mikenesbitt.co.uk

Dickens was born 200 years ago today and everyone is thinking about their favourite quote. Mine is from Great Expectations, and reminds me of all the true victims of the Troubles and the legacy of iron and thorns we must help them carry.

“That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day.”

Monday
• Constituency business, including individual advocacy
• Spokespeoples’ Meeting
• Assembly Group Meeting
• Speech re: Marian Price
• Party business
• Speech re: tourism in South Down
• Guest Speaker, Fermanagh South Tyrone UUP AGM

Tuesday
• Constituency business
• Assembly Group Meeting
• Friends of the Earth briefing on planning regulations
• Constituent advocacy (health matters)
• Constituency business
• Consultation meeting re: draft Economic Policy, Belfast

Wednesday
• Constituency business
• Chaired, Committee of Education
• Party business
• Committee of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister
• Constituency business
• Consultation meeting re: draft Economic Policy, Ballymena

Thursday
• Support Young Enterprise event, Bangor
• Constituency business (advocacy from community group)
• Meeting re: economy
• Meeting re: Special Educational Needs
• Meeting re: Ulster Community Investment Trust
• Meeting re: Family Fund
• Private meeting
• Constituency business
• Consultation meeting re: draft Economic Policy, Banbridge

Friday
• Radio interviews (BBC, U105) re: Conflict Transformation Centre at Maze
• Opinion piece, Belfast Telegraph
• Constituency office
• Cancelled briefing re: Argyle Business Park
• Briefing re: Belfast MAC
• Emergency meeting re: prison officers
• Constituency business
• Private meeting
• Cancelled consultation meeting on economy

Saturday (planned)
• Guest speaker, Ulster Unionist Councillors Association, Cookstown

For my January Newsletter, click the link below

Newsletter Issue 7, January 2012

What an inspiring start to the day! I joined two dozen school groups taking their entrepreneurial skills into the marketplace, by way of Bloomfield Shopping Centre in Bangor. There is only so much that can be taught in the classroom, and I am a supporter of the notion of teaching and learning – you can teach all day, but it doesn’t add up to much if your students do not learn. I imagine the dozens of young students will learn plenty today, selling their wares in a real life retail environment.

It’s a little bit “Dragons’ Den”, a little “The Apprentice”, and a whole lot what education is about – life, and preparation for life.

I’m pictured with some of the students from Movilla High in Newtownards, but as Regent House Grammar were also there, you will understand your local MLA would like to see joint winners – and next year’s competition in Ards Shopping Centre!

If you are free tomorrow night, you could do a lot worse than trying this year’s East Belfast Speaks Out event at Ashfield Boys School on the Holywood Road.

Abu Dhabi
Ulster Unionist Economy spokesperson, Mike Nesbitt MLA, is urging the NI Executive to consider attaching an official to the European Tour, to reflect the continuing successes of our local golfers. Northern Ireland had three of the top fifteen in this weekend’s Abi Dhabi Open.

The Strangford member said: “There is huge interest every time someone looks at a Leaderboard and see the letters “NI” and the red and white flag with the Red Hand. How many are wondering how on earth a country with a population of less than 2 million can produce so many champion golfers? If Northern Ireland was an American State, we would rank alongside Connecticut as 48th smallest, and with West Virginia, as 37th for population.

“I urge the Executive to consider a Business Case for ensuring we have a presence on tour for the rest of the season. It would not be necessary to spend huge amounts of money hiring advertising spots in the various tented villages. Even if our professional golfers would agree to do a half hour autograph signing a week in a conference room in a local hotel, that would be more than enough to draw a crowd, interested in how Northern Ireland does it. And the answer we could provide is a marketing dream – you need to visit to find out!

“This is a God sent opportunity, not just for promoting tourism, but industry as well. I urge the Executive to consider it as an investment in job promotion. I am sure it would have the support of Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, Darren Clarke, Michael Hoey and Gareth Maybin, all great ambassadors for Northern Ireland.”

As Rory McIlroy takes on Tiger Woods, blow for blow, in Abu Dhabi this weekend – and I sooo hope Rory wins – may I draw ask your opinion about something?
On the 14th of June, Rory will begin his defence of the US Open Golf Championship at the Olympic Club outside San Francisco. The media interest will be of an intensity it is hard to imagine if you have not seen it. It strikes me it is a huge opportunity to promote Northern Ireland, bidding to become the only country outside the United States to win the US Open three times in a row since the 1900s, in other words since long before Northern Ireland, never mind Rory, was born.

Two weeks ago, I asked Tourism Ireland, the official body funded by you and me the taxpayer, what pans they had to promote NI at the Olympic Club. I asked as Tourism Ireland’s senior officials briefed the NI Assembly’s Enterprise Trade & Investment Committee, the proper place to pose the question. They did not know.

