Trevor Clarke
South Antrim · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“For recruitment to the current Youth Assembly and on the basis of research on the youth demographic in Northern Ireland, a minimum of 10 young people with disabilities were sought in order to be representative of the data. Of the 90 young people appointed to the Youth Assembly, 18 have a disability.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Youth Assembly regularly uses social media to promote its work, and, when preparing for a new mandate, targeted multimedia recruitment campaigns are used to engage young people and encourage participation.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Assembly Commission also has an apprenticeship and placement framework that provides the opportunity for people with a disability to avail themselves of short-term supported placements.”
“In 2025, 770 tours were delivered and the number of events hosted in Parliament Buildings almost doubled to 583. <BR /> <BR />Our Education Service promotes its programmes to schools and colleges through an annual September mail-out, outlining provision for the relevant Key Stages, including a focus on inclusive engagement for children wi…”
“Mr Speaker, I may require an extra minute to answer the question. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Member for her question. The Assembly Commission's school work experience programme is facilitated through a partnership between our internal education services team and an organisation called Futures For All, a social mobility charity.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, with your permission, I may need an extra minute to answer the question, and I thank the Member for it. <BR /> <BR />The Assembly Commission's public engagement strategy 2025-27 aims to increase awareness, improve understanding and enable participation in the work of the Assembly.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,151 lines we hold for Trevor Clarke, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 15 of 24.
“I am listening to the Member saying that it would be unworkable. Maybe you are going to elaborate on how it would be unworkable, given that all we are asking for is a review of the fines. It is going to take the same number of redcoats; all we are suggesting is that fine should be less.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. The motion talks about fines. Will the Member agree, from listening to shoppers, that the "redcoats", as they are often known, seem to be overzealous in how they do their jobs? We hear of people being fined for parking a few inches outside of the limits of a box. It seems to be more that they get an enjoyment out of punishing people than trying to work with people to bring them into our towns and villages.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer and, in his usual fullness, he managed to answer my supplementary on connectivity. With the answer he has given, I am satisfied that he has answered my question on connectivity for Northern Ireland.”
“I have friends who are in that profession, and I understand the difficulties that they have working in it, but one thing at the heart of all this is that we should not underestimate the care that the nurses provide. Whether they have pressure or otherwise, their first and foremost position is that they are caring professionals doing a caring job for the patients whom they serve. That said, we need to encourage more people into the profession. One of the ways to do that is to open up more recruitment places and to make it more attractive looking from the perspective of our colleges. I support the motion.”
“We need to be prudent going forward, and I would not wish to have the difficult job that the Minister and all Ministers have in trying to balance finding the finances with delivering services, but until we get properly funded nurses in positions, we cannot remove the over-reliance on agency staff. Agency staff are much more expensive. That is one aspect. The other is around workforce planning and having a balance going forward. It is for that reason that I support the main motion. <BR /> <BR />The Minister has a difficult task ahead to try to get the balance right. It is for that reason that I find myself in support of the motion to try to come to a position where we can remove the pressures for some of the individuals who take nursing on as a career.”
“Indeed, some of those individuals work outside of European countries as well. So, they have come to this country and given an awful lot, and I do not think that we should underestimate their value, the role that they have played in our hospitals and the care that they have provided to our patients. <BR /> <BR />Moving on to the motion, the difference for me in relation to the motion and amendment — I have had this conversation with Mark privately — is that I could have seen myself supporting the amendment, however, the motion goes on to talk about the reliance on agency workers.”
“As someone who voted to exit the European Union — I do not want this turning into a European debate — I fully get our past and future reliance on foreign nationals coming to work in our hospitals, because of their work ethic and the compassion that those individuals show, but we should not tie that into a debate about whether we should be in or out of Europe. It is about the professional character of some of those individuals.”
“I apologise that I was not here for most of the other contributions as I had other business. I support the motion tabled in the name of my colleague Sydney Anderson. Although I have sympathy for the amendment, I do not believe that it is as strong as the motion. I do not want to get into the blame game: if we are all mature about this, we know that there is a problem in the nursing sector and in our hospitals. Many of us who visit the hospitals know the pressure that nursing staff work under. It is not a case of blaming one person or another for that; it is about finding a solution. The motion refers to including our colleges in providing more encouragement to get people into the profession. <BR /> <BR />I want to touch briefly on comments made by the previous Member to speak.”
