On the 2 nd of December 2024, it was exactly 25 years since ‘the appointed day’ – the day when legislative powers and executive authorities were devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. But what was it like to work there in those early days? Paul Moore, a former Assembly official who had been seconded to his job ‘up the hill’ the week before devolution, remembers very well the excitement and expectations surrounding the new Assembly, and his surprise at finding himself working for the Assembly Committee that was being chaired by Ian Paisley. In this third of three ‘episodes’ covering the Assembly’s earliest weeks of operation, Paisley’s Committee opens its first Inquiry with an evidence session, set against a background of uncertainty about the Assembly’s future.
Paul has adapted these episodes from his book: ‘Doctor Paisley and Mister Clerk – Recollections of Ian Paisley’s Agriculture Committee Years’ which is available in paperback and e-book formats from amazon.co.uk: https://amzn.
eu/d/89Lkwxq Below is an audio version of this post The Committee has begun its first inquiry into Producers’ debt, and the team has put together a substantial evidence session involving seven of the major retailers operating in Northern Ireland. That session is happening today – Friday the 11 th of February 2000. Because the regular Committee meeting rooms in Parliament Buildings are quite small and ill-equipped, everyone agreed there was a need for a venue that.
