Mervyn Storey
North Antrim · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Minister for his statement. It will be noted that there are those who cry much about the environment and purport to be the champions of the environment who did not have the courtesy to come to the House and be present when the statement was being made.”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. Clearly, there are some in the House who want to continue with the same old, same old and get the same outcomes at a huge cost to the public purse and to farms in Northern Ireland. The Minister is absolutely right: it is a scourge.”
“I am sure that the Minister will be aware, having listened to the Member who spoke before me, that the farmers of North Antrim will make an informed choice about who best supported farmers during this mandate of the Assembly.”
“A pilot scheme has been operating with the Education Authority, the PSNI and the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust across 60 schools in the south Down area since September 2021 and was extended to a further 77 schools in the Newry and south Armagh areas at the start of February 2022.”
“As Chair of the Justice Committee, I am pleased to welcome the motion. It implements the provisions taken forward by the Committee in the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 to establish an Operation Encompass model in Northern Ireland, which is, as the Minister has outlined, a police and early intervention pa…”
“We had our final meeting of that Committee this morning, and I want to place on the public record our appreciation and thanks to our Committee staff of for all the work that they have done.”
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“Let us be clear that, on social media, the leader of the SDLP and an Alliance MLA made comments in which they engaged in name-calling towards a particular MP colleague of mine. I would not repeat in this Chamber what he was called. If we want to dial down the rhetoric —.”
“We, as unionist leaders, have been challenged about what we have said in recent days. My colleague Gary Middleton referred to the fact that we have listened to a barrage of disrespect against the centenary of this country, which is our home. The Members opposite cannot even recognise the shape of Northern Ireland. They see it as offensive. A number of weeks ago, I listened to contributions in the House from Emma Sheerin, Martina Anderson and Pat Sheehan. If that was showing "respect", we need to rethink the definition of that word. <BR /> <BR />This is not only about Sinn Féin. Let us remember that, when concerns were raised about the protocol, members of the SDLP told us, "Suck it up. It's not changing".”
“Today's date is also a sad occasion for the families of two RUC officers who were murdered 44 years ago, on Good Friday, outside Moneymore. One of those officers, Constable John Thompson McCracken, was from my hometown of Ballymoney, and he was murdered along with Constable Kenneth Sheehan. One was 22 and the other was 19. One of the gunmen became a hunger striker: one of the heroes of those who represent Sinn Féin in the Assembly. Was that gunman a role model for our young people? I have heard eulogies in the House that stand in stark condemnation to the bravery of those two constables. When we come to condemnation, let us not be partial or selective. Violence was wrong in 1977, and it is still wrong in 2021. <BR /> <BR />That brings me on to discuss the issue of rhetoric and how important our words are. Our words are important.”
“No one should use legitimate political concerns about the events that have unfolded in our country over the last number of months — whether that be the protocol or the circumstances surrounding the funeral of Bobby Storey and how it was mishandled — as cover or as a licence to attack police officers or to burn cars, buses and property, instilling fear in their own and someone else's community.”
“I declare an interest as a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. <BR /> <BR />No one can be but saddened and depressed at the scenes of violence and destruction on our streets over the last number of days. Let us be clear, with no ambiguity, no double-talk and no smoke and mirrors: this is wrong.”
“I know that the Members opposite have no difficulty in taking money from any source that they can get their hands on. However, given that the Minister has outlined that she cannot pay outside the jurisdiction of Northern Ireland, for which we have responsibility, will the Member give us some innovative way that that can be overcome, given the words of wisdom that we have had to listen to from him?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. I have heard the word "excluded" used a couple of times. Will she confirm for me that the criteria for the existing scheme was agreed and approved by the Executive and, therefore, the Finance Minister, the Justice Minister, the Communities Minister and the Health Minister?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. I have listened to him and his colleagues in the House. Currently, one of his colleagues, the Justice Minister, refuses to fund additional police officers because she does not have the money. Where does the Member think that his colleague will find £40 million to be able to do that on top of the money that will be needed to address this issue? Can he tell me where the money tree is?”
“Thank you, Minister. We hope that that will be more successful than the bids that you put in to the Finance Minister, given how they were dealt with in terms of the total number of bids, not just the amount of money. Do you agree that a recovery Budget, alongside the current Budget, which we will complete today, is necessary so that people clearly understand and see where the finances are in how the plan will be delivered?”
“of the pensions. Does he agree that those who were responsible for creating victims should also be made to pay? Given the fact that the IRA got a £25 million pension scheme for its members from the raid on the Northern Bank, is it now time for the IRA, and the republicans who were responsible for creating victims, to come up with money to ensure that, if they are genuine about moving forward, they pay for their past?”