“I thank the Minister for his comprehensive answer. I am sure that he will agree that many people are concerned — we are all concerned in our own homes — about energy wastage. Given that we see street lights lit on many occasions when they should not be, and, someone has to bear the cost, what will the Minister do to reduce the cost of the energy being used?”
“I feel as though I do not really want to thank the Minister for his answer. Can he differentiate between terrorists and the forces who were actually murdered by terrorists and tell us the difference between those monuments?”
“I appreciate the Member giving way and the point that he is making about the best results. However, in this motion today, and I think that the Minister has outlined its flawed nature, we are not talking about people with a diagnosis, we are talking about people actually going to be diagnosed or otherwise. We are not talking about the sufferers here.”
“Given that there is a chance that the fund could be oversubscribed, what is the possibility of additional in-year funding for the programme?”
“I am sure that the Minister will agree that many bands were disappointed when the funding was cut. I congratulate him on reinstating it. He said that 94 bands had applied. After the eligibility checks have been carried out — I appreciate that we do not know how many there will be —”
“I thank the Minister for her responses so far. Minister, I hope that you will agree that, on the day when there is a debate about openness and transparency, the very fact that you published these figures shows that you as a Minister and others in the Executive want to be open and transparent. I am sure that you are equally concerned about the issue in that trust. Will you join me in expressing disappointment that some today have wanted to sensationalise the issue by suggesting that heads will roll when you have just indicated in your answer that survival rates in Northern Ireland are higher than anywhere else in the UK?”
“I will. The essence of what I want to say, Minister, is this: consider this as much as you can, but we want you to charge your officials with building it so that it will come.”
“He turned from where he started and is now nearly championing the cause. I am glad that you have had that change of heart, Steve, and joined this train. We might need an extra carriage to get you to come along. Your later comments were welcome, and you are welcome with that view. <BR /> <BR />Gordon Lyons talked about the —”
“I was very heartened by what Declan had to say about those isolated communities and what they need. He talked about a future enterprise zone. We are all coming at this from the same direction. We see the real benefits that it can deliver not only for South Antrim but for Northern Ireland. We see this as a gateway, and we see an airport better connected to Belfast. That is not to take away from the growth of the airport through additional flights, but, in the long term, if we had a better connection between the two locations, we could assist in that growth. <BR /> <BR />We heard from Alex Easton about the need for the best possible infrastructure, and I do not think that anyone could argue against that. <BR /> <BR />Steve was a bit more sceptical of Paul's view of "Build it and they will come", but I think that he then came on to our page.”
“I worked with Kellie in a previous life, and I welcome her comments about the importance of connecting our rural communities and getting them into hubs. I welcome the fact that she joined the rest of us in welcoming the idea of working with you, Minister, to map a way forward to get this ambitious project started and make it a reality. <BR /> <BR />We then heard from Edwin Poots, who was reminiscing a bit with my colleague from South Antrim Mr Ford on the work that they have been doing on this. I do not want to take away from that. The more we shout about this, the greater the opportunity of it becoming a reality. Mostly, they talked about the linkages to communities outside the greater airport area. <BR /> <BR />Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, my constituency colleague and your colleague Declan Kearney spoke next.”
“Your Department has done a lot of work on the reliability of Translink, whether that be the buses or trains, which is another reason why this would work. <BR /> <BR />We had support from the west of the Province. Daniel McCrossan supported the connectivity, the opportunities for business and for stimulating economic growth. <BR /> <BR />We are hearing positivity from some parties. Although they are joined in opposition, they are not exactly on the same message. That is for them to sort out; the rest of us were on-message today. <BR /> <BR />We then heard from Kellie Armstrong, who, in a previous life, wore a different hat. Having worked in community transport, she will understand exactly the difficulties of isolated communities such as Glenavy and Crumlin, which sit on the edge and have no connectivity.”
“I come in on the M2, and some mornings you do not know what to expect when you come to Sandyknowes, whether it will still be congested or otherwise.”
“It was a bit rich of them to criticise our plan, but if they had taken the time to read the motion they would have seen that we want to work with you, Minister, and your Department to bring this plan forward. The only way to deliver most things in Northern Ireland is by a partnership approach and everyone joining together. <BR /> <BR />Fra talked about the use of trains and how much cleaner and better they are for the environment. I suppose I will take that one because he is on our side in relation to that. I suppose the environment argument is a different one entirely, but there is an opportunity to create jobs. Fra talked about the creation of jobs if we could get more people off the roads and into trains to commute. It is a much easier and more reliable form of transport.”
