Mr. Peter Bunting:

Deputy Pringle spoke about the retention of Catholic staff and a Patten-style commission for prisons. There is most certainly a need for that, even for the sake of transparency. I assume that we would be able to go back and check that because the numbers of Catholics and Protestants employed in the prison service must be given. We would probably still see the same differentials which were there years ago in that context.

Deputy Ó Cuív probably categorises the situation in all of Northern Ireland and how it works. The devolved Administration is put to the sword on a regular basis by the behaviour of the largest party. I was explaining to Mr. Finucane earlier that when we were seeking the bill of rights in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and met the First and Deputy First Ministers in 2013, the latter said he was on the same page as the trade union movement - no problem - whereas our friend, Peter Robinson, said he was not on the same page as either Martin McGuinness or the trade union movement. To say that in front of somebody is not the way to deal with things.

If Mr. McFeely and I had a difference, we would not tell the committee that difference, but this is the behaviour we see. Anyway, a row ensued and I said to Mr. Robinson that, surely, this being the time of the flags protests, a bill of rights would assist his own constituents if they wanted to fly the union flag. His very simple reply was that it was not a matter of politics, but religion. We will never see a bill of rights in Northern Ireland which mentions sexual orientation because it is against the religion of the DUP. This is a first minister in a modern society. If that had been said in any other jurisdiction or any other parliament, the minister would have resigned. This is the bubble in which one tries to do business, in which poor old Martin McGuinness must try to do business and in which everybody has to try to move on. It is irrational in many senses.

It annoys me when I see letters in The Irish Timesfrom people in Dáil Éireann - from Deputy Ó Cuív's own party as well, I may add - challenging Sinn Féin about austerity and so on. I am not a member of Sinn Féin but trying to make political capital out of the ills of people in Northern Ireland by criticising Sinn Féin is not conducive to dealing with the problems in Northern Ireland, which stem from a lack of finance from Britain and the control of one particular party which blocks everything which the Parliament or even the trade union movement tries to do. Our biggest difficulty is that we can send off correspondence seeking a meeting with the First and Deputy First Ministers, as we have done three times this year already, but all we get back is correspondence stating that Martin McGuinness will meet us. We know Martin McGuinness will meet us. We want to meet Arlene Foster but, no, she blocks the meetings. This is the biggest civic society organisation in Northern Ireland.