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
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“It is on the basis of the Assembly's requirements that the Assembly Commission develops its draft budget. The draft budget is scrutinised by the Audit Committee, with input from the Department of Finance to help inform the Committee's scrutiny. <BR /> <BR />The Commission presented its 2026-2030 draft budget to the Audit Committee on 17 September 2025 and provided further clarification to the Committee on 24 September 2025, responding to the issues raised by the Department. Following that scrutiny of the Commission budget, the Audit Committee produced its report and laid it in the Assembly on 23 October 2025. The Commission thanks the Audit Committee and its officials for its work and scrutiny.”
“The Assembly Commission has a duty under section 40 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to:”
“I share the Minister's optimism about the pay settlement for the police, and I hope that we are both right to have that optimism. My question goes much wider, however, because it is about police funding as a whole. We all know about the pressures that policing faces at the moment. Is she as optimistic that something can be done to resolve some of the outstanding issues, in particular the big-ticket items that have featured in the media most recently?”
“I appreciate the Minister giving way, and I appreciate his language in the debate. It has been very helpful and encouraging for Erin and the families who are listening. He said that space is at a premium. There is a suggestion that there is a disused shop on the site. Will the Minister explore the genesis of that story that is going around? It is a shop that has been disused for some time, and questions remain unanswered about its purpose.”
“The Member is right to point out the financial pressures, but, given the difficulty that some of those children face, addressing them in a calm and timely manner would be much more efficient and could actually save money in the long term for the staff. Does the Member agree?”
“Given the magnitude of the situation and the hurt that has been caused to those who have been affected by it, I appreciate that the Minister has offered to meet the family. Given that mistakes have been made, will anyone be held accountable for them? There was clearly more than one mistake. Does the Minister think that it is acceptable that a killer was unaccompanied on four occasions, or was that a mistake as well?”
“I thank the Minister for that update. Minister, given the nature and the urgency of the matter in hand and given the dire straits that the police find themselves in, how hopeful are you that a solution can be found before the end of the financial year?”
“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I ask you to review the conduct of Madam Principal Deputy Speaker during Question Time today. When one of our Members asked a question, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker decided that the Minister would not answer it, and the Minister was not afforded the opportunity of deciding whether she wanted to answer the question during Question Time.”
“My only disappointment is that I did not get an invitation to join you, Minister. I am sure that other Members on these Benches would have welcomed the opportunity to join you to see at first hand some of the genocide that happened to the Israelis, as opposed to listening to some of the chuntering that we hear from the terrorist on the Back Bench. <BR /> <BR />That having been said, Minister, in accordance with the Functioning of Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 2021, are there any records of your meetings?”
“I thank the Minister for that answer. I am glad that she pointed out the Department's consultative role and the road safety issues. Minister, given all of that and the fact that there is a sign in your constituency that is adjacent to a bridge and is prejudicing road safety, when will you instruct your officials to remove it from your land?”
“It is disappointing to hear the leader of the Opposition politicking on the matter. He is not genuinely concerned about the officers and is clearly trying to score political points on that basis. <BR /> <BR />Minister, it was surprising to hear today, given what you said in your initial answer, about the quantum of the claim. Where did the UK Treasury's figure of £760 million come from, given that some claims have not been settled at this point?”
“Early indications from the Treasury were that it was going to support the payment of compensation, but it is now running away, as it does from everything else.”
“Some in the Chamber support having asylum seekers here, but asylum seekers have brought with them problems — some of them unforeseen — for the police by way of protests and riots. That has been through no fault of the Assembly. Rather, it has been the fault of the current Government and their policies. <BR /> <BR />The report talked about planned events. No one planned for the data breach. The data breach was unforeseen and clearly not planned. I do not know what planet the Treasury is living on: it must be cloud cuckoo land. No one went into work that day to leak information about all those officers and their families. It was an accident. I see the Member opposite shaking his head. It was a mistake that is going to cost tens of millions of pounds, however.”
