Martina Anderson
Foyle · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“Ba mhaith liom labhairt i bhfabhar an rúin. To fully comprehend the falling numbers of taxi drivers in the industry, as the motion notes, it is important to mention what the industry has gone through over the last year.”
“As far as I know, not one operator in Derry received a single penny from the COVID restrictions business support scheme from the Department for the Economy. <BR /> <BR />On 1 April last year, in an open letter to taxi drivers, the Minister said that she would support taxi drivers and continue to press for more assistance.”
“The second scheme deducted the time during which they could not afford insurance from the £3,000 grant. <BR /> <BR />It took almost six months for a financial scheme that provided financial support for drivers who had paused their insurance to take effect.”
“We need urgent and decisive action so that more drivers will join the industry, and there must be incentives for drivers to return to it. <BR /> <BR />Access to taxis is not just about ensuring that people have a safe way to get home after a night out in Derry, although that is a large part of it.”
“If the taxi sector no longer has drivers available to meet demand, there will be a massive implication for the rest of the economy and for our communities and constituencies as people struggle to get from A to B. <BR /> <BR />As is noted in the motion, we need to make the industry "more attractive to new entrants".”
“Fares across the city of Derry are consistently low. Many drivers who work very long hours do not feel that they are getting a fair wage. That is why a review of fare structures is needed, and that is what I am calling for.”
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“The motion will not end the pain and suffering that dementia causes, but calling out bad practices, trying to end the stigma and stating that local services must be more accessible is so necessary for so many people. Everyone in the room, if they have not done so already, will probably, one day, need access to such services for themselves or for someone whom they love deeply.”
“You are left feeling utterly helpless as you endeavour to make their life just a little better. The fact that they suffer from dementia does not mean that they have lost their right to dignity. My mother — four stone in weight and not able to walk, talk or feed herself — cried out with tears of fright when the system insisted that she be hoisted out of her bed rather than manually lifted onto a chair and wheeled into the bathroom. If we refused the hoist, the carers would be withdrawn. We needed those precious carers. It is cruel that families are given ultimatums at a time when they need the support most. <BR /> <BR />That is just one example of the failings in the system.”
“I can attest that the system needs reform, serious reform, if it is to adopt such a dementia-friendly approach. One of the things that it could do is to accept families' and carers' ability to know even the right size of incontinence pads for their loved ones. The system takes it out of the best of families. It makes them jump through hoops and wait for weeks and months of assessments and form-filling before the right size of pads are approved. Families struggle for far too long as they wait for domiciliary care packages to be approved. Minister, that needs urgent attention. <BR /> <BR />It is a cocktail of emotions, an aching hurt, because someone whom you love cannot speak up for themselves. They need you to be their voice, yet it is like howling at the moon.”
“That is the case whether they are large families, blessed because they can share the caring responsibilities — I know that to be true and can attest that even they struggle — or smaller families who must opt for residential care so that their loved one gets the care that they need. The motion states that we:”
“Bit by bit, we lost the strong, strict, independent mother who looked after us, as we, her children, began to look after her. Sometimes, we felt hopeless, trying our best to hold on to the mother whom we knew and loved, showing her pictures, singing her favourite songs or talking about her past to trigger memories. However, day by day, more of my mother's memories slipped away. While she forgot some of our names, we never forgot her. She was our mother until the day that she died. <BR /> <BR />As recognised by the motion, families need "effective community and home-based support".”
“Tá me ag labhairt i bhfabhar an rúin seo. I will speak in favour of the motion, which is especially welcome as today is World Alzheimer's Day. <BR /> <BR />As Pam said, there is no doubt that dementia is an utterly horrendous disease: witnessing the shock on a loved one's face when they realise that they have just repeated themselves; noticing the quiet panic when they realise that something is wrong with them but they do not know what it is; or seeing the frustration that a loved one expresses when they cannot remember something or forget what they wanted to say or do. Like Paula and Dolores, I will recount my personal story. Along with my family and a fantastic team of carers to whom we are truly indebted, I cared dearly for our mother, Betty, who suffered from Alzheimer's for 17 and a half years.”
“There is not an MP in Westminster stopping Boris or Brexit, but you, the people, through a democratic process, can stop him and his Cabinet from imposing all this madness on all of us.”
“— and the peace process from Britain's reckless Brexit agenda.”
