Cathal Boylan
Newry and Armagh · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“I also welcome Julie, wish her well in her role as a Foyle MLA, and extend my best wishes to Gary. <BR /> <BR />I take this opportunity to highlight Autism Awareness Month. This year, Autism NI is using this month to celebrate the spectrum and colour and to highlight unique differences.”
“I agree with the reviewer, and what needs to be recognised across all Departments is that the changes needed to better support people with autism do not always cost a huge amount of money. However, the changes require a willingness to adapt.”
“However, it has been disappointing that, in my opinion, the Department of Health was not prepared for the establishment of the reviewer's office, even though it should have been aware of what was in the legislation. Had the Department been in a better state of readiness, the reviewer could have got down to work before now.”
“The delivery plan must see measurable targets that can be monitored and delivered to ensure that people with autism see impact on the services that they access. <BR /> <BR />I look forward to reading the reviewer's first annual report in the near future.”
“I thank the Minister for the statement. As the Minister is aware, one of the reasons why such schemes are so important is that nuisance parking can prevent emergency services or health and social care workers from accessing patients' properties.”
“I welcome the Minister's statement. <BR /> <BR />Minister, recent figures show that, in the last quarter of 2025, new house starts were at their highest level since 2018 and that the construction sector has hit a 15-year high, outperforming Britain.”
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Every one of 758 lines we hold for Cathal Boylan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 14 of 16.
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Will the Minister ensure that all the partners in the autism plan will commit to playing their role in addressing autism?”
“— action her Department has taken to try to reduce the number of stolen cattle?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Could I ask the Minister what —”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Has the Minister done an assessment of the additional cost to the Department as a result of not cutting the grass verges earlier in the season?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a fhreagra. I thank the Minister for his answer. Looking to the future, does he have any plans for the future delivery of services in the Armagh city and district area, such as through a health hub? We have seen cuts over recent years and a transfer of jobs out of that area. Maybe a health hub in the central area would facilitate a number of services, including GPs and everything else. Will the Minister encourage or does he have any plans to facilitate a central hub in Armagh city and district?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as a fhreagra. I thank the Minister for his answer. Does the Minister believe that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process is robust enough and stands the test of time? When the applicant is asked to apply that test, is it as independent as possible?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Will the Minister outline what funding is available to deliver those programmes at the moment?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Will the Minister outline how applications to the community festivals fund are evaluated?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Príomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. How successful has the uptake of the voluntary scheme been?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I appreciate the answer from the Minister, but he will be aware that businesses at that end of the town have been affected by the work. Minister, have you discussed with those businesses any way of reimbursing them, or have you been talking to the Finance Minister about some rate relief that will assist them, given the loss of earnings that they have had over recent months because of those works?”
“Go raibh maith again, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his answer. Will he indicate whether any savings have been made in the light of the non-payment of those bonuses?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. I also pass on my regards and wish him well in his new role. I appreciate that there has been an investment of £15 million in the sector, but does he agree that it falls short of the £33 million that the sector actually needs to bring it up to the same standard that there is in Scotland and Wales? Go raibh míle maith agat.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I welcome the Minister's answer. Being a member of the SIF group in the southern area, I welcome the projects and the opportunity to work on it. What steps has the deputy First Minister taken to ensure that the remaining SIF projects in the northern zone and other areas get help through the economic appraisal process?”
“I thank the Minister for that detailed answer. She recognises the value of the project. Will she keep me updated on the project and consider meeting the group as the project grows in the future? Go raibh míle maith agat.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Will you outline what engagement you have had with DFP on this matter, and can you outline a timeline for its resolution? Go raibh míle maith agat.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer, but I do not think that he has actually answered my question. Let me put it this way: will the Minister outline how such expressed views will not lead to policies that will lead to discrimination? I think that recent views will lead to policies that will discriminate against people. Go raibh míle maith agat.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a fhreagra. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his answers. How do the powers that the he has transferred to local authorities assist them in tackling climate change?”