“Belfast International has the right location. It is central in Northern Ireland, and we need as an Executive to do more to invest to assist it, and that will bring benefits to the wider area. <BR /> <BR />Whilst Jenny Palmer welcomed the motion, I was confused because she went on to criticise the fact that we were coming forward with an ambitious plan. Others welcomed ambition in what we are suggesting. Indeed, others added to that ambition. We heard about the Ulster Unionist Party's 10-point plan yesterday, which was mentioned a few times today, even in Question Time, and the three times the investment in infrastructure but no suggestion of where that money will come from.”
“In its own right, it is capturing about 5·5 million of your 10 million passenger trigger. If you add that to the number of people outside that area who could use that line, you could easily surpass the 10 million figure. <BR /> <BR />Paul, my colleague for South Antrim, opened the debate. He spoke about the opportunity of an enterprise zone and how all these things fit together in the bigger picture. I listened to a debate on the radio the other day about an argument, I think it was in the 'News Letter', about there being one regional airport in Northern Ireland and whether there was a need for the other two. I think that that issue will come forward in the future. <BR /> <BR />Steve brought bad news today in relation to City of Derry Airport, and maybe that is the sort of news that we will hear more regularly.”
“<BR /> <BR />I do not know how they could do a piece of work about the growth that there has been in Crumlin and Glenavy, as I dare say their populations have almost doubled, and those people are commuting. I am sure that you have the figure yourself, Minister, but an estimated 1,100 pupils leave Crumlin daily to go to other towns. Again, this railway line from Crumlin towards the airport would alleviate some of the problems in relation to the buses. <BR /> <BR />This is not only about the airport; this is about the connectivity between the villages and the airport itself. Steve Aiken gave us a four-minute speech on how successful the airport has been, and that is a good thing. You mentioned in your own remarks, Minister, about the growth of the airport, and that is something that we should all welcome.”
“However, there would be much more benefit if we could see that line open again for the use of the people in that hinterland and, indeed, the airport. <BR /> <BR />My colleague who opened the debate talked about "build it and they will come". I believe that if we do build it, they will come. The testament to that is the example that was used for the Coleraine to Londonderry line. They had a very substandard service. I was on that train myself and felt that I would never get on it again because it felt unsafe. Now that they have built that railway line, their estimates have been blown completely out of the water — as I said, 225% over what they projected. What my colleague and others have presented today is that it is a case of build it and they will come.”
“So, if they were to use the 300 service, it would probably be as easy for them to drive straight on to Belfast, rather than trying to catch the 300 bus. Some of us made representation to your Department recently to try to let others use the 300 service, but Translink would not let other passengers in that area use it or provide a halt at the airport area in relation to Crooked Stone, which would have allowed the people in that hinterland right up as far as Nutts Corner to come down to get the 300 service. It is because the airport wants an express service from there, but it stops in Templepatrick. <BR /> <BR />Much has been said, Minister, about the benefits of this line. You spoke about the £1·5 million that has been spent. I suppose that that is not a huge amount of money from 2010.”
“The 300 service is a good service, but it connects only the airport to Belfast, not that particular area's hinterland. Indeed, even if it does, people have a considerable distance to travel to join the service.”
“Dare I say — I am usually quite rude with some officials — that DRD officials have got it wrong previously, as you know? As I reminded the Deputy Speaker earlier today in an interjection, the officials brought in services to do an estimate of the numbers using the line between Coleraine and Londonderry. When that line was realised, the projection was out by 225%. Mere desktop exercises do not demonstrate the yield of public transport use in the future. It is with that tone, Minister, that I am asking you to look at it again and to charge your officials with looking at it with fresh eyes, because communities such as Crumlin, Glenavy, Stoneyford and others are backed into a corner. The 300 service does not serve them whatsoever.”
“Minister, I start by saying that I welcome your comments at the start of your contribution. Obviously, I am pleased with most of the comments made by most of the Members in the Chamber and with those from my constituency colleague and one of your colleagues about the need for greater connectivity. However, I slightly despair at your closing comments and at the interjection by another colleague from South Antrim who referred to the other villages. As representatives of South Antrim, all of us were very familiar that the motion was geared directly towards the airport, yet we could see the benefit to the other villages, such as Glenavy, Stoneyford and Crumlin, and to Lagan Valley, everywhere else and beyond. <BR /> <BR />Most of your commentary has been based around the business case for 10 million passengers.”
