Alban’s speech from the Assembly on Tuesday on the issue of the Equal Pay Settlement: PSNI and NIO Staff Mr A Maginness: I listened very carefully to the proposer of the motion, Mr McCrea. From reading the papers and listening to the briefing from Department of Justice officials, I can say that there clearly is an outstanding issue that needs to be resolved. Certainly, we are supportive of this motion, and it is timely that it has come to the House, given the judgement by his honour Judge Babington on the issue. He said in his judgement that legally there is no case and, therefore, he could therefore not make a decision in favour of the applicants. It is now accepted by everyone that there is no case. The trade union involved, NIPSA, has been very consistent throughout this, and there is no criticism of it. It is not appealing this case, and, therefore, that is where the law lies. Certainly, if you have a situation, as Mr McCrea outlined, where you have two workers who effectively do the same job, come from different positions historically regarding employment and do not receive the same wages, it creates a very serious inequality. There is an issue of fairness there and an issue of morality for all of us in the House. We have to resolve that, and we have to do so in favour of those who have been so disadvantaged, and I make no bones about that. Where is the blockage? I endorse what Mr McCartney raised in his contribution. Has the Minister, given the established legal position, got the power to remedy such a stark inequality, or has the Minister got some flexibility in how he deals with the situation? That, I do not know, and I would like it to be fully clarified. There has been a suggestion that the Minister has the power but is simply not exercising his will to implement a change to create equality. I do not know what the position is there. Maybe the Minister will qualify that. Mr Spratt: I thank the honourable Member for giving way. I raise again the point about a case that was made to the Treasury about additional money that was required for a police service that was under pressure regarding security and for other reasons. As part of that, the Treasury agreed to release more than £20 million to the Chief Constable to pay those claims. Is it not the Chief Constable who has a moral responsibility to provide those resources and pay the people under his command who are doing a gallant and good job on a day and daily basis? He made the claim as part and parcel of the package, and he was supported by the present Minister and other Executive colleagues. Mr A Maginness: I want to return to the point about whether the Minister has the power. That has to be clarified, given the settled legal position, as I understand it. I accept your point, which you made very robustly and effectively. If that money was earmarked, as you suggested, for this purpose, why is it not being used for this particular purpose? Again, that has to be answered. I hope we are not involved in some interdepartmental dispute between the Finance Department and the Department of Justice on this matter. I hope that it is not a matter of pass the parcel. I see colleagues across the Benches shaking their head. I hope that that is not the situation, because these people require justice, fairness and the application of equality to the situation. I, my party and my party colleagues support them, and I hope that we can resolve this pressing situation.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:58:45 +0000
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