Arlene Foster
Fermanagh and South Tyrone · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“Yet, like too many projects, it has been tied up in legal wrangles. Too many infrastructure projects are being swallowed up in the courts. We need to improve the expertise in infrastructure delivery. We need better infrastructure for the next generation, but key projects being delayed by 10-plus years is unsustainable.”
“Any agreement involves compromises but NDNA had two central pillars that, I believe, remain important: ambition for devolution and a new cultural deal. The breadth and depth of issues that NDNA set us all to deliver on would have been enough to fill an entire term or perhaps more, let alone two years of government.”
“That confidence-and-supply agreement will leave a legacy but also highlights our challenges. Some £150 million has been rolled out via Project Stratum to bring broadband to rural areas and leave Northern Ireland as the best-connected region in Europe. When it is completed, the project will be transformational to our economy.”
“However, such short-term advantage comes at the cost of long-term harm to relationships. It is not a real partnership. Imbalance and instability are built in that will fester and deteriorate. If Brussels continues to think that the protocol is enough, it is in denial.”
“Colleagues inside and outside the House know very well that all periods of leadership must come to an end. That is why, when we are privileged and, indeed, honoured to hold such a position, we must not waste a moment in frivolous brinkmanship but forge ahead on behalf of those whom we represent.”
“The recommendations of the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition (FICT) are to be taken forward as well. I encourage all of you to do all of it, to take it forward in its totality and to speak of and implement it as one complete, independent package: a new cultural deal for Northern Ireland's new century.”
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“We will continue to work with those people who want to help us on compliance and enforcement of the regulations. We are working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, with local government environmental health officers and with the Health and Safety Executive on other issues. <BR /> <BR />To go back to the Member's first point, personal responsibility is a wonderful thing. We have all been given free will, but I hope that people listening today will realise that if they do what we are asking them to do then it has a consequence and will help us get the virus under control. I can make all the restrictions I want, but if people are not prepared to comply with them we are going to have a really serious problem in a couple of weeks' time. I do not want to be in that place.”
“We have to take these interventions now because the virus has gone out of control in some places. I very much regret having to do this. I come to the House to do it with no joy at all. We are interfering with people's lives, their ability to make money so that they can live, and we then have to try to support those people. That is what we have to focus on in the coming days.”
“I thank the Member for his question. What we are trying to do, as we have always tried to do, is push down transmission of the virus and get the R number below 1. At the minute, it is about 1·5. That is what this targeted intervention is designed to do. It is also designed to make sure that the capacity of our hospitals is able to cope with what comes in. We are also trying to minimise deaths. We set out those priorities in March, and those three priorities were to the fore. <BR /> <BR />When, in four weeks' time, we come back to the situation, ideally we want to see that the R number is below 1. Then we can lift the restrictions and then we will continue to have to do all the basic things — social distancing and handwashing — to keep the virus under control in that fashion.”
“<BR /> <BR />In answer to the Member's specific question, six o'clock on Friday is the target for when these regulations will take effect.”
“We should not use terms like "lockdown", because those people will hear those terms and feel that they should not be going out anywhere, should just be in the house and they will be afraid and worried about that. Shielding advice will come forward, but it will be more nuanced and targeted than in the past. <BR /> <BR />I recognise the Member's frustration that she does not have all the answers. I will share something with her: I do not have all the answers. We are dealing at speed with a pandemic. A man sitting in front of her will tell her what it is like to work at speed. We are trying to work through all the answers, and the reason that I came to the Chamber was to give Members a heads-up that this is the direction of travel. We will have the guidance, regulations and, hopefully, all the answers in place before Friday.”
“The Member covers a lot of ground in a short time. Shielding is an issue that Mrs Cameron raised, and I did not get a chance to answer her. Shielding is being looked at by the Chief Medical Officers across the four nations. During the lockdown, the Member will recall, we took a huge, blanket approach to shielding. The Chief Medical Officer told me this week that nearly 280,000 people were shielding, which is incredible. When we started, we thought it would be about 80,000 people. We need to take a more nuanced approach to that. There are a lot of people who are vulnerable, or perhaps older, who are very worried at present, and we must recognise that.”
“I accept that businesses need clarity and guidance, and that they need to see the regulations. That is why the restrictions are coming into place on Friday as opposed to today. That will give time to deal with the issues so that people will have clarity. As I have said many times, I hope that the support package will be signed off tomorrow as well.”