“The EU Council told us that there is a democratic way back into the EU, and that if, through a democratic process the country is reunited, the whole of Ireland will be in the EU. Those having that sensible, rational and legitimate conversation about constitutional change and how best to share this island in the future are the reasonable people in the room. We are the people who will work to defend the Good Friday Agreement, the all-Ireland economy —”
“Maternity leave, workers' rights, consumer rights, equality pay and much more are under threat, and the British Government have already declared their intention to commence a full-frontal attack on rights when they scrap the European Convention on Human Rights. <BR /> <BR />The Sinn Féin motion calls for the full implementation of the Irish protocol, as agreed. That is in the best interests of all citizens across the island, and I urge parties to recognise that. Sinn Féin also calls on the Dublin Government, the EU and the international community to, again, stand firm in defence of the Irish peace process and in opposition to the increasingly reckless actions of the British Government led by Boris Johnson.”
“British Ministers have already expressed an interest in lighting a bonfire under hard-won rights; in fact, they started that fire when Brexit enabled them to bin the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which prevents discrimination, including disability discrimination, and recognises the rights of people with disabilities to benefit from measures designed to ensure their independence and integration. Given that the North has the lowest level of human rights protections, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights was important for us here. The DUP will not agree to a single equality Bill or to a bill of rights, so do not believe them when they tell us that those rights will be sorted.”
“<BR /> <BR />Let us not forget another big erosion caused by Brexit: your hard-won rights. Sometimes, we do not know what we have until it is gone. Last week, the Human Rights Commission and the Equality Commission addressed the Executive Office Committee. Both commissions live in hope that the British Government will honour article 2 of the protocol to the withdrawal agreement, which states that there will be no diminution of our rights. Hopes and wishes are for Christmas: British duplicity, on the other hand, is, unfortunately, real and worrying.”
“<BR /> <BR />Sinn Féin's position on east-west trade is clear: it must be as frictionless as possible but let us nail the nonsense about not tolerating a border in the Irish Sea. Have you lot been asleep? For many decades, there has been a border in the Irish Sea. Animals and animal produce, food and fertiliser, amongst many other things, have been checked at the border for many years, so that new-found offence does not wash with thinking people. Unfortunately, Brexit will intensify those checks, but we tried to warn Brexiteers that there would never be a good Brexit and that there would be consequences. A lot of focus has rightly been put on trade, goods and farmers in the North losing over £2 billion of European funding payments, while many groups that are losing EU social funds look on in despair and increasing alarm.”
“The production of Guinness necessitates approximately 13,000 crossings in Ireland every year, and, every day, almost 7,000 goods vehicles travel the A1 dual carriageway between Belfast and Dublin. Coca-Cola employs 522 people in Lisburn, and its produce is sold throughout Ireland. Any delays on the island of Ireland, as a result of Brexit, will cost €100 for every lorry, many of which cross the border every day. Bombardier, which is one of the North's largest employers, engages more than 60 suppliers in the South of Ireland. Food, beverages etc account for 49% of the all-Ireland manufacturing trade. Some 10% of the North's GDP comes from the EU, so that would mean that £3·5 million of European funding was gone.”
“The fact is that the North's economy is dominated by SMEs, 80% of which trade across Ireland. Here are examples of the breathtaking scale of the damage done to lives and livelihoods by this Brexit mess. One quarter of the milk produced in the North is processed in the South. Chickens in their thousands produced in the South are processed in the North. Some 10,000 pigs come to the North from the South every week.”
“which include EU matters, yet no consultation or discussion took place between the British and Irish Governments, because the British Government completely ignored the role of the Irish Government as a co-guarantor of the agreement. <BR /> <BR />The British Government are driving a horse and cart through strands one, two and three of the Good Friday Agreement. As Sinn Féin said in 2016 about the Good Friday Agreement, and many others have repeated it, "Britannia waived the rules". The protocol in the withdrawal agreement was not perfect. It was an ugly compromise, but it mitigated the worst impacts of Brexit. It prevented a harder border on the island of Ireland, protected the all-Ireland economy and upheld the Good Friday Agreement in all of its parts. <BR /> <BR />We have heard lots of comments about where our biggest market is.”
“The British Government have eroded the authority of this Assembly — for example, by overriding our budgetary role — and can do so without so much as a nod to the Finance Minister, Conor Murphy, or the wider Executive. <BR /> <BR />The British Government have also sidelined North/South cooperation. The environment, for instance, is a Good Friday Agreement area of cooperation, but Brexiteers rejected the need for a level playing field that would ensure that EU environmental protections were aligned across the island. Environmental standards in Derry would have remained the same as those in Buncrana, and anyone with a titter of wit knows and understands that pollution does not know any border. The Good Friday Government states that the British and Irish Governments must:”
“As the motion states, it is unacceptable that the British Government would seek to abandon the safeguards and mitigations that are in the withdrawal agreement and the protocol. Brexiteers such as Geoffrey Cox have described what Britain has done with its Internal Market Bill as "unconscionable". The Lord Chief Justice, Declan Morgan, stated that Britain's Brexit plan Bill undermines the rule of law domestically. Scotland's most senior law officer resigned over Britain's Internal Market Bill. Angela Merkel says that Britain has joined the "ranks of despots". All of that speaks volumes. <BR /> <BR />Even hardened Brexiteers must know that Brexit gives rise to political and economic challenges and that it is damaging, reckless and wrong. The Good Friday Agreement is facing an attack on all fronts.”