“I thank the Minister for giving way. The Minister mentioned:”
“I thank the Member for giving way. In the light of the amount of money that has been surrendered, particularly by the Commission, will the Audit Committee have the opportunity to see how the Commission has been able to operate in the COVID environment? What working practices could be improved so that the financial burden is not as much in 2021-22?”
“The onus is on the Executive. There is a failure by the Minister of Justice to bring forward a business case on the issue. She keeps batting it back and forward. Let us also remember that, 20 years ago, Patten said that there should be 7,500 police officers.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. I concur with all her comments about additional police. However, we need to remember that NDNA states:”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Where was he for the three years when he and his colleagues walked out of this place, pulled this place down, pulled the shutters down and blamed everybody else, including the British Government? Where was he then with his rationale about working together? It is a bit late now.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. He talks about bad faith and ravaging. Will he take the opportunity in the House to condemn the economic policies of his party and the Provisional IRA who bombed the heart out of the economy of Northern Ireland for 40 years? Take the opportunity. Can he clarify whether Óglaigh na hÉireann still what he supports, as he claims that he was involved in that organisation? Clearly, he has to make a choice.”
“If we put in NDNA that we need 7,500 police officers, it is 7,500 police officers that we will have to get. It cannot be partial or one service over another. It has to be what we said we would do. We have to deliver. If we do not deliver, the people will have every right to question whether this place is fit for purpose to meet their needs.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. We need to have a better understanding of that and of the rationale behind why bids are successful. <BR /> <BR />I bring Members back to the fact that a huge amount of money was spent this past year on the Department of Health and rightly so. It is right to spend money on our health service, but I remind Members that, in 2016, a former Health Minister introduced the Bengoa report, which committed us to transformation. That was in October 2016. Come January 2017, the party opposite decided to pull down the shutters and walk out the door. It did not care about the health service. <BR /> <BR />When we look at the figures and are planning for the future, there will have to be a radical change in what we see as priorities. If health is a priority, it will have to be funded.”
“On one occasion, the Finance Minister rightly said to the Minister for Infrastructure, when she was dragging her feet about producing an outcome for the coach operators, "Bring forward a bid". Ultimately, however, the decisions on allocations rest with the Finance Minister. My colleague from North Antrim, Paul Frew, rightly highlighted the discrepancies between the total amount of the bids and the allocations made. I agree with the Member who spoke previously that we need to see what that is based on. All that we get is a bid and an allocation: we do not get a rationale for it. We do not get a rationale from the Department of Finance for why one bid was more acceptable than another.”
“If anybody wants some midnight reading, there is the economic policy published by Sinn Féin. You would have to read it in the dark, and it would not make any less sense if you did. It tells us that the subvention could be reduced because we would not have to spend money on the military or the security forces. It tells us that that would be the subvention wiped out and we would not have to worry about where the money was coming from. It is the politics and the economics of the primary school. <BR /> <BR />The other reason that we in the House need to take into account is that the system is dependent on what the bids are. I heard what the Finance Minister said and will, no doubt, say again later: it is everybody else's fault. "Bring me bids", he says.”
“The Member who preceded me said that, when he was in business, he had a multi-year plan or would have to plan ahead. We have a system that forces us into government with people who want to spend, spend, spend and have no accountability as to where it comes from. We have seen that in recent days. On one hand, Members opposite are blaming the Treasury, the Chancellor and austerity, but the £4·4 billion would not have come from a new Ireland.”
“I say this whether or not I will be back in the Chamber after the next election — that decision will be made by others — but, when there is an inquiry into COVID and the spending on it, I hope that it will not be the civil servants who are made the scapegoats but that those who made the decisions on spending that money will be held accountable for that. Be assured that, when that inquiry comes, problems will be highlighted. <BR /> <BR />As other Members have said, the structures that we have are totally and absolutely past the point of needing to be reformed. That was an issue when I and others were Finance Minister. Of course, at the heart of that is a five-party mandatory coalition. What other business could be run by sitting in the boardroom with all your competitors? It would not work.”
“For them, no budgetary allocations or spring Estimates will ever change what has happened in their lives as a result of losing loved ones, and that is the same for the many others who have been affected by the pandemic. <BR /> <BR />As others have said, we should pay tribute to our Civil Service. I am not always a cheerleader for the decisions that are made, but that is maybe more a reflection on the politicians than it is on those who have to enact those decisions. Our civil servants have had to work in the most extreme, difficult and challenging circumstances, and, of course, they have been put under huge pressure to get money out.”