“<BR /> <BR />As a policy objective, we should always try to ensure that our children have an education and are at school. That is what I want to ensure, and I hope that I will be joined in that by other Executive members. I hear what the Member said about taking interventions in school, and blended learning, but we also have to take into account the impact that being at home and not integrating with their peers will have on children's future life chances and mental health. I have seen that across the piece when children — maybe lone children or only children — have been at home on their own, without any interaction with other younger people. It is not good for children not to be together. Therefore, my point of view is that education should be our number one priority. I hope that that is the view of all Members.”
“I send my sympathy and empathy to those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19, or to any other disease, over the past period. It was remiss of me not to do that when Mrs Cameron raised the issue. <BR /> <BR />I think that I have been clear that the last thing that we want to do is to get to a situation in which we are in blended learning — that awful phrase — again. I do not think that it helps children, and it is a huge pressure and strain on teachers. I pay tribute to our teachers for having taken up that strain earlier this year. I have pointed out that, from the PHA's point of view, there are low transmission rates in schools, but I accept that there are issues around schools for which we may need to put in more mitigations.”
“It is OK to be out and about, so long as you take the appropriate safeguards. That is important, because we need to get the balance of keeping the economy going — at a lesser level than we would like, I accept — and making sure that we keep people safe. She will know that, given that her friend is in hospital suffering from COVID, and her great passion for the economy of the north-west. I understand that.”
“The Member asked a direct question. I recognise that her local government area has been in these restrictions for a period. Hopefully, we will see, in the next couple of days, whether they have had an impact on the transmission of the virus. As Members know, a lag time is required for there to be any impact on transmission. I hear what she says about the lowest paid. We will have a discussion tomorrow to try to give clarity around all of that. <BR /> <BR />Retail remains open, as she knows, but I accept that footfall is down. When we first introduced household restrictions in such places as Ballymena and Belfast, we saw footfall go down dramatically. Retail is still open. You can still travel in a taxi, with the appropriate safeguards, but I accept that some people will hear this announcement and not want to be out and about.”
“I thank the Member for her question. I am very sorry to hear that she has a friend suffering from COVID in hospital and I send my good wishes to her.”
“To be very clear: children will return to school on 2 November. I think that that is absolutely the right thing to do.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Member is right to point out that, at the highest level of their tiers in the Republic of Ireland and, indeed, in England, there is no suggestion that education will close. Let me be clear: education is not closing in Northern Ireland. We are just taking an extended holiday break to facilitate the R number being pushed down. We are not closing schools. It is very important that we say that. Schools will come back on 2 November. I want to say that very loudly. I know that there has been some commentary this morning from very worried parents who think, "This is the start of it. Now, we are going to be in a situation where our children are not going to be at school. We are going to be back in a March/April situation where children are not getting the learning that they need to move ahead with their lives".”
“I thank the Member for his question. We are all very conscious of hospitality workers and the fact that many of them are on zero-hours contracts and the minimum wage. When I say that the new job support scheme is not as generous as the furlough scheme, I am thinking about those people. The new job support scheme gives two-thirds of payment, and, of course, that is only if you are not on a zero-hours contract, have not been made redundant or you are a flexible worker. We fully accept that, and there is a need for us to be aware of that. I hope that, later today, I will meet with representatives of Hospitality Ulster, and we will discuss some of these very important issues.”
“We have seen them over this past number of weeks. Unfortunately, we have seen the consequences as well. We have seen clusters and spikes in various places, and that is no accident. <BR /> <BR />Spectators will continue to be able to attend Irish league games, rugby and other elite sports but they will be very much socially distanced and regulated. We will work with the different sporting codes to make sure that that is the case, and, of course, all these things will be looked at again in the round.”
“Childcare continues as is; there is no change in respect of childcare. We think that that is very important, because we know the pressure that parents were under during the March lockdown. By "school-based childcare", I think, the Member means after-school clubs and such things. Obviously, they will not happen because the children will be on a holiday and there will be nobody at the schools. <BR /> <BR />With regard to youth-based contact sports, obviously, contact sports are not now happening for anyone apart from at elite level. We hope that that will stop transmission of the virus. The Member's reference to spectators is well made, because there have been some bad examples.”
“If people now take personal responsibility for themselves and start to do the right things, we can ensure that this intervention will be the one that made the difference and stopped the transmission of the virus.”