“I thank the Minister for that answer. What assistance can she provide, through talking to other Ministers, to ensure that local firms can access capital projects through the public procurement process? Go raibh míle maith agat.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for her answer. Has she any other proposals to ensure that we maximise the trade potential of local firms?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his answer. Given that e-books are more cost-effective, will he consider setting a target to assist pupils with their studies?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his answer. Will he give an assurance that all future services for victims and survivors of the conflict will be victim-centred?”
“Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Minister for her answer. What action is she taking to ensure that there are no barriers to all-island trade?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Could the Minister outline how people have benefited from the roll-out of the project?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his answer. What services are available at present?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a fhreagra. I thank the Minister for his answer. What assessment has the Minister's Department taken on the impact that the closure will have on the most vulnerable in the area? How will they access justice in future? Can he confirm that the facilities that are to remain open after the consultation will be able to deliver the same services that Armagh courthouse has been delivering?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for her response. It is a welcome programme. The original target was, I think, 48,000 homes. Can the Minister indicate where she is with regard to a percentage of those homes? Does she feel that we will reach the target? Could she intimate how Newry and Armagh is faring on that programme?”
“<BR /> <BR />If we are to go forward, we need to engage with the community. I know that the process of better and up-front community engagement is part of the new planning regulations. Minister, that is something that I would like to see you take forward in your strategic planning policy statement. Unfortunately, I have run out of time.”
“I agree. It was clearly shown as part of the review and the report. I would like the Minister to respond specifically to that point. <BR /> <BR />I am running out of time, because I have taken so many interventions. The other major point that I want to talk about is community engagement. Throughout, we have heard how the community was engaged in the process. As part of one of the recommendations, they wanted to introduce a community toolkit. I want to read some of it quickly for the record. It provides guidance on the issues needed to consider when planning and designing your community engagement process; it focuses on quality and effective participation in community engagement processes; tools to help to plan and implement community engagement processes; and methods and techniques appropriate to your community engagement process.”
“How does the Minister propose to deal with that under the new SPPS, or is it part of his thinking?”
“Sorry: I was interrupted during the intervention. I apologise to the Member. I will come back to you again. I will try to figure out what was said. With regard to what the previous Member said about the renewables target, we are discussing only wind energy here. There is a load of other renewable energy out there that we could test to meet the target. I want to add that point as well. I am sorry that I was interrupted during the Member's intervention. <BR /> <BR />I just want to make a couple of points quickly. Certainly, noise was an issue for the Committee. There are question marks over the ETSU-R-97, which was brought out and, I think, followed by a review and guidance in May 2013. The question that needs to be asked is whether that document and those regulations are now fit for purpose. Maybe the Minister will respond to that.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I take that point on board. That very fact came up in part of the debate on the report. We are looking at that target, which may or may not be achievable, and the damage that it may actually cause on the far side of it, but —”
“I want to put on record my thanks to our specialist adviser on acoustics, Ursula Walsh. I want to outline a couple of issues. I want to thank my Tyrone and West Tyrone colleagues, because that is where the whole idea of an inquiry and report came from initially. I want to put that on the record for those people because saturation was the issue that led to the inquiry in the first place. <BR /> <BR />We must bear in mind that, in 2011, we signed up in the Programme for Government to reach a renewable target by a certain year. That is grand; we have signed up to that, but whether you are for or against wind turbines, we need to seriously look at some of the issues that raise their head in the report. The first that I want to talk about is what is known as the ETSU-R-97. Basically, it is the assessment and rating of wind turbine noise.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Ba mhaith liom labhairt i bhfabhar an turascála seo. I welcome the opportunity to speak in favour of the report. First, before I go into detail on the report, I would like to acknowledge the point that Mr Allister raised about the wind turbine that came down in Tyrone. If it had come down in an urban setting, as he indicated, there would have been serious consequences. It raised the issue in Committee about the use of reconditioned wind turbines. Now, I do not know whether that was the case in that instance, nor do I know where we are with the investigation, but it is certainly something that we need to take a look at and follow up on in Committee. <BR /> <BR />I want to put on record my thanks to all those who contributed in any way to the composition of this report.”