“I welcome the fact that the Minister refers to a moral obligation and that he accepts that there is a moral obligation. Given that there was a paper prepared in 2015 to the Executive by the DUP, which does not seem to have gone anywhere, will the Minister give a reassurance that he will redouble his efforts to make sure that the moral commitment is realised by the NIO, or whoever the paymaster might be, so that these people can get justice on the equal pay issue?”
“I thank the Member for giving way on that point about the passenger numbers. That is the point that we wanted to draw out in the intervention on Kellie Armstrong. I have a difficulty with the Department's projections. In the case of the projection for the Coleraine to Londonderry line, when it was built, it was 225% more than was estimated. They cannot accurately estimate how many people will use a line. As you rightly said, the figures show that the population in those areas is growing. We suggest that, by default, the number of passengers will grow.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. It is right and proper to ask where the funding is coming from. If you look at the way we have worded the motion — you have picked up the essence of it, unlike the previous Member — you will see that we are asking the Minister and his Department to investigate options. Among those options is Ballymartin park-and-ride, which has not even been talked about. It is another facility where we are bringing people out of Belfast, removing some of the tensions in Belfast and, indeed, actually increasing investment because people on business can move, making their journeys easier. We are not suggesting that the Minister must do it, we are asking him to investigate ways in which it can be done.”
“I thank the Member for giving way on that point. I take the Member back to the start of her contribution, when she talked about their 10-point plan, which, by her own admission, was launched only yesterday. In your contribution today, you said that infrastructure projects were on that list; indeed, you went on to say that the linkage between the International Airport and the City Airport was on that list. Maybe you can tell us in your contribution where you are getting the money for your 10-point plan.”
“The Member talks about Translink. I am sure that he is aware that a bus leaves the International Airport every 15 minutes to take passengers to Belfast. Do we not see the benefit then of a rail link that gives passengers an option and removes some of the traffic congestion on our roads?”
“I appreciate what the Minister said, but many areas have not had their first cut. Will he outline when his Department is supposed to have its first cut finished before it goes on to the second one? When will the weed spraying start?”
“I presume the Member voted to remain. Could she have given farmers the assurance that the subsidies would have continued into the near future?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Maybe you can tell us when you are going to remove the whip from Tom Elliott.”
“I will indeed, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I support this motion, and I appeal to the Minister to do more, now that she is in the role, and fill in the gaps where the previous Minister did not get it right and take us much further, so that we can have a central register and prevent people from abusing animals in our society today.”
“<BR /> <BR />Peter Weir acknowledged the work that has been done; again, these are general themes that are coming across today. More needs to be done to improve this. <BR /> <BR />Harold McKee talked about how people were appalled by the treatment of animals. That is apparent here today, and it is apparent by the number of people who wanted to contribute to the debate, and I thank the Member for his contribution on that.”
“To get off with a lenient or suspended sentence is absolutely ridiculous in this day and age. They should be behind bars and prevented from keeping animals for life, and the only way to do that, Minister, is to keep a central register. <BR /> <BR />Trevor Lunn talked about the ban, and I think he had a valid point when he said that the ban can be against individuals in a household. I have three children in my house, plus my wife and myself, and if one of my children was banned from keeping animals, there is nothing to prevent the rest of us from keeping animals in the same house. I think that that is wrong, Minister, because the same people, with the same mindset, are in contact with those animals. That should be removed. Those are all suggestions that we are looking at to try to get tougher on animal abuse in Northern Ireland.”
“We know that it has been debated, but we do not want to continue debating it; we want a system that is robust. One of the ways that we see of achieving that is a central register. It was interesting to note, Minister, that when you said that the review talked about a clear need, it was not that they could not do it; I suggest that they did not want to do it. That is how I view it. There is no reason why we cannot do this; there is no willingness to do it. I am not saying for one second that that was on your part, but that is my view, and we need to change the attitude of some of the individuals in the Departments. <BR /> <BR />Nichola Mallon talked about harsher sentencing, which is something that none of us will disagree with, because we see suspended sentences given to people who abuse and destroy animals.”