“<BR /> <BR />He said that such things should have been planned and budgeted for. I say this to the Secretary of State: I am not sure how any Minister, be that the current or any future Minister of Justice, could have planned for things that happened in our past. I declare an interest as a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. I have an insight into some of the things from the past and their cost to the Northern Ireland purse. I am talking primarily about legacy. If the Secretary of State were to quantify what legacy has cost since the formation of the Assembly and give us that money, it would remove the difficulties that we face with the current funding cycle in which we are stuck. <BR /> <BR />We can look also at the Government's immigration policy and asylum policy, both of which we had no say on.”
“I will speak on funding for policing and, for the first time, not blame the Minister of Justice for the debacle that is unfolding before us. First, I will say that my thoughts are with the men and women who, every day, put on their uniform and go out to serve our community. They are caught up in a debacle through no fault of their own and, I dare say, through no fault of any Ministers in the Executive. <BR /> <BR />This week, it has been shameful to hear, through a leaked report from the Treasury — I suggest that people were briefed — suggestions that it will not give additional funding to the PSNI. It is shameful that the Secretary of State is not standing up for the PSNI. Indeed, he enjoys its support and protection every time that he flies into Northern Ireland on a whim.”
“I suppose that I could be described as churlish for going back to the podcast on which the First Minister's party colleague made those comments. Of course, the First Minister would say that those were her colleague's comments and were not made on behalf of the party. <BR /> <BR />In response to her colleague from, I think, West Belfast, the First Minister talked about Northern Ireland being a world-class destination. How can we say, on the one hand, that Northern Ireland is a world-class destination and give the description she gave, which was glowing with regard to what Northern Ireland has to offer, while, on the other hand, her Executive colleague makes it difficult for the defence industry to invest in Northern Ireland. How do those two things square?”
“Given the fuel poverty strategy and the importance of some elements of it, one of the things that has been really important to many of our constituents is the warm homes scheme. Can you give an update on whether that will continue to feature as part of the fuel poverty strategy or on what will happen with it in the future?”
“Very briefly, I remind you that your Ministers held the Department for Infrastructure for a number of years. Your Member on the Back Bench and, indeed, the former Member for North Belfast both blocked an infrastructure project in North Belfast that would have prevented our shipping waste across the world. What is your view on that?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. I note from her answer that, unlike the other Departments, your Department set aside 3.5%. Is that included in the £23 million overspend, or is that money still protected? When are officers likely to know the outcome of the pay rise?”
“Minister, your guidance does not go far enough. Many people who have been left abandoned prior to 2024 will be disappointed with the guidance. Can you not relook at the retrospective nature of the guidance, particularly for people living in private streets? There are hundreds upon hundreds of people across Northern Ireland who are living in private streets today, and your policy will make no difference whatever to them.”
“She comes in here merely for Question Time and is not seen amongst us for any other debate. However, she puts out tweets and Facebook posts claiming that we are responsible for the decrease in police numbers. Of course, the Minister has been back in post for a considerable time, but the numbers have not gone up. The Chief Constable is now at risk of overspending the budget, because he took the pause off recruitment. He started recruiting on the basis of a funding package that was promised by the Minister but that he still does not have. The Minister promised more money in the next monitoring round, but that has not taken place. The Minister references her "business case". She has no business case. The business case squarely belongs to the Chief Constable, who has made the case and fought for policing, while the Minister has been absent.”
“Let us look at the record of the Minister. The Police Federation for Northern Ireland has come out and taken a shot, and it has not missed in what it said about the Minister. It has rebuked the Minister, because she is utterly wrong. Utterly wrong. <BR /> <BR />Let us look at the record. The current Chief Constable has been vociferous in his fight for policing and has made the strongest possible case for numbers, because the Minister has failed to do anything. The Chief Constable made that case directly to Downing Street. What happened to him for that? The Minister and her little helpers rebuked him, but, of course, he ignored that, because he wanted to put the police in the strongest possible position. <BR /> <BR />I and my party will not take any lectures from the Minister, who is normally missing in action.”