“I rise in support of the spring Supplementary Estimates and the Vote on Account. I share the Finance Minister's pain, because I sat in his place in 2016-17 and had to go through this process, so I will try to shorten that pain for him, if I possibly can. Those are the famous last words of every Assembly Member when they stand up in the House. <BR /> <BR />The year that we have left behind will, for us all, be a year that we do not want to see repeated. It has been the most challenging year for us all, as individuals, as families, as communities and as a society. We should pause to remember those families whose lives have been forever changed as a result of the pandemic.”
“I am intrigued by the Minister's commitment to deliver planning for this issue. In light of the unacceptable delays in the planning system, particularly in the Causeway Coast and Glens area, will she look at that issue to ensure that there is a process in place that gives an outcome and not what we have had for too long in that area: delay, delay, delay?”
“When will they be removed? Can I have an assurance that they will be removed?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. However, I have to take issue with her when she says that her Department takes measures to remove such emblems. Having written to a previous Minister, Mr Kennedy, and raised the matter repeatedly, we still have, in the village of Rasharkin in my constituency, signs from republican organisations that do not have the support of the community. They should have been removed a long time ago. That is a failure by your Department, Minister, to deal with the issue in a village that has been subjected to a lot of intimidation in the past, part of which emanates from those illegal signs.”
“I remind the Member that I was not that person; it was the party opposite that raised the issue of fiscal powers. John O'Dowd has raised it again. Let us hear from the party opposite and from the SDLP about your plans. If they are anything like previous plans, City of Derry Airport will probably be back up for sale again.”
“There was a 5·7% increase in new businesses registered in Northern Ireland in 2020. We also need to give confidence to the community.”
“Will the Member also accept that we can sometimes create a situation of doom and gloom in here?”
“It is time for the party that proposed the motion to come up with real ideas and not try to be part of an Executive when, in reality, it would prefer to be outside the door.”
“<BR /> <BR />We need to have a dose of reality in the House. Let us remember that Google — not that I always take it to be the source of my information, but it is the source of most of our information today — says that 87% of retail and recreation establishments had a loss in footfall in the five weeks prior to January.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. He makes a valid point about the fiscal package. It is vital, but it is not the only reason that we want to remain part of the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />When we come to the motion, let us pull away all the rhetoric and let the party that proposed it be honest with its electorate. Huge problems have been created as a result of lockdown. Yet, when the Economy Minister brought forward proposals to help local businesses — click and collect is one example — what did the other parties in the Executive decide to do? They said, "You cannot do that. That is a bridge too far". The ink on the press release was not even dry when they went out saying, "It's terrible. We need to support local businesses. The traders are crying out for help" — and they are.”
“Let us ignore the £13 billion from the Treasury and the £4 billion that has come to Northern Ireland as a result of being part of the United Kingdom despite the protocol. Now, he wants us to have more power and more fiscal responsibility. Will the Members opposite tell us whether they want to bring in water charges? Will the parties come clean and tell us what economic stimuli they will introduce that will tax the people of Northern Ireland?”
“Be assured that the Alliance Party will raise its hand for whatever is populist. What did its representative say about the Executive? He said that, when it comes to Ministers, they are still in their silos. Maybe the reason that they are in their silos is that the construct of this place has resulted in silos. They are not a Government the same as the Governments in any other part of these islands. This is a forced mandatory coalition, and it is therefore no wonder that we have the outcomes that we sometimes have. <BR /> <BR />Of course, Sinn Féin never ceases to amaze me in how it comes up with the schemes and plans that it gets involved in. Philip McGuigan, my North Antrim colleague, wants us to have more fiscal powers.”
“<BR /> <BR />The SDLP is not alone in acting in that manner. The Member for East Antrim was right to raise the issue of the Job Start scheme earlier. The Minister responsible for that scheme has not really told us why it has been set aside. Did the Minister want it to be rebranded? Did the Minister want it to be redesigned? Was the Minister nervous about being part of a UK-wide scheme? Those are all legitimate questions that need to be answered, because they all have an impact on the economic recovery and well-being of Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />We also need to ask a question of the Alliance Party, which likes to present itself as benign, being neither unionist nor nationalist and living in this world of, "We really don't know what we are, but we are up for whatever is out there".”
“I am sure that not all the nation is waiting with bated breath after Question Time to hear my contribution. It is more likely that they will want to hear what the Prime Minister has to say about moving out of lockdown. <BR /> <BR />Forgive me for being the cynic in the House, but, when you read the motion and listen to the proposer and some other contributions, you would nearly think that we are in the first shot of the 2022 Assembly elections. The motion reads and sounds like a party manifesto. Maybe it is time for the SDLP and others to consider seriously whether they are part of the forced mandatory coalition that we have in these arrangements. Instead of trying to have the best of both words, maybe it is time for the SDLP to tell its electorate where it stands on working together in an Executive.”