“That is why Emma and I asked for the motion to be debated today, and I am thankful to all those who took part in the debate. I will briefly go through some of the things that people said. <BR /> <BR />Emma talked about a fight against cruelty, and that is exactly what it is: a fight against cruelty, and most Members want to join in that fight. She talked about how it makes her angry, and it makes me angry, too. Whenever you see sites, such as YouTube or elsewhere, on which people still advertise dog fighting and you can go on and see it — in this day and age — that makes me angry. It disappoints me that we do not have a robust system to bring this to an end and prevent these people from keeping animals. <BR /> <BR />Doug Beattie talked about us having progressed the issue, and he said that it had been debated.”
“Reference has also been made today to social media. Some social media sites have started to get it right and are taking responsibility by suggesting to people that their adverts will be taken down, particularly when they are offering dogs free to good homes. Many of us know — I think that it was Michaela who said it today — that these dogs are being used for baiting. That is the last thing that anyone in this Chamber wants to see, so the sooner that we can actually ban online sales and keep a register of those who have been convicted of cruelty and prevent them from acquiring animals, the better. <BR /> <BR />We are not serious if we continually debate this. Members said this has been debated: yes, it has been debated, and it will be debated again. We will continue to debate it until we get it right. We have not got it right.”
“Their neighbours may know that a case has been brought against them, but some people in the area where they are purchasing the animal will not know. A central register is the only way that we can overcome this problem. Three Members referred to the case of Cody, the dog that was set on fire in Lisburn. There is nothing to prevent any of those people going into any establishment to get another dog.”
“As there is no central register, that family could have gone to another charity the following day and took a dog regardless of how they were going to care for it. There is no concern about how people acquire these pets. In the same way as you can go into Tesco and buy a litre of milk, you can go to a rehoming charity and get a dog, a cat or any other animal. <BR /> <BR />I read today's information pack and looked at some of the statements in the newspapers on harrowing cases of people abusing animals over the last couple of years. There is nothing to say that those three gentlemen in east Belfast cannot go to a neighbouring constituency and purchase a dog, a cat or any other animal, because they are not on a central register.”
“The reason for this was that they had to keep the dog for so many days before they could release it. The interesting fact about that particular case was that the wardens knew where the dog came from. They knew the family involved, because they had visited the home on so many occasions. I am told that what happened, as a regular practice, was that the door of the property was opened in the morning and the dog was pushed out onto the street. They were not being responsible dog owners, but the council had no power to do anything with them. The owners were so caring about the dog that they did not come to collect it from the pound on this occasion. Thankfully, it came it into our care and we have given it a good, caring home.”
“I agree wholeheartedly. That is what I was coming to. It seems more a case of sour grapes about the fact that those Members missed a trick and set the bar too high for themselves to take the role of Minister. I am thankful that Claire Sugden came up to the mark. I am thankful that she is here today and is taking her brief and this issue seriously, as are all the Members in the Chamber. <BR /> <BR />It is not for us to suggest to you, Minister, how to do your job and how to go about things. The motion is merely making a suggestion about a central register. I will give you an example. Others talked about family pets. I have a family pet, which was advertised on the Internet by a local council, and I contacted the council about the dog. Council officials told me that they could not release the dog until a certain date the following week.”
“Things are still not right, and we want to make them better. Chris Lyttle wanted to hear from the DUP about what we want to do to make it right.”
“The good Member allowed me to intervene in relation to the case in east Belfast. That case typifies that the judiciary has got it wrong. In many cases, sentences cannot be appealed because they do not fit within the remit. Three people who put cats in a cage and let dogs pull them apart can go in front of the judiciary and leave the court in a jovial manner with a suspended sentence. Any right-thinking person, including you, Minister, would agree that that is too lenient. It troubles many of us. <BR /> <BR />Mr Lyttle made a point about some of the things that the previous Minister did. The motion is not trying to take anything away from what the previous Minister did or from what Ministers from any other Departments have done. What we are trying to say is that we still have not got it right.”
“Only today, the MP for North Antrim contacted Emma when he realised that this debate was on. He had asked for an appeal against a lenient sentence for animal cruelty, and he got a letter back from the PPS on 16 June. The word back from the PPS was that this was only for cases from the Crown Court and not those from the Magistrates' Court. Some of us do not necessarily know whether cases are going to the Crown Court or the Magistrates' Court. Ultimately, we know that animals are being abused and mistreated in our communities. That is typified by what people have said in the Chamber today about their own experiences. It is not for us to get confused about whether stuff is in a Crown Court or Magistrates' Court.”