91Èȱ¬

I'm off to Stormont Castle this morning for an Executive meeting on the credit crunch. We are not bracing ourselves for a Kieran McCarthy style mortgage pay off plan, but there may be some announcements on pulling construction projects forward. Other proposals will be worked on over the next fortnight, pending Assembly approval next month.

A report from the Senior Salaries Review Body on MLAs' pay and pensions is expected soon. As I reported on the radio this morning, in the current climate, MLAs aren't likely to accept a rise. In the spring I saw an internal Assembly document which predicted that the SSRB would propose a 16% increase to bring MLAs up to the level of their counterparts elsewhere in the UK. But I haven't heard anyone demur from the view of one Assembly source who told me yesterday it would be "crazy" to accept any increase.

UPDATE: It's 18:47 and I've just finished broadcasting on Evening Extra and making sure Arlene Foster got on 91Èȱ¬ Newsline. The Titanic Quarter Signature Project, which the Executive has decided to fund, is certainly an eye-catching proposal. From the tourist perspective it's a "no brainer", to borrow Lord Rooker's phrase, to get it ready for the centenary in 2012. There remains an extraordinary level of international attraction to the tragic story of the ship that hit the iceberg. So can it provide a lifeboat for our sinking economy?

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