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PeopleTranscript
00:00We all know what the results of this vote is going to be because of the
00:05Nationalist and Republican Alliance and for the benefit of Hansard, Alliance is a
00:10capital A in the phrase I mentioned. The question is what are you going to do
00:16about it? The assurances unionists were given whether they were in the Belfast
00:22agreement or the Windsor framework clearly aren't worth the paper they are
00:26writing on. In order for Mr. Gaston to refer to the Alliance Party as
00:35Nationalist and Republican when it is clear that we designate in this Assembly
00:38as United Community? We all know how the Alliance Party has designated itself.
00:45Mr. Gaston has made a different assertion to that. People are entitled to
00:51say things in this House. I'm not here as Speaker to be some speech watchdog.
01:00This is the Debating Chamber. I haven't finished. I haven't finished. Ms. Long.
01:06I am not here to tell everybody what they're supposed to say. People can say
01:14things which are wrong. That doesn't mean that they can't say it. Ms. Long.
01:20It is correct, of course, that people are entitled to hold their opinions, but
01:23are people entitled to state on the record things that are counterfactual?
01:32In terms of what the Member has said, he referred to Nationalists, he referred to
01:37Republicans, he referred to the Alliance. That is for the Member. How you vote
01:42tonight may reflect that. I don't know. It's up to yourselves how you vote. How
01:50you vote tonight may reflect that there is Nationalists, Republicans and Alliance
01:54go through one lobby. That is something you are perfectly entitled to do. That is
02:02not a political statement. That is something you are perfectly entitled to
02:06do. If the Member wishes to point that out, that is something that he is
02:10entitled to do. This is a Debating Chamber where people are allowed to have
02:14a go at each other, as they do in other Debating Chambers across the world. I
02:19wish to goodness that Members would be a little less sensitive to being
02:23attacked. If you are attacked, get up and make your case against the other
02:28individual. I will facilitate anybody to do that, but I am not going to stand
02:33here and say, you are not allowed to say this and you are not allowed to say
02:37that across this Chamber. It is a Debating Chamber. Take it on as a
02:41Debating Chamber. It is not a student Debating Chamber.
02:49Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. We have appeared to touch a raw nerve where the
02:54Nationalists and Republican Alliance, certainly there is a bone of contention
02:59there. Yes, you might not be designated at that, but certainly within unionist
03:02circles that is the perception. I certainly believe that. I restate my
03:07comment I made earlier about you being Sinn Féin's little helpers. On this
03:12basis, you will trip through the lobbies with them later on, I am quite sure.
03:17Moving back to what I was saying.
03:19Will the Member give way?
03:21Oh, I will give way because you look cross.
03:24The lobby that I vote through tonight will be based on what I believe and what I stand for.
03:31You are no more the DUP's little helper than I am anybody else's little helper.
03:38The Member would do well to extend to other people the courtesy that he would expect to be extended to him.
03:46I find it outrageous that I have been accused of being a Nationalist or a Republican here tonight,
03:53just as I would find it outrageous to be accused of being a Unionist or a Loyalist.
03:59Point of order, Mr Buckley.
04:01Mr Speaker, could you please confirm for clarity the House that Mrs Long is not the Speaker of this House?
04:07I don't think that's a point of order. Order. I don't think it's a point of order.
04:14Mrs Long made her defence and that's what I encouraged her to do and she was quite right to do that.
04:21Mr Speaker, offence is a choice.
04:24So as we talk about courtesy, I'll let the Member in.
04:28I thought that was me being courteous.