Speeches by Wilson.

“Yes, but you do not begrudge them that. If people want to fly and go to Greece or Spain for their holidays, who are we to tell them, “You should not do it”, or, “We do not like you doing it”? We have seen it already. You mentioned the tax on going to Australia. Many people now fly to Dublin to escape the air passenger …”

“Might it not be that people decide, “I would rather get a 30-minute flight to wherever I want to go than a three-hour train journey”? Again, that is a case of individual choice. Is it not important that, in a free economy, we give people those choices?”

“The point I was trying to make was that, if other places close at hand provide the opportunity and ability for people to do that, are they not still going to undertake those flights? Why should we not get the benefit of the bigger airports, the hub airports etc., which can have the other additional benefits to the econ…”

“Mr Gorman, there are two things that we seem to have taken for granted so far. You said you did not recognise one of them, which is the deficit in tourist spending. The other thing that was said to us today by the New Economics Foundation is that airport expansion is quite elitist. Only 3% of the population will benefi…”

“First of all, I welcome the fact that, at least in real terms, the Northern Ireland budget has been maintained over the spending period, although I would point out to the Chancellor that a 0.5% real increase will not enable the Northern Ireland Executive to match the real increase in spending on health and policing whi…”

“Regardless of what one may think of the views expressed by the two Ministers who are subject to sanctions today, the fact is that this is nothing new—they have been saying it for a long time without sanctions. The question that must be asked today is: why now? The Minister must know that this will not bring peace to Ga…”

“I also welcome—[Interruption.] It is very unusual for me to welcome anything from the Secretary of State but I welcome this announcement, because nuclear is an important element in providing the baseload for electricity across the United Kingdom. He mentioned delivery five times in his statement, but this is an announc…”

“Happy birthday, Mr Speaker, and despite what has been said by colleagues on the Benches in front of me, you do not look a day over 75. [Laughter.] While the Minister is claiming to save the world by closing down the oil and gas industry in the United Kingdom, Centrica has signed a £20 billion deal with Norway to supply…”

“I can see how education at school can deal with this issue in the long run. We have an immediate problem with people who are not influenced in school because they have left school and everything else, but who are engaging in this abuse. Professor Fenwick, you said that we need an education programme to reach out to tho…”

“Two of the witnesses already have mentioned about the need for education and greater public awareness of those who are being abused. That has all been well heard. Given the distrust and cynicism that there is about politicians, how possible is it to build a critical public awareness campaign where people can see the is…”

“We are going down this route because we are looking at how we avoid people abusing politicians and at how we replace social media. Is there an appetite among the public for that kind of long interview, especially among the people who are likely to tend towards giving abuse to politicians? Is it an answer for the people…”

“You mentioned the costs of ensuring that you are compliant, and administrative costs. Many people think that when they are paying these costs, they are paying for the maintenance and for the upkeep to make sure that the area does not become unsightly or dangerous or whatever. Some of the evidence that we have been give…”

“Is that contractual? You say you should and that is the way it should happen, but is that part of the contract that you have with the residents that that kind of replacement is carried out not at the residents’ expense?”

“These schemes are in place for 30 years, so over the 30 years the landscape that you have provided at the very beginning is going to change. Trees are going to die, for example. Things are going to need to be replaced, overgrowth or undergrowth can become very, very dense and sometimes makes a place totally inaccessibl…”

“You are saying about 40% less, but in terms of pounds and pence every year to residents, what kind of figure are we talking about?”

“Can you divide that out? For example, to create a green space obviously there is a cost to the developer there. What is that adding to the average cost of a house? Despite what you have said about the maintenance and so on of these green spaces as opposed to manicured, landscaped sites, they do have to be maintained. T…”

“Thanks very much for your evidence so far. Obviously anyone buying a house will look at the environment in which it is set. I think that you are right in your last answer that house buyers do want to see green spaces and biodiversity impacting on the site. However, the initial and ongoing cost is obviously a big issue …”

“You mentioned the costs of ensuring that you are compliant, and administrative costs. Many people think that when they are paying these costs, they are paying for the maintenance and for the upkeep to make sure that the area does not become unsightly or dangerous or whatever. Some of the evidence that we have been give…”

“Is that contractual? You say you should and that is the way it should happen, but is that part of the contract that you have with the residents that that kind of replacement is carried out not at the residents’ expense?”

“Can you divide that out? For example, to create a green space obviously there is a cost to the developer there. What is that adding to the average cost of a house? Despite what you have said about the maintenance and so on of these green spaces as opposed to manicured, landscaped sites, they do have to be maintained. T…”