I asked senior officials of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board at this week’s Committee meeting. They did not know either. Both, by the way, seemed to appreciate they may be missing a trick, and were keen to explore.

So, I call on tourism chiefs, Sport NI, Invest NI, the NI Executive, and any else with an interest, to make sure we make the most of the economic spin-off of the successes of Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke as Major winners. Between them, they have generated the advertising equivalent of tens of millions of pounds of positive publicity, if not hundreds of millions.

How does Minister Foster react? On the Nolan Show on Friday, Arlene Foster says she is disappointed with me, and criticises me for not picking up the phone.

Well, I am disappointed with her. When Rory won the US Open on the 19th of June 2011, I drew up a one page concept paper, and spoke to Ms Foster’s boss, First Minister Peter Robinson, about it. He said he would pass it on to his Tourism Minister. I also briefed a senior official at Stormont, who liked the concept, and an official at the US Consulate in Belfast, who also made warm noises.

That was seven months ago. Since then, the feedback, measures thus: Letters 0; Emails 0; Phonecalls 0; Requests for Appointments 0; Informal chats in Parliament Buildings …… you get the picture.

So, what was my idea? And do you think it is any good? Maybe I am barking. It was just a thought – that could have generated a decent amount of fundraising for charity apart from anything else – which could have been re-written and changed and shaped in a million ways. I was concerned only with the outcomes – fundraising and positive publicity – not having ownership of the plan.

Here it is, copied and pasted from what I wrote in June 2011:

A proposal to make the most of Rory McIlroy

Rationale
• The NI Assembly and its Executive Committee have a responsibility to maximise the benefit for Northern Ireland from the successes of Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy in winning back-to-back US Open Golf Championships;
• There is potential to use their successes not only to maximise the potential for golf tourism, but also to add a twist to the on-going need for networking events for potential FDI investors.

Background
• The US Open golf tournament is recognised within the sport as the hardest single tournament to win;
• To give some context to the back-to-back wins by Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, look at the previous 10 winners and the distances the Trophy has travelled, year on year;
• California, South Africa, California, Pennsylvania, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, California, South Carolina;
• The average distance from winner to winner is around 3 to 4,000 miles. This year, the Trophy moved 55 miles.

Proposal
• As America’s finest golfers can’t win the trophy back, we challenge President Barrack Obama to send a team to “come and get it”;
• FM/dFM put up a team and the challenge is played at Royal Portrush and Holywood Golf Clubs;
• It is timed to be played in the run-up to the 2012 US Open (14-17 June), when international interest in a McIlroy “double” and NI “treble” is at a peak;
• It is played as a charity match, with each team nominating a charity to benefit (American and local social economy organisations), and a target of 55k (USD or Sterling) to enforce the 55 mile phenomenon.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Monday
• Constituency business, including individual advocacy
• Spokespeoples’ Meeting
• Assembly Group Meeting
• Support Robin Swann MLA’s campaign to preserve Atlantic Salmon stocks
• Speech re: future of Strangford Lough http://tinyurl.com/6uzqmc2
• Oral Question to deputy First Minister re: Victims and Survivors Service
• Oral Question to Justice Minister Re: strip searching of prison visitors
• Constituency business
• Speech to Drumbo Branch, Ulster Unionist Party

Tuesday
• Constituency business
• Assembly Group Meeting
• Question to deputy First Minister re: victims’ issues
• Question to Social Development Minister re: Pay As You Go home heating oil
• Private meeting re: party business
• Private meeting re: the economy
• Party meeting re: veterans’ issues
• Speech re: Ballynahinch Bypass http://tinyurl.com/6lpzv3c
• News Release re: Ministers’ failure to answer Oral Questions http://tinyurl.com/7l9eubo

Wednesday
• Constituency business
• Advocacy for constituents (issues including health and education)
• Party business
• Hosted Linking Generations NI, England, Scotland and Republic of Ireland event, Parliament Buildings
• Further news release on Question Time
• Committee of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister
• Constituency business
• Speech to Upper Bann Ulster Unionist Association A.G.M.

Thursday
• Constituency business
• Committee of Enterprise, Trade & Investment
• Private briefing, NI’s natural minerals
• Private briefing, energy issues
• Constituency business
• Guest Speaker, East Belfast Ulster Unionist Association

Friday
• Constituency office
• Nolan Show, BBC Radio Ulster, tourism debate
• Constituency business
• Lunch event for benefit of Phoenix Group for ex-security force members
• Private briefing, social housing
• Constituency office

Saturday (planned)
• Constituency advocacy

Sunday (planned)
• Service to celebrate 100 years of Ulster Women’s Unionist Council, Armagh

Is Question Time a vital opportunity for Members of the Legislative Assembly to question and scrutinise their colleagues in the Assembly’s Executive (the Ministers) or a waste of time?