“The Member clarified that point and tried to make some apology for it, but I want the Minister to outline whether there was ample opportunity for everybody to partake in this process and to respond to any consultation. I believe that there was ample opportunity, but I seek clarification from the Minister on where we go after today's process. With that, I will bring my remarks to a close.”
“That is what I am talking about. There has been ample opportunity to discuss these issues, and I am asking the Minister about the responses as part of the whole consultation, because this has been going on for a period of time. <BR /> <BR />In what we are trying to do and in what we are transferring to local councils, we need to give local councils the authority. They are the decision-making bodies, and we need to have confidence in them to make the decisions. I know that, at some point, there will certainly be a need for legal opinion, but I seek clarification from the Minister on that. I am aware that this issue was raised late in the day. <BR /> <BR />I am concerned about the use of the petition of concern in this case.”
“I thank the Member for the intervention. If he had waited until I explained what the clarification is about, he would have found that I want the Minister to give clarification on the consultative process in all this, because all these things have gone out to consultation. I was asking the Minister to clarify the responses. That is the point that I was going to make. It was not about the lateness of the hour at which the Member brought the process forward. The Minister is well aware of the call-in in connection with the process involving the barrister and solicitor's role in all this. That is what I am looking for clarification on. The Minister may be able to respond on some of the responses and clearly outline the role of the barrister and solicitor in this matter. The Member intervened before I got to explain that point.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Ba mhaith liom cúpla focal a rá. I would like to say a few words on this. It seems that we have been speaking a lot on statutory rules in this last wee period, but it is a pity that this has come late in the day. It has given us no opportunity to go through the process on the issue that the Member who spoke previously raised. I know that no issues were raised at the Committee on this. The SL1 came, I think, in December, and the rule came last week. That said, the Minister can maybe clarify exactly what the issue is in response to the Member who spoke previously. I apologise, Minister, that I missed the start of your contribution, so I will maybe seek clarity on that.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a freagra. I thank the Minister for her answer. She is well aware of the time and effort that have gone into this project. Will she give a commitment to keep me updated on the project, because it is vital to Armagh city and district?”
“Go raibh míle maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Will the Minister expand on the support that the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund will offer?”
“So, there are some suggestions that the Minister could maybe look at. <BR /> <BR />I have to say this about Belfast public hire: we need to look at a dress code and some of the other issues that came to Committee, such as the standard of vehicle. We would be minded to do that as part of this whole shake-up <BR /> <BR />In closing, and thank you for your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker, the Committee does not believe that these two statutory rules represent the best way forward. Accordingly, it asks the Assembly to agree that they be annulled. Go raibh míle maith agat.”
“That is the responsibility of DRD, so, unless he works with another Department to provide additional taxi ranks for Belfast public hire, I do not think it is within his remit. <BR /> <BR />The other thing that most people talked about — I am getting back to the issue that Colum Eastwood talked about — was taxis not being available. Nobody said that we would not look at the idea of allocating an additional number of public taxis. If people are saying to us that Belfast public hire cannot service the footfall that is there at the minute, in particular at the weekends, why can you not look at an additional number of taxis?”
“We mentioned exclusion zones. I think Alban Maginness thought that they could not work, but, to my knowledge, the whole issue is over a five-mile radius in Belfast. We suggested that we could look at the radius and see who would operate within that radius. I think that is something that we could still look at if the Minister is minded to do so. <BR /> <BR />I am nearly sure that there was a facility in the Bill, or that we looked at taxi marshals to move people on or operate around ranks where you felt that you had to move traffic or footfall at any point in time. People mentioned additional taxi ranks. I think the Minister is right on that. The Minister has no responsibility for that.”