“There is no doubt that Brexit is an unmitigated disaster. How the British Government treated the Brexit withdrawal agreement and the protocol is no different from any other agreement that they have ever made. Sinn Féin warned the EU not to trust the British Government, and, true to form, after agreeing the withdrawal agreement and the protocol, the British Government immediately reinterpreted it, misinterpreted it, transcribed it incorrectly into domestic law and simply denied it. <BR /> <BR />EU laws, policies and funding touch on almost every aspect of our daily lives. There are, in fact, 115 areas of EU law that engage the Executive's and the Assembly's competency.”
“Thank you for letting us in again, Deputy Speaker. Minister, will you elaborate more on your statement when you talked about the all-Ireland economic recovery and what way that was dealt with at the North/South Ministerial Council meeting? Will there be a sectoral meeting on that or did the meeting go into any great detail?”
“I thank the joint First Minister for that statement and ask her for an indication as to what focus the North/South Ministerial Council will have on the north-west development fund in any future funding arrangements.”
“Suicide rates are higher in areas that are the most deprived, and whilst Derry has come a long way over the last 20 years, we know that we have much further to travel. We need to ensure that financial resources are allocated to Derry city and district, based on objective need. Part of that is ensuring the continued and long-term funding of the community crisis intervention service way beyond March 2021 because we have never needed it more. <BR /> <BR />Minister, I appeal to you this evening to not allow a key service to be stripped away from Derry. Commit to the long-term investment in the community crisis intervention service, and please do the decent thing, the thing that I believe and know that you want to do, and ensure that your Department commits to it, and send that signal out to the people of Derry this evening.”
“That is why Derry needs a community crisis intervention service. Many young people, and particularly young men, have not experienced the peace dividend of a bright and new beginning and have encountered the same lack of educational attainment, the same lack of employment prospects and the same substance abuse that has plagued our community and society for over 20 years. It is they who are on the brink and who the community crisis intervention service helps. It literally saves lives by intervening and supporting those who suffer alone, by providing timely, non-clinical and community responses to those in crisis, and by giving advice to those trying to cope with stress, anxiety and depression. <BR /> <BR />The suicide rates that Derry experiences are undoubtedly compounded by poverty, social deprivation and a lack of opportunity.”
“They were voices crying out for help and it is our duty, and especially your duty now, Minister, to ensure that their cries do not fall on deaf ears.”
“The people who have taken their life are not numbers or statistics.”
“No service can function properly with such financial uncertainty. <BR /> <BR />I cannot recount the number of stories that I have read or heard over the years of a passing jogger, motorist or local taxi driver stopping on the Foyle Bridge to bring a vulnerable person, who is standing physically and mentally on the brink, back to safety. Unfortunately, I also know stories of those who have jumped; of those whose lives have become so dark, who can see no glimmer of hope, and who want nothing more than to end their suffering by jumping into the inky abyss below. Bodies missing for days. Foyle Search and Rescue, a fantastic organisation in Derry, scouring the river in search of a body, while desperate families organise search parties along the riverbank to bring their mummy, daddy, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin or friend home.”
“I thank Gary Middleton for bringing this Adjournment debate. From 1998 to 2018, 5,087 people took their own lives in the North; the Member knows that and the Minister knows that. That means that more people died in those years than died during the 40 years of conflict. Like the rest of the North, Derry has endured a mental health and suicide epidemic. This scourge has ravaged the people of Derry. It shakes our communities to the core and tears families apart. Yet, a key life-saving service like the community crisis intervention service limps on month after month, receiving breadcrumbs from the Department of Health's table. Whilst the funding is welcome, the service got just enough money in June to last until the end of this month. It is now getting just enough money to survive until March.”
“As a Sinn Féin MLA for Derry, I want the North West Migrants Forum to, once again, hear that Sinn Féin message loud and clear. If anyone or any party in the Assembly or Executive is an obstacle to that, let us find out and call them out.”
