fundamental to Northern Ireland and its place within the United Kingdom, and my commitment to devolution. I cannot indicate to you, Mr Kane, what will happen in the future—not just for events within my control, but the position that o…”

“Again, you interrupt. Chair, in fairness, I am here to give evidence. The Democratic Unionist Party position is this: the ARC is engaged in this discussion and is continuing in its work. I regret the fact that it has been said that there is consensus on reform, but that we sit outside that. I have indicated in the past…”

“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 …”

“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 think I gave you an option. It is not an aspect of reform necessarily, but I believe it would be useful to have a coalition agreement in advance of an Executive being established. I think you can construct such a thing through agreement when you see manifestos in advance of elections. I understand that you will be en…”