“When I looked at the tweet last night from the Alliance Party, its content reminded me of the Oompa Loompas from 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. On a more serious note, it is disappointing that the Alliance Justice Minister choose that attack on policing, given that, because of the numbers, it is vulnerable at the moment. If the Minister, who is attacking the DUP, thinks that we are wrong to stand up for policing, we are wrong. However, we will continue to stand up for policing, whereas the Minister has let down policing in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />There are some who claim that the collapse of devolution was the cause of the decrease in numbers. What utter nonsense. Had the Minister left the Department in good shape, the trajectory would have been that police numbers continued to increase.”
“I thank the Minister for coming to the House to tell us today about her role in operational policing. That has been useful. Is she concerned, like some of us on these and other Benches, that Members are insinuating that it is unfair for the police to police parades that support proscribed organisations?”
“On a point of order, Principal Deputy Speaker. I apologise to the House for missing my question.”
“Unfortunately, we require them here, but we are fortunate to have their services. They can come along and make those devices safe, and I hope and pray that intelligence is used from this to bring those responsible for this attack to justice. Like the previous Member who spoke, I call for those with any information to bring that to the PSNI to ensure that this is the last time that we see this on our streets.”
“I also condemn the attack. Of course, this is not the first attack that we have seen in Northern Ireland. We are all too aware of many attacks across Northern Ireland, going back a long time, 30 to 40 years, into its history. On every occasion, every attack was wrong then, as it is now with this attack. <BR />The Member who spoke previously is right: it is an attack on democracy. There has always been an alternative. There has been intimidation, bomb attacks, bullet attacks and murder and mayhem for many years, and, on every occasion, that has been wrong. We on the Benches on this side of the Chamber have always condemned outright all of those incidents as being wrong. <BR /> <BR />I put on record my thanks for the work that the army technical officers have done. We are very fortunate to have them here.”
“Whilst we expect the curriculum to be important, Minister, teachers also have an important role to play. What engagement will you have with teachers as part of the review?”
“I agree with the Minister, as do we all, that there is no doubt that there is an issue with Lough Neagh. It is interesting, however, that, in his answers, he talks about all the assessments that have been carried out. That suggests to me that he is not clear as to what the real issue is in Lough Neagh. What is his or his Department's assessment of the effect that his direct attack on farmers and their families is having on their livelihoods and lives?”
“We cannot even get a train to Newry, and you want us to go to Dublin.”
“I will tag the Ballymartin stuff on to the debate. It is a different line, but that line is in action. You have just talked about achieving net zero. The line is there. It is the same distance as from here to your colleague away from the car park. The connection would be simple. It would be a simple indication from you, as Minister, about your commitment to achieving net zero and giving connectivity to people in Ballymartin to get to Belfast or Antrim.”
“You touched on Lisburn. I just want to remind you that most of the constituency that Lisburn is in has been given up at that end to South Antrim. We have Glenavy, Stoneyford and so on. You have given it up, but that is fine.”
“The other thing that we have not got from that airport — I am here to talk about the rail link — is decent road infrastructure to connect it to the M2. If we want to look at the whole picture, it is the rail link and a connection between Belfast International Airport and the M2. I commend John for securing the debate.”
“I am not laying it all at your feet, Minister, but there would be a real benefit to South Antrim and more widely to Lisburn and other areas. If the vision and will were there, the line could be delivered. I am not sure how many of us will be here in the next mandate, but I will tell you one thing that is for sure: it is depressing that we have been talking about this for so long. As I heard in yesterday's debate, we are creating roads and footpaths to unnecessary destinations, but one thing is for sure: the International Airport is necessary. It is the largest airport that we have in Northern Ireland. It can cope with the larger flights and could cope with much more, but we do not have the connectivity. <BR /> <BR />While I am on my feet, Minister, I will add a comment that has been made in previous conversations.”