Two examples from this week. On Monday, I sat beside robin Swann, who was curious about where £40 million of your money was going. He thought Martin McGuinness might know …… this is the Official record of his question, and the Deputy First Minister’s answer:

Mr Swann: With regard to the social investment fund, will the deputy First Minister outline the definition of “dereliction”, which, according to the draft PFG, will be allocated half of the £80 million of the total fund?

Mr M McGuinness: It is very important that people recognise that we are dealing with an issue where in many different parts of the North there is an incredible amount of dereliction. With regard to the employment situation in different communities, there is a huge body of work to be tackled and undertaken.The social investment fund is designed to face up to all the challenges that are clearly there. In the consultation, we sought the views of local communities because we believe that local communities know best. In the course of the consultation, we will take on board all the views, including the different interpretations, of local communities about what social dereliction and unemployment mean for them. At the end of that process, after analysis, we will put together programmes that fit the particular circumstances in individual areas. They will not be the same right across the North. In all those areas, we will find considerable differences.

Are you any clearer?

Yesterday, I wondered how the Pay As You Go pilot scheme for home heating oil works. PAYG for oil may be a very valuable initiative. 70% of our homes rely on oil for heating, and half of all our homes are in fuel poverty PAYG may offer an alternative to those who can only afford the 25 litre oil drums available at retail outlets like petrol stations – those drums are very expensive on a price per litre basis, over twice the per litre cost of a 900 litre fill. What I wanted to know was ….. what I asked. Again, what follows is the Official, Hansard record:

Mr Nesbitt: I return to the pay-as-you-go pilot scheme. Will the Minister offer some clarity on the ownership of the oil in the domestic tanks of people who will use the pay-as-you-go technology? Specifically, in the event of theft, will the supplier or the consumer bear the risk?

Mr McCausland: During the pilot scheme, the oil tank will be fitted with an anti-tamper device to prevent that happening. Any persistent interference would mean that that householder is removed from the pilot scheme.

So, you tell me, who owns the oil?

Interestingly, Mr Speaker never seems to criticise a Minister for not answering the question, but is swift to step in when he thinks the question itself is unfair. From Monday alone, here are no fewer than seven interventions, all critical of the MLA doing the asking:

Mr Speaker: Order. I will leave it to the deputy First Minister to respond, but supplementary questions need to relate to the original question. This particular supplementary question certainly has taken some legs. I really have to say that to the Member.

Mr Speaker: Order. I would like to hear this Member ask a supplementary question that might relate to the original question.
So, what do you think of Question Time? A essential part of the democratic process, or a tax-payer funded waste of time? By the way, I am sure the Speaker is only applying the current rules, so it is not an attack on him. It’s the system I would like to see changed.

Given the effort it took to get Northern Ireland off thedaily national news agenda, with its relentlessly negative focus for all those yearsof murder and mayhem, it would be a matter of huge regret if we were back inthe spotlight for the wrong reasons. As we stand, the residents of the southerncounties of England hardly spend their waking hours obsessing over Barnett consequentials.I imagine most are blissfully unaware there was ever a Chief Secretary to theTreasury by the name of Joel Barnett, or that he came up with the formula fordistributing funding around England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. No,it would take someone or something of massively newsworthy proportions to putthe size of the Block Grant into focus for your average Englishman or woman.Unfortunately, there is someone and something: Alex Salmond and his call forIndependence for Scotland.

Be in no doubt thatthis is an existential threat to the future relationships of all the componentcountries of the UK, and as with most things I life, money will play its partin the outcome. Interestingly, Mr Salmond feels Scotland could pay its share ofthe national debt. As the national media start working out what that means, thefocus may broaden to embrace Wales and Northern Ireland. We all know how itwill work; a red top tabloid will calculate what we cost the UK and then reportit in terms of hip replacements, new school builds, or Eurofighter aircraft.

From there, it isa short step to the archive of abuse some of our politicians directed at the Governmentfor “Tory cuts”, as if this part of the Kingdom should not be askedto take its share of the economic pain.

How long before the economically active of the south east ofEngland start asking questions, like what is a Barnett consequential, and whydo they have to pay for it? Or why David Cameron, the most overtly pro-UnionPrime Minister in a generation, has been so vilified by a unionist politicalparty?

So, what is the solution? As we move towards NorthernIreland’s second century, we need to speak out confidently about the Union, andour contributions, in people, ideas, and sacrifices, not least in the two WorldWars. What we can add now is a long-term, aspirational vision for our economy,to become net contributors to HM Treasury, by growing a private sector so bigand profitable that we no longer need the Block Grant. That is a massive ask,but at this time of huge threat to the Union, we need to think big.

As the debate on thepotential re-configuration of the Union begins, all unionists would do well toconcentrate on what we can offer the rest of the United Kingdom, rather than onwhat we believe we are owed. It is a conversation I and my colleagues have beenhaving with the Conservative Party and others for some considerable time.