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

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.

Tuesday
• Assembly and Business Trust Breakfast Briefing (Confucius Institute, linking NI to China)
• Constituency business
• Assembly Group Meeting
• Question to First Minister re: meeting of British Irish Council
• Question to Health Minister re: remote medical services
• Briefing on SeaGen tidal energy experiment, Strangford Lough
• Party Meeting with Trades Union officials re: economy
• Interview Downtown Radio re: abolition of Department of Employment & Learning
• Constituency business

Wednesday
• Facilitator, News Conference for Support After Murder & Manslaughter (SAMM NI)
• TV interviews, BBC NI, UTV, GMTV re: SAMM NI
• Meeting, Sport NI
• Committee of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister
• Event promoting Voice of Young People in Care

Thursday
• Briefing from Ulster Wildlife Trust re: Strangford Lough
• Committee of Enterprise, Trade & Investment
• Written questions to various government ministers
• Private lunch, business spokespeople, re: draft Economic Strategy
• Briefing from OFTEC (heating oil federation)
• Briefing, public sector insurance issues and opportunities
• Meeting of school Board of Governors

Friday
• Constituency office
• Meeting re: NEETS, young people not in employment, education or training
• Launch Scrabo Area at Risk website, Ards Town Hall
• Lunch meeting re: economy – cancelled
• Meeting Willie Frazer, re: victims’ issues
• Constituency advocacy work
• School Open Evening

Saturday
• Site meeting with constituents re: planning
• School Open Day

Sunday
• Guest, BBC NI tv Politics Programme

Strangford Ulster Unionist MLA, Mike Nesbitt, has expressed his shock and sadness at the murder of 36 year old Philip Strickland at Ballydrain outside Comber.

“Whatever the explanation for this brutal killing, there can be no excuse. Murder is murder, and all murder is wrong.

“I stood at the police line on the Ballydrain Road early this morning, as the journalists and camera crews arrived, and it took me back to the darkest days of the Troubles, yet here we were, in 2012, on an otherwise sunny morning, surrounded by beautiful scenery and the birds singing in the trees. It was hard to believe we had all gathered to mark a murder.

“It is up to the PSNI to investigate what happened. The rest of us would be better not to speculate, but rather remember this man has a family, friends and neighbours, who will be shocked and in some cases traumatised by what has happened. No one should add to that misery with unnecessary speculation about the whys and wherefores. If you have information, take it to the PSNI.

“I also commend the police service not only for their progress to date, but also for their rapid decision to deploy community officers to the area to knock doors and talk to and reassure residents who will have been deeply unsettled by the news that greeted them this morning.”

Well, a person can take only so much abuse……

I am delighted Royal Portrush is back as a force in world golf; it is great news on so many levels, and a fitting tribute to the successes (multiple) of Northern Ireland’s golfers. But this is where the abuse comes in. The media celebrate Graeme McDowell’s success at Pebble Beach. They laud Rory McIlroy at Congressional. They love what Darren Clarke did at St George’s.

Fine, but what about me?

What about me at the 9th on Krakow Valley in the Oktoberfest Cup? That drive of mine that took me into the record books? The one that shot long and straight down the fairway, still airborne when it passed the Longest Drive marker. Does this count for nothing?

I hit the drive, lifted the marker, pencilled my name in as the man to hit the new longest drive, put the marker down by my ball, and waited for the green to clear.
A man got into a golf buggy at the clubhouse behind the hole, drove down the fairway, lifted the marker, and in perfect Polish-accented English asked: “Who is Mike?”
I threw my arms wide, like Sam Torrence the day he sank the putt to win the 1985 Ryder Cup at the Belfry, and screamed: “Me!!!!”

He nooded sweetly. As I awaited news that I had won a new set of the best golf clubs on Planet Earth, or the golf trip of a lifetime, he explained: “This is the Ladies Longest Drive Competition.” At which point he and the marker disappeared back down the fairway.

So, you see my issue. Has anyone asked me, one of Northern Ireland’s recent International golf champions, what I think about the Irish Open coming to Royal Portrush? No! Was I even invited to the announcement today? No! Will they invite to play in June? They needn’t bother! The Ladies Long Drive Champion of all-Poland is not coming out to play!

The Ulster Unionist Party hosted a Reception today at Stormont for Sergeant Ryan McCready of the Royal Irish. What an impressive man!

Do not confuse Ryan for someone who woke up one day and committed an outstanding act of bravery in Afghanistan, although he did, and that is why he was awarded the accolade of Most Outstanding Soldier award at the Military Awards for British Troops. That itself is why we wanted to honour him today.

I had the privilege of listening to Ryan for a few short minutes talk intelligently and passionately about his work. He had two themes, neither touching the physical violence he is trained to deploy when required, and which not only saved the lives of his colleagues, but leaves him to live the rest of his life with shrapnel in his neck.

Firstly, he spoke of the need to protect and persuade the Afghan people, rather than punish and pressurise them. He and his Royal Irish colleagues encouraged the native Afghanistan population to come to respect the RIR values, not least their professionalism, selfless devotion to public service, and humanity. That alone did more to disarm the Taliban of the area than any old-style military operation.

Ryan’s second theme was how the RIR are not only adapting to deal with the current round of funding cuts from the MoD, but looking ahead to anticipate the future – in terms of finances, but more importantly, as the Army’s leading Regiment in terms of its ability to adapt to offer the new ways of soldiering that will be required as the 21st Century progresses.

I often admire Rory McIlroy as a ambassador for Northern Ireland. In fairness, Rory himself would accept he operates in a comfortable and privileged zone. In reciprocal fairness, he does so brilliantly. Sergeant Ryan McCready could give him a match in the ambassadorial stakes.

I am most grateful for meeting him today, and inspired to do my own job all the better tomorrow.

Ulster Unionist Mike Nesbitt MLA, has highlighted the £18,000 spent by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister on external consultants, who were paid to review the work of a second set of consultants.

A Written Question from the Strangford MLA has revealed a total of £93,185 was spent on the consultation exercise following the publication of the draft strategy on Cohesion Sharing and Integration, including two five figure sums on consultants.

Mr Nesbitt said: “The CSI strategy has rightly been described as something that will impact every citizen of Northern Ireland, so I have no difficulty with OFMDFM doing what it can to ensure it seeks as wide a range of views as possible about its intended approach.

“Whatever way you dress up the language, they paid consultants to review consultants. They spent £22,945 on what they are calling “Independent Facilitators” who helped deliver 11 public meetings and 15 events for specific sectoral interest bodies.

“They then paid a further £18,052 on what they describe as “Independent Analysis” and the latter’s report makes clear that their terms of reference included an evaluation of the consultation process undertaken by the original group, and an assessment of how inclusive those meeting were. In other words, OFMDFM paid one group of external experts to comment on the work of another group of external experts.

“It is interesting to note that the total for the original Independent Facilitators is almost exactly double the costs recorded for staging the 26 events. Add in the cost of the second set of consultants and you find that for every pound spend on booking a hall or providing a tea or coffee, another four pounds was spent asking an external expert to analyse answers.

“In the current economic climate, this must be hard to justify. I imagine the electorate will be wondering why there is no in-house expertise in this area.”

Yesterday, my friend and I visited a man we last worked with 32 years ago, as binmen for Ards Borough Council. It was one of the best things I did in 2011. It will also inform what I do in 2012, which should be a year dedicated to building a better, and better connected society.