It's a farming crisis, and the Department has to deal with multiple outbreaks of an acute infectious disease. How will the recently appointed Agriculture Minister perform under pressure, and how supportive will Ian Paisley and his Committee be in their scrutiny of the Department’s work under such circumstances?

In this episode, the Assembly has returned from its first period of suspension, and, after a few months of relative stability, Paul moves up a level in the Assembly secretariat.

He's about to find out what it’s like to actually be ‘Mister Clerk’, and to be the official responsible for the Committee’s operation.

Paisley's Agriculture and Rural Development Committee opens its first 'Inquiry' with a major set piece evidence session - in the rather ornate Senate Chamber - involving the main retailers operating in Northern Ireland.

The session takes place against a background of uncertainty about the future - it is widely expected that the Secretary of State will suspend the Assembly later that day.

On the 2nd of December 2024, it will be exactly 25 years since legislative powers and executive authorities were devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. But what were things really like back in 1999?

Paul Moore - a civil servant seconded to a job ‘up the hill’ the week before devolution - was surprised to be working with Ian Paisley. In this episode, he sees first-hand how badly the DUP leader’s decision to work in a Committee alongside Sinn Fein MLAs has gone down with some of his erstwhile supporters.

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

On the 2nd 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 were things really like back in those heady days of 1999?

Paul Moore – a former Assembly official who had been seconded to his job ‘up the hill’ the week before devolution - remembers the high hopes and expectations of many, and the vehement opposition of some, to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and its Institutions.

Paul has adapted a number of ‘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

In this first episode, which covers the Assembly’s earliest days and weeks of operation, Paul discovers that he is about to work closely alongside a certain Ian R K Paisley - the Agreement’s most vocal opponent at the time.