Podcast Politics
Assembly business began this morning on a suitably sombre and unified note, with representatives of all the parties the weekend murder of Kevin McDaid and calling for an end to sectarianism.
However differences of opinion abound about quite how to do this. MLAs were also debating the extent to which race relations law in Northern Ireland lags behind the rest of the UK. According to Dawn Purvis, who we interviewed on Stormont Live, that's a knock on effect of the failure of the Stormont parties to agree a Singe Equality Act. The delay over this proposed piece of legislation is more to do with the contrasting attitudes of the parties to issues of equality, discrimination and sectarianism than it is to do with race.
Then during Assembly question time we had another reminder that whilst the politicians may wish to march towards a bright new future they remain at loggerheads over the past. The Tourism Minister Arlene Foster is refusing to sign off on a proposed pod cast designed for tourists to listen to as they walk around areas of Belfast because she thinks it is biased.
During Assembly question time, Mrs Foster quoted a line from the West Belfast commentary script which talked about firing from loyalists in the Shankill before the peace walls were built. She reckoned this commentary gave tourists the impression that, during the troubles, "everything was coming from one side".
Sinn Fein's Paul Maskey expressed his anger and disappointment, claiming the proposed commentary had been approved by a panel of experts and historians, and the minister was risking wasting £100,000 in tax payers' money.
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