“We need to get it below 1, because that takes away the transmission of the virus doubling and what have you. It is important that we get the R number below 1, and that is what the intervention is about. When that happens, we can come out of the intervention. That does not mean that we then go around as though everything is normal again. We will still have to do the basics: social distancing and washing our hands. That is the problem: in the summer, we became quite lax and relaxed. We thought that things had gone back to normal. Unfortunately, however, the virus was still there. As a result, we are now in a situation where we have to make these interventions. I very much regret that that is the case. <BR /> <BR />Nothing about this is inevitable.”
“Personal responsibility is a huge part of it. I say to the Member that, whilst we can put in place all the restrictions that we desire as a Government, if they are not complied with, the virus will continue to spread. Therefore, people need to take personal responsibility for their actions, and they need to understand why that is important. I accept that we have a role in that in laying out why it is important that they take those decisions. I look across Europe and other parts of the world, and I see the targeted interventions that they are making. I think that, last night, the Netherlands made an intervention similar to what we have been talking about today. <BR /> <BR />It is a time-limited intervention. It is one that, we hope, will bring the R number below 1. At the minute, the R number is about 1·4 or 1·5.”
“This is a difficult time, and we will need to bring forward supports for the parts of the economy that are being impacted on by the decision that we made last night. As I say, we will have those discussions tomorrow, hopefully with announcements thereafter.”
“"Essential health needs" will be defined in the question and answer document that we will put out. I accept that my essential health needs might not be somebody else's essential health needs, so there is a need for clarification on that. We will get that out as soon as we possibly can. <BR /> <BR />I accept what the Member said about the World Health Organization saying that lockdown should be only a last resort and a time to prepare and to get capacity dealt with. Clearly, this is not a lockdown. Work continues. People will be working from home where possible, and other work will continue. Retail and manufacturing remain open. <BR /> <BR />I accept the points about the supply chain in the hospitality sector. That is something that we need to look at.”
“<BR /> <BR />In terms of questions and answers, yes, the regulations will bring more clarity to the issues that we decided on last night. There will also be, as I understand it — and I am sure that she will keep me to this — a question and answer digest on nidirect, which will be published as soon as we can do that. I absolutely accept that many questions will be asked by our constituents across Northern Ireland, so it is important that we try to get that information out to Members.”
“I thank the Member for her question, although I do not accept that we are treating the House with contempt. As you know, Mr Speaker, I was in front of you on a number of occasions last week, and this week. The Minister of Health considers this Chamber to be his second home, so it is wrong to say that we treat this place with contempt — very, very wrong. <BR /> <BR />In terms of help for artists, we are very much aware of that issue. As I understand it, the Minister for Communities has put together a scheme that she will be rolling out soon. A lot of the artists, event organisers and what have you who the Member speaks about have not been able to find work or been able to work for a considerable time. The Minister for Communities is very much aware of that issue, and will be dealing with it.”
“The UK Government have stepped up to the pate in relation to the furlough scheme and the financial assistance we have received during the pandemic. Again, the Chancellor came forward with a scheme, which I recognise is not as generous as the furlough scheme, but the money has to be paid back sometime. We are now in a huge amount of debt as a nation, and that will have consequences for young people in the future. Young people have suffered enough through this pandemic, to be blunt, and we need to find a way to deal with that. <BR /> <BR />We will be putting in supports for businesses. The Executive will meet tomorrow. The Minister of Finance and the Minister for the Economy are working on these issues, and we will discuss them in detail at the Executive tomorrow.”
“The Member always thinks that there is a magic money tree at the bottom of the road. There is no magic money tree. The money has to come from somewhere.”
“However, going their own way has consequences — huge consequences for our health service, and they should remember that because everyone uses our health service not just those with COVID-19.”
“Of course, the Member is right to say that homes and house parties are still an issue needs to be dealt with, and, indeed, anywhere where social contact is increased. That is why I am asking and pleading with people around personal responsibility and cutting down on the number of social contacts that you have, and if you are in contact with people, that you social distance, if you are in a retail environment, that you wear a mask and that you do all the things that we are trying to do to cut down on the transmission of the virus. <BR /> <BR />This is a serious moment for Northern Ireland, and people will either work with us or they will decide that they will go their own way.”