“As the joint First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, stated today, there is a:”
“We will do all within our power to protect you, particularly from abuse, racially motivated intimidation, violence and discrimination." As political leaders, we have a duty to send out a strong message to everyone within our society that racism is a cancer that we will not tolerate. An important first step, as the motion points out, is for this Assembly and Executive to ensure that we have a robust racial equality strategy accompanied by an action plan that clearly sets out steps that we will take, both legislatively and legally, to protect everyone within our society.”
“Transport facilitating buses being stopped and people being taken off the bus because of the colour of their skin. It is wrong that the colour of someone's skin, or their appearance, can determine whether they are singled out on a bus full of people. This is not equality, and, as has been said by the SDLP Chair of the Executive Office Committee, we cannot have things done and left unchecked. We need mandatory ethnic monitoring of how stop-and-search powers are being used. The powers of law enforcement officers to stop persons and seek papers confirming their identity and status is clearly provided for by law. <BR /> <BR />To our new nationals, Sinn Féin says, "Céad míle fáilte. A hundred thousand welcomes.”
“This Assembly needs to step up to the plate by advancing, as was evidenced by my party colleague Linda Dillon, who highlighted the impact of legislative failure. Previously, I put questions to the SDLP Minister for Infrastructure, Nichola Mallon, about the legality of Translink facilitating the targeting of people on the basis of colour or ethnicity on cross-border transport services. It is just wrong that the colour of someone's skin, or their appearance —.”
“Schools are one of our children's earliest learning experiences, so we need to teach them that, based on our common humanity, we are all equal, no matter the colour of our skin, our background or our religion. Thankfully, many schools now include new nationals, so schools must adopt an anti-racist ethos that will stamp out racism whenever it raises its ugly head. That could be advanced through enhanced training of teachers to support them when dealing with children who suffer racist bullying, confronting narrow-mindedness and developing inclusive processes and procedures which include ethnic minority children. Teaching children that all human beings are born equal could reduce racism in the future. <BR /> <BR />Of course, it is not only schools that need to stamp out racism.”
“It is a sad indictment of our society that, in this day and age, we need to call for the full implementation of a racial equality strategy, but unfortunately we do. We know from the 2018 life and times survey that a significant group in the North are intolerant of people whom they do not want as either a friend or a neighbour. Nelson Mandela said that no one is born hating another person because of the colour of their skin, their background or their religion. People must learn to hate. Children are not born hating, as has been said. They learn hate from within their peer groups, from their communities and, sadly, sometimes from within their own homes. <BR /> <BR />Prejudice is a blight on our society that needs to be tackled, and a good starting point would be to address it within our schools and our education curriculum.”
“Today's announcement that the Infrastructure Minister will finally take the lead in providing a scheme for the transport sector is very welcome. As the First Minister will know, that sector, particularly taxi drivers and others, felt that it was like a game of ping-pong between the Department for the Economy and the Department for Infrastructure. In future, for those sectors where two Ministers are engaged or involved, will help be provided to ensure that all necessary assistance is put in place and they do not fall between two stools ever again?”
“Minister, as you know, Part 6 of the Bill empowers British Ministers to override the budgetary role of the Assembly and to make spending decisions without consulting you, other Ministers or the Finance Minister. Are you saying, Minister, that that unacceptable level of interference, and the undermining of the Good Friday Agreement, is justified?”
“Minister, given, as you know, that Ireland is a single epidemiological unit and that the virus does not recognise any borders, do you agree that there needs to be a consistency in message in the public health approach across this island as well as across the islands?”
“Minister, thank you for that answer, brief though it was. As you will know, farmers and rural businesses face the loss of millions of European funding post Brexit. Are you telling me that there is not an estimated cost for the number of businesses that will be made unviable as a consequence of the implementation of this disastrous Brexit? Have businesses been made aware of what they face, particularly with checks?”
“— and that will answer the principle of consent question. Thank you.”
“Do we want to stay in a union with Britain, or do we want to reunite Ireland? That is the constitutional question —”
“<BR /> <BR />When Steve Aiken spoke, I made an intervention about state aid, and he will not be surprised to learn that Sinn Féin has been very clear about Apple and tax and all that happened in the South. We talk about harmonisation across the island. When we get to that point, that will be a different place and a different country for everyone. <BR /> <BR />The Member also mentioned constitutional status and the Good Friday Agreement's principle of consent. The principle of consent refers to the constitutional question. If we are all so concerned as we are about the various aspects of the constitutional question, let the people decide. What union do we want to be a part of?”