“Most of the people here support a single-tier system allowing a monopoly of one group to come in and adhere to one set of rules against another group of people. Anna Lo touched on it. Why should we let that monopoly do something for this monopoly? So we are going to create another monopoly to take over: is that the case? That is what could happen if people were lifting all over the city. <BR /> <BR />I want to suggest to the Minister some things that we could look at. We talk about an operator licence. If we are serious about looking at operator licensing, we could bring forward a licence system that would differentiate between what the public hire and private hire could do. The facility is there in the Bill, to my knowledge. I think there is a facility for a two-tier system and a facility to look at the operator licence.”
“Other than the groups mentioned by the Minister and by Colum Eastwood, I do not know where we have done that public trawl to see exactly what the people have to say — a proper exercise. I know that different taxi firms have carried out lobbying on their own, but I do not know whether the Department has done that exercise or not. It is something that I would like to hear or see coming forward to see what people have said on that. <BR /> <BR />I just want to pick up on a few points as an MLA and member of the Committee. Eighteen months ago we asked for the Minister to go away with some suggestions to see if we could address the issue and maybe bring forward a two-tier system in Belfast, because, clearly, with between 500 and 700 black taxis, it needs to be looked at and there needs to be a solution for it.”
“<BR /> <BR />I appreciate and support Alban Maginness saying that the public hire taxis have given a good service down through the years, but I would be minded — and I am sure he would be too — to support the public hire taxis to get their act together as part of the new regime if we brought forward some suggestions on how to deal with it. I think he would support that. They have, and sometimes we forget that and sometimes we do not want to recognise the contribution that public hire has made. <BR /> <BR />Mr Lyttle was asking what we have brought forward. All I can say is where we see it going wrong. Mr Weir has already talked about a duopoly. How would there be work for everybody in the city if you decided to leave it open? Different people have talked about tourists and not being able to hail and this, that and the other.”
“Some Members said that we agreed to single tier in 2013 and not to introduce until 2014. If I remember correctly, we agreed to single tier on the basis that we would try to find a solution for Belfast. I could be wrong; Mr Weir was part of the Committee as well. I am nearly sure that we agreed the single tier on that principle. Whilst he supports the motion, he is saying that the rules are not currently fit for purpose. I do actually think that there is a lot of good stuff. I do agree with him; there is some good stuff within the rules that we could work on.”
“If a number of companies are allowed to buy into the system and to start operating in the city centre, what will that create? For some people, it may create more choice, but you cannot allow numbers and numbers of taxis, which would happen under single tier. In the two the licence systems, A and B, where the taxi ranks are protected, how many cars can operate at ranks, in reality? So, let us be realistic. The Minister said that nobody has come up with a real effort for a solution that would try to deal with this. We have had some suggestions of how it might happen. <BR /> <BR />I want to pick up on some other points made by Members before I go on to some other points. Peter Weir is right, to be fair, to say that we started to talk over this process, I think, 18 months ago.”
“There is no doubt about that. We thought that we had done a good piece of work, and we listened to a lot of presentations and everything else on it. As part of that legislation, we built in a two-year review to see exactly how the legislation would operate on the ground. Because it has taken nearly seven years to introduce the first piece of legislation — I am not picking on anybody in that respect — we have seen exactly how it is operating. People have to understand that. <BR /> <BR />Anna Lo talked about competition. If we allow this to go ahead and, by not praying, do not force this motion through, what will happen if we allow a system where a number of cars go into the city? I will explain how I think that we can get around this in Belfast.”
“I will clarify my point. You are correct, but what I am saying is that, in Belfast, there are enough taxis, and that is the way that they are operating at the minute. That is why I said that a single-tier system is operating — it is because of the lack of enforcement. That is the point that I am trying to make. The issue of enforcement has been going on for a period of time, and the Minister is well aware of that, because a series of questions have been put to him about actions that have been going on. So, in essence, that is what has been happening in Belfast. I just wanted to pick up on that point by Mr Eastwood. <BR /> <BR />I did not know what way Mrs Overend was going at the start of her contribution. She picked on everybody about what they had said in the past. A number of years ago, we as a Committee agreed to a single-tier system.”
“So, we cannot say that we introduce the single-tier system, and more taxis will come in, when we already know what is happening in Belfast. I will let Mr Eastwood in.”