“On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Can you clarify the accuracy of the comments made? Leaving the European Union was the result of a democratic vote held in the United Kingdom, and the Member opposite has a UK National Insurance number.”
“Does the Member accept that the parties opposite want a continual drip-feeding from the Chancellor without any recognition of where real money comes from?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. There has been public comment made about to where some of that money will be allocated. Some of it will be allocated to very large projects and to organisations such as the National Trust. It is vital, however, that smaller organisations and rural organisations that make an invaluable contribution to the sector and to our communities, such as the Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust, not be excluded. Will the Minister ensure that that is the case?”
“I thank the Member for reminding us of that. Does he accept that, unfortunately, it found another way to circumnavigate that piece of legislation and that some of the same people are still under the confines of the party opposite?”
“Why is it that every time we come to the House when a Bill or a proposal comes from the Members on the opposite Benches, they say, "This is how it is", but when someone else does it, they say, "There is an ulterior motive. Let us question it". If we started to question the motives of the Members opposite for all that they have done over the years, we would be in a far worse place than we are now. Will the Member, at least, show respect to the House and to the sponsor of the private Member's Bill? There are more private Member's Bills to come, and we need to accept the fact that the Member brought the Bill in good faith. We should, at least, have the decency to let it be heard in the Chamber today.”
“We can also include in that list of ills Ted Howell, Padraic Wilson and Martin Lynch, as well as the Finance Minister's predecessor, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, who is no longer in the House. Strangely enough, he somehow just disappeared. Would it prevent the ill that is Connolly House having been, and probably still being, the centre of policymaking for your party, as opposed to the House being given its proper place?”
“I have listened to the debate all afternoon. As a parent who believes in the right to bring up a child in accordance with the views of my faith, what assurance will you give to parents like me that, given the views that I hold dear, and by which I have brought my children up — although that has not always been very successful, I have to say, when it comes to respect and so on — the outworking of the Bill will not result in a witch-hunt against people of faith who have very strongly held views on that issue?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Does he find it strange, then, that his colleague in the Irish Parliament, Matt Carthy, the Sinn Féin agriculture spokesman and his equivalent, criticised the reduction in the money that is currently available from the EU, when he said that the common agricultural policy had taken a huge hit and was lower than it had been in 2014 and that the rural development fund had also taken a substantial cut and had been halved? That was when we were part of the European Union. What does the Member say to that?”
“— in the House of Commons, the very place from which the Members opposite stay away but still get their allowances.”
“— give their consent. Members will be glad to know that we do not need legislative consent because the deal will be passed —”
“Now, because of political opportunism, not because of some pragmatism, it sees an opportunity to do Northern Ireland down. <BR /> <BR />I stand here today realising that there are challenges ahead, but there are also opportunities. Let us give the message to our businesses that we will work with them and do everything for them to ensure that they prosper and build a better future for us all and that that prosperity is not tagged with orange and green, nationalism or some other political ideology but is driven by the best interests of the people whom we represent. I say to Members: let us ensure that we have the debate and that it is based on reality. <BR /> <BR />The Member for the SDLP mentioned a legislative consent motion. I think that the Sinn Féin representative said that they would not —”
“What I suggest to Members who voted to leave the European Union is to show that sense of optimism and show some respect for democratic principles. <BR /> <BR />The representative from Sinn Féin said that there was no mandate for Brexit. There was a mandate. She went on to refer to the fact that it was driven by narrow nationalism. Sinn Féin would not be engaged in anything like that. It would not be engaged in any party politics like that. Then the Member talked about the impact on our businesses. What happened 28 years ago, on 13 November 1992, in the town that she represents? The IRA blew the heart out of Coleraine. That was seen as politically opportunistic. That was seen as advancing the cause. We have a party in the House that has opposed Europe at every stage down through the years.”
“However, some time ago, I read 'Clean Brexit'. In that book, reference was made to some of the great events that took place over two centuries and changed the political landscape of these islands. In 1846, there was the repeal of the Corn Laws. In 1931, the UK left the gold standard. In1945, after the Second World War, our nation was on its knees. Out of the ashes of that terrible time in our nation's history, the National Health Service became a reality, national insurance became a reality and free compulsory secondary schooling became a reality. In 1979, we had the Thatcher revolution, which gave to this nation economic prosperity. All we have heard this morning is, "We will lose" and "We will be worse off". As one commentator said yesterday, it is not the best of all deals but it is not the worst of all deals.”