“Some people might think that the SDLP's high horse is not a safe place for them to rest on, because 23 of the Brexit common frameworks to be sorted before the end of this year reside with its Minister, Nichola Mallon. I asked for the kind of clarity that Members such as Colin McGrath talked about from the Minister on transport, rail passengers, rights and EU driving hours, all of which have to be worked through before the end of the year. However, she was not able to enlighten me one iota. <BR /> <BR />I want to acknowledge what Stewart Dickson said and particularly his exasperation. I share that. He accused the Minister of slavishly following London, and, I think, a lot of people would concur with that. <BR /> <BR />Andrew Muir reminded us that the majority of people in the North voted to remain in the EU.”
“I do not think that the pro-Remain parties should be surprised, given that they are the majority in the Executive, when they find out that the rest of the Executive do not agree with us and we cannot get a shared position. Do the maths: of course, we are the majority in there with that view, but the Brexiteers will not agree with us, and that is not news to you. <BR /> <BR />Mark Durkan said that the warning signs have been heard. I think that they have been made; I do not know whether they have been heard. He said that people need to listen to them, and he is absolutely right about the devastation that Brexit will cause to his constituency, which is my constituency, in Derry. <BR /> <BR />Colin McGrath talked about needing more information and about confusion and uncertainty.”
“A regulatory border and a customs border is a long way from Nigel Dodds's insistence that the integrity of the UK was more important than Brexit. I have to say, having listened to what has happened over the last couple of days, that the DUP seems to be all over the place. <BR /> <BR />I thank the SDLP for its amendment. We acknowledge the amendment and the fact that it adds to the motion. All the pro-Remain parties are on the one page. They have already contacted the British Government and Boris Johnson about the latest fiasco. <BR /> <BR />Mr Matthew O'Toole is right that we need to cushion the impact for workers and businesses. I do not think that the SDLP should be surprised.”
“However, they will do that if it means a harder border in Ireland. They will do that if it means re-enforcing partition. They will do that if it means discarding the Good Friday Agreement and all its parts, and they will think that that is a job well done. <BR /> <BR />Boris Johnson once said, "Over my dead body will there be a border in the Irish Sea". Well, he was alive and kicking when he did just that and signed up to a border down the Irish Sea. Those were the changes that the DUP made to Theresa May's protocol. <BR /> <BR />Only 24 hours before we had the British Government's latest fiasco about Brexit unfolding, we heard from the leader of the DUP, Arlene Foster — some businesses thought that they were getting reassurance — that she had reached the point of realisation that there would be a trade border in the Irish Sea.”
“Mr Gordon Dunne does not like the protocol. He said, as we have all said, that it is an ugly compromise. However, the DUP made a statement last night and, when I listen to Mr Stalford reporting, he talks about being very confident in his Minister. Of course, you would say that anyway. Of course, you would be. You have always rejected the protocol. That is what the Member said. The DUP's statement last night boasted that the DUP had stopped Theresa May's version of the withdrawal agreement. Well done the DUP. What they ended up with was, from their point of view, something much worse than what they wanted. The DUP, I believe, and Brexiteers want to keep the North in Britain's internal market, and we all know the importance of unfettered access to markets for business, and many agree with that.”
“I will speak through the Chair. That is not a problem.”
“She recognised that, despite the statement that there will be no diminution of rights, workers' rights, environmental rights and consumer rights are all potentially under threat. <BR /> <BR />Mr Gary Middleton, MLA for my constituency, asked Members to speak to business. I respectfully suggest, Mr Middleton, that you listen to business, particularly businesses in your community. If you listen to the Derry Chamber of Commerce and the report that it gave us all, you included, it will tell you, like me and others, that it is unprepared and uninformed, and it needs help and assistance. We hear them loud and clear. <BR /> <BR />Mr Gordon Dunne, you do not like the protocol. I understand that. It is a —.”
“No one said it was perfect, but businesses and farmers will pay the price for, unfortunately, what you on the opposite side have cost them. <BR /> <BR />MLA Liz Kimmins, who lives close to the border partition in Ireland, indicated the disaster of Brexit for the thousands of people who cross the border every day to work and to study. She rightly focused on the impact on financial services for her constituency and others and the danger of businesses relocating to places that will have access to the largest market in the world — the EU market — with 440 million customers. There has been agreement, without doubt, that there should be no diminution of rights, and she pointed out the importance of the recognition of qualifications for workers.”
“<BR /> <BR />Sinn Féin's Declan McAleer, who is also Chair of the Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, spoke at length about the 25,000 farm workers and the 60 questions that, he said, he had put to the Minister and to which he still awaits an answer. That is Minister Poots, by the way, not you. He is still waiting for an answer. I think that it might have the Committee that put those questions. <BR /> <BR />Regardless of whether there is a deal or no deal, the British Government are obliged to ensure that there are border control posts and checks and controls on goods entering the North of Ireland. They confirmed that they would do that in only a few weeks' time. The protocol is an ugly compromise.”