“Unlike many others in the Chamber, I do not travel much, but, no matter where you go to on the mainland, there are good connections to the towns and cities from each airport, whether by buses, trains or, indeed, trams in some cases. We are badly served with all those, so there is a real opportunity. There was a bit of blue-sky thinking at one point when Ballymartin was opened. Ballymartin was a real necessity. You can see its success when you look at the numbers of people who use it daily, but we failed to connect the railway to it. We have the park-and-ride, but people use it to commute when they could be commuting on a train rather than depending on a bus. <BR /> <BR />There is an essential need for the Minister, the Department and the whole Executive, because it will take a bit of collective responsibility to drive this forward.”
“I have heard that, historically, even in north Belfast, there has been an issue with getting workers because of the logistical problem of getting them to and from work. As has been said, the train line is there; we are all aware of it, and we are aware of the cost of maintaining it; indeed, some of my constituents have expressed concern about some of the dangerous elements of the train line, and that has always been adhered to. When you drive up the Dublin Road to the airport, therefore, it seems strange to see the disused railway. <BR /> <BR />It goes without saying that the benefit to the airport is greater than jobs. Someone referenced the connection with the rail links to the City Airport: we have not got that, and we are the worse for it.”
“I will not blame the current Minister, but I will call on her to stop the delay by others and bring this to a success story. <BR /> <BR />I listened to the previous Member who spoke about some aspects, and much was made of the benefits. One of the benefits that struck me when I was listening to him — I do not want to repeat a lot of what has been said, so I am trying to pick out new stuff — is that, historically, the airport has had an issue with its workforce because of its location. There is no doubt that, if we had a reasonable connection between the airport and Lisburn, Glenavy, Crumlin and Antrim — all of those areas — it would open up interest in jobs at the airport and would make for a viable way of transport for the people in any of those areas where there are jobs waiting for them.”
“I thank my colleague from South Antrim for securing the debate tonight. I will look at the clock and wish that we could go back in time because I will go back in time. I came here in 2007, and this matter has been debated and debated. One of my colleagues said to me today, when we were talking about this, that the Member who secured the debate tonight took the motion to council about 10 years ago, where it commanded the support of the council at that time. Indeed, when Dr McCrea, Paul Girvan and many others were here, there was cross-party support for many years. I did a search today, and I could detect questions going back to 2009 on this, so it goes without saying that everyone, universally, has historically supported this. However, there has never been action, which is disappointing.”
“I put on record the work that was done by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council with the Fire and Rescue Service and the Housing Executive around site selection, safety and all the other things. I hope that the Member agrees with me on that. We do not need a motion in order to address that. We need members of the community to address it themselves. I commend the work that those services did with the community to get those resolutions.”
“Whilst they may have attacked him personally, they attacked many others as well. We will oppose the motion, because we see it for what it is. It is a sabre-rattling attempt to stoke up tensions and increase them so soon after the marching season and, indeed, the bonfire season.”
“I hate to say it, but the motion refers to the commission on flags — unless you were speaking to your party colleague — which is why I bring flags into the debate. <BR /> <BR />The Member for East Antrim referred to cost and the environmental toxicity of some of these things. That is the whole, sole reason why the council — credit to the then chief executive — led the effort to do away with the tyres, the clean-up costs and the environmental impact on our constituency. Again, I point out that that was community-led and not done by a dictatorship from the Benches opposite. <BR /> <BR />There is a danger that the motion will stoke up tension. It is merely a response to the bonfire in the Bogside. It is interesting that the Member did not make any reference to some of the stuff that was on the bonfire in his constituency.”