“Irish League matches are assessed as elite sports, and the spectators who have been risk assessed can continue, as I understand it. In terms of key workers, as I indicated to Ms Cameron, because it is such a short closure — it is not actually a closure at all; it is just a lengthening of the holidays — as I understand it, we will not be able to facilitate key workers' children in school, so teachers will be off for those two weeks and will not be in school during that time. <BR /> <BR />He is right to highlight the fact that off-licences will be closed early. That is an important point. The rationale for that is that if public houses and other hospitality venues are closed, at night-time, there may be a situation where people would seek alcohol and then go to house parties.”
“It is still open, but we want to work with the sector to mitigate some of the compliance issues that are very clearly there at present, and I hope that it will work with us to try to make sure that its staff and customers are safe. We will be doing that over the next couple of days.”
“At some stage, we must also get to the point where penalties are in place to deal with some of those recalcitrant people who will not do the right thing. As the Member will know, the Justice Minister brought forward new penalties to the Executive, which we ratified last week. As well as that, the Executive have their enforcement group, which is working not just with the Police Service of Northern Ireland but with local government, environmental health, the Health and Safety Executive, and, I hope, with some in the larger retail sector. <BR /> <BR />I said in my statement that we would be engaging with the retail sector. We have not closed the retail sector.”
“I thank the Member for his question. Enforcement is very important. I accept the strategy of the police in trying to inform, educate and encourage people to do the right thing.”
“We have come to this Executive decision; we all have to abide by that decision, make it work for all the people of Northern Ireland and cut out the transmission of the virus. That will only happen if people take personal responsibility, listen to what we are saying in guidance and regulations and work together for the good of everybody.”
“I do not think that that was helpful because, as I have said in the House many, many times, this is a balanced approach that we need to take. It is about health, the economy, society and the family that we all love and want to cherish and care for. So, we have to take things in the round. That is why, yesterday, when we met as an Executive, we had many decisions to take, many assessments to make and many risk assessments to take, and that is what we were doing late into the night. We have come up with a package. Frankly, because we are in a five-party coalition, we have to try to get consensus and move forward together. I make no apology for that. People want us to move forward together. If it was left to one individual party or another, it would probably be a different announcement today.”
“I would love to break the transmission of conspiracies and fake news that emanate from this place on a daily basis. Unfortunately, that is not a matter for me. It is a matter for other people who decide to leak half-truths and half-stories that cause anxiety and concern amongst people, right across Northern Ireland. It is one of the reasons why I wanted to come to the House today and set out, very clearly, what the Executive have actually agreed, as opposed to what people think that we have agreed. <BR /> <BR />The Member talks about the medical advice from Dr McBride, who has been a great help and support to the Executive, as has our Chief Scientific Adviser. Very helpfully, somebody leaked the Executive paper on Monday of this week, with all of Dr McBride's advice in it, so that is already out in the public domain.”
“We are not in a similar situation to March because we are not in lockdown. Businesses and work can continue, but for those sectors that we are specifically closing, we have to find mechanisms to help them, and that is the focus moving on from today and tomorrow.”
“It is certainly something that we will want to try and assist with. <BR /> <BR />We will not be able to mitigate all the losses — it is only right that I am honest and open about that — but it is also important that we try to support those businesses as much as we can. We have extra funding now with the Barnett consequential that the Chancellor announced on Friday, which is in the region of £200 million. I understand that other money is available from the COVID spend that we already had. We have, I think, in the region of £300 million to deal with these issues. However, as the Economy Minister pointed out to us last night, when she intervened with the grants systems — the £10,000 and £25,000 grants — that cost in the region of £340 million. The scale of this is very big.”
“The Member raises a very pertinent point about the supply chain. The Economy Minister and I have already had conversations about that. Whilst businesses in, for example, the hospitality sector are closed, they can avail themselves of the new supports that are there. Businesses in the supply chain, however, cannot do so, because we are not ordering them to close. As an Executive, we need to be very conscious of that.”
“I regret that that is the case, but I think that we will need to put that in to facilitate demand and to make sure that we have enough ICU beds to deal with the hospitalisations that, unfortunately, are increasing on a daily basis.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Nightingale facility is being stood up, but, at the moment, that is only happening on a Belfast Trust basis, not a regional basis, It may well be that we have to stand it up quite quickly on a regional basis. More people are requiring specialist clinical care in intensive care units. That was the case in the Mater Hospital and in the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH), so it was felt that there was a need across the Belfast Trust to expand COVID ICU from the Mater and the RVH and to relocate to the tower block at Belfast City Hospital. We hoped that we would not have to take that step again. If I were a prophet, or the daughter of a prophet, I would probably say that I expect the Nightingale hospital to be in place on a regional basis pretty soon.”
“I thank the Member for her questions. On the last point about key workers, because the schools are closed for a limited period and because the half-term holidays are happening in any event, it will be very difficult to have provision in schools for key workers. I regret that. Obviously, had it been for a longer period, we would have had to find a way round that. As she knows, we, unlike the Republic of Ireland Government, kept our schools open for the children of key workers during the March lockdown. Indeed, people availed themselves of that provision, and we are very glad that it was there for the many people who had to go to work as key workers to facilitate the rest of us.”
“Certainly, for me, you did not have to put on a mask before getting on a bus or walking down a corridor, and you did not have to stay in the same classroom whilst your teachers moved around. I want to pay tribute to all our young people as they deal with the strangest of times.”
“As I indicated to the Member, the overall assessment by the Public Health Agency is that there is limited transmission in school settings, but there may be some issues outside school settings that we will need to try to mitigate. That does not just happen. A lot of work has gone into that by staff and teachers in schools and by young people themselves. I really want to acknowledge that. On my way up the road from Fermanagh this morning, I was speaking to a school principal, who said that young people are very resilient and work very well when they know what is expected of them. We should pay tribute to our young people and the way in which they have dealt with what is a strange time. We all remember our school days.”
“There were demands for a longer, open-ended lockdown for schools. We believe that a limited intervention is best. We can then assess that to see what the impact is.”
“Thanks to the Member for his question. It has been a very difficult decision not just around schools but around all the different interventions that we are taking. We very firmly are of the opinion that the intervention in schools should be for a short a period as possible.”
“There are other issues around school gates, transport and issues like that, and we are going to work with the Department of Education to look at how we can minimise the risk around some of those issues. In the school setting, there is limited transmission, according to the PHA. I welcome that because it gives us clarity on schools. I know that a lot of parents are worried about their young people, and they should look at that evidence and take some reassurance from that.”
“I know that for some parents that will be a challenge with childcare, but I hope that giving them that extra time to plan over the next couple of days will assist in that. <BR /> <BR />The Public Health Agency (PHA) has been doing some work with the Education Department on the incidences of COVID in schools. It has told us that, as of Sunday evening, 485 incidences had been risk-assessed with schools and that many of those incidences involved a single case. Fewer than 10 schools have required support for two or more incidences, and the overall assessment, as advised by the Public Health Agency, not the Department of Education, is that there is limited transmission in school settings.”
“I absolutely concur with her about children with special educational needs. During lockdown, it was so difficult for many of those young people and their parents. I recall an email from a lady in Craigavon who told me that her child was in such a way of going to his place of education every day that, despite the fact that the school was not open, she had to drive him to it every day because that was the routine that he was in. These decisions have weighed very heavily on us today, particularly protecting our young people. That is why we have kept the school closures to an absolute minimum. I think that that was the right thing to do. Children would be off for half-term in any event, and we have lengthened that by a couple of days.”
“I know that people think, "It doesn't apply to me because I'm fine, and if I get it, I get it and that is it". The point is that they are impacting upon our hospitals, upon our economy and upon the whole way of life here in Northern Ireland. So, I plead with people today to please take personal responsibility for your actions. Please work with us so that we can, as we did in March and April, get this virus under control. People looked at this part of the world and said that Northern Ireland is doing very well. I want to get back to that place, but I can only do it if people work with us all. I know that there are many people who are affected by our decisions today, and they will want to see what we have to say tomorrow in relation to specific supports. I very much hope that we can sign off on those tomorrow at the Executive.”
“I thank the Member for his question. I absolutely can. As the Member knows, the Chancellor announced new supports that will kick in on 1 November. It is not as generous as the furlough scheme that was put in place for the lockdown back in March. Of course, we are not in a lockdown situation now; we are putting in interventions for a limited period of time. However, that does not take away the fact that a lot of businesses will be suffering and will be worried. I have said many times that we get bad health outcomes if people are unemployed, if they are in poverty or if they are in a situation in which they see no way out. We have to give them that hope and that determination that there will be better days, but there will be better days if people take personal responsibility for their actions.”