“They did not need people, some of them hypocrites, from the Benches opposite, to tell them how to do that. That is the difficulty with the motion. <BR /> <BR />The motion goes on to talk about flags. The Sinn Féin MLA for South Antrim raised an issue around the Twelfth about flags. With his rose-tinted glasses, he saw only flags of one colour. He did not see the offensive flags that were painted on walls and infrastructure in Crumlin — or he ignored them. He was interested only in the flag that represents my community. He raised tensions unnecessarily, when, with the PSNI, we could have had community resolution, which we got previously, but, of course, Sinn Féin was not really interested in resolving those things. It wanted to raise the temperature in the constituency.”
“I did not intend to put my name down to speak in the debate until I listened to some of the rhetoric that came from across the Chamber. The motion is not a serious attempt — it is merely sabre-rattling. When I look at my constituency of South Antrim and, indeed, at Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council — you will be aware of this, Mr Deputy Speaker — I see that, at one point, Antrim led the way in changing how bonfires were built. It removed the tyres. That was community-led. We did not need a dictatorship from the Benches opposite to tell our communities how to do it. They had the wisdom to do it, and they led and did it themselves. I remember that, many years ago, I came into Randalstown one night and saw that the river had changed colour because of the amount of tyres. The community decided to change that.”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. I appreciate that we are at an early stage, but there is a danger in that it seems as though we are not going hard after those who commit offences. We read about attacks on police officers. Universally across the Chamber, we have been supportive of all of our blue-light services, and we should continue to be. We should in no way minimise attacks on officers or anyone in the blue-light services. Minister, I ask you to reflect on your thoughts and rationale because, while it sounds good to minimise delays in the justice service, that should not be at the expense of justice.”
“You used the analogy of painting a picture, and I was thinking of the yellow can in your hand and you actually painting the roads. <BR /> <BR />You have recognised what the MPA said about new projects coming forward, and you are quite right about underfunding, but some of the new roads — I can think of one in my constituency — have been in place for just over a year and are already failing, so something has to be done about the quality of the workmanship in some of the contracts. Some of that has to be scrutinised. I do not believe that we are getting value for money. I do not know whether the Minister will agree or disagree.”
“I do not want to lead on to the topic that we will debate later, but I feel that I have to. On the one hand, we report potholes — I am sure that all elected representatives do the same — and the repairs that are required to our roads, but, on the other hand, we need to report the same roads six to eight weeks later, because of the substandard nature of the repairs. When will the Department get value for money for the repairs, and when will it follow up with contractors to make sure that they have done the job that they were paid to do so that our roads do not have to be fixed so frequently?”
“I hear what the Minister says about keeping people out of EDs, but we are all alive to the fact that the EDs are full today, have been for some time and are under pressure now. What confidence does the Minister have that the plan will make things any better come the winter? In the Minister's response to the original question, he talked about keeping the elderly population well. One thing that he did not touch on in his answer is access to GPs. They cannot get to their GP, so they are turning up at A&Es.”
“The Member may wonder why a Member for South Antrim is here for the debate. I am here because the issue has an impact not only on the west of the Province but on all of the Province. I am sure that the Member will agree with me about that impact. If people are not in the SWAH, they are coming to the east of the Province or to the north of the Province. It has implications for the delivery of healthcare across the Province, and I am sure that the Member will agree with that.”
“I thank the Minister for that comprehensive answer. The Government sold off the family silver when they sold Belfast International Airport, leaving it in private ownership alongside the two other airports. Given that Belfast International Airport is the premier airport — the only one able to accommodate large carriers — what is the Minister's team doing specifically to help it grow, to advance it as the leading airport in Northern Ireland and to bring in other investment to the area?”
“They interfered in the planning system because of Nimbyism: not in my back yard. There was a perfectly good solution in Northern Ireland that would have served us all and got the best value out of waste — people would have benefited from the energy from waste — but, no, they chose another option. <BR /> <BR />I say this to people in Warrenpoint, Mullaghglass and Cottonmount: go and rap on the doors of your representatives who, on the one hand, say that they support the climate, but on the other hand, are climate deniers, because they would rather that that waste rot and cause a stench in our areas than deal with it properly.”