Carál Ní Chuilín
North Belfast · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“To continue the theme of undermining public confidence and public effectiveness, I ask you this, Minister: why do you and your DUP colleagues continue to block the 'good jobs' Bill, particularly the measures for parents whose babies require neonatal care and, indeed, other measures that will support workers who are struggling with the cos…”
“At the end of the day, guns were used to kill Catholics — Davy Payne; surface-to-air missiles in South Africa and Paris and then some. I will give the deputy First Minister another opportunity not to deflect but to condemn her party's involvement in Ulster Resistance and with the red berets that they wore.”
“I thank the Minister for that response. I have a close family relative who is in need of a SPiMS unit in an Irish-medium school but cannot access one in North Belfast at all. Apart from access in P4 and P5, they will have to go to an English-speaking school, even though Irish is their first language.”
“You mentioned some of the issues that are important: trade union representation, the banning of zero-hours contracts and employees being able to have their tips and service charges. Anyone who cannot get behind these proposals needs to be clear — concerns for some, and hiding behind the industry for others.”
“First Minister, I know that, recently, you were in Ardoyne for the sod cutting of the new £3·4 million purpose-built youth facility for Ardoyne Youth Enterprise. Further to your response to Brian Kingston, can you give us an update on that project and, indeed, any others?”
“I agree 100%, Linda. That is something that we all agree on. We met many people. The Bill was published and was based on the report of the truth recovery process.”
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“Intermediate rent homes can be a stepping stone for some into low-cost homeownership or can provide a better, more affordable rental solution for others. My officials are working closely with the sector and exploring options to develop a type of intermediate rent that works here. <BR /> <BR />I will ensure that there is no need to choose between social housing investment and affordable intermediate housing by maximising the potential of newer funding streams, such as financial transactions capital (FTC) loan funding, to deliver on the additional housing options. <BR /> <BR />I will develop a fundamental housing supply strategy. The strategy will have mixed tenure at its heart, ensuring stable, secure communities for everyone. I will work with Executive colleagues and councils through the local development plans.”
“I will provide a suite of options to help people get a family home and secure community stability. <BR /> <BR />I will develop new ways to help people into homeownership if that is their choice. We have supported shared ownership schemes such as the Co-ownership, which has helped more than 30,000 families into homeownership. The Co-ownership scheme is currently helping over 1,000 people a year to buy their first home, whether that be a new build or an existing home, but we need to deliver more. <BR /> <BR />As well as increasing the supply of social housing, I will expand the rental options available by introducing intermediate rent here. That will provide an additional supply of good, well-managed and maintained homes that are affordable for lower-income people and families.”
“The private rented sector was one of our most urgent areas of intervention as the coronavirus crisis developed. An emergency Bill was drafted from a blank piece of paper and passed by the Assembly in less than five weeks. That was a remarkable achievement, and I thank you all for your help. It has ensured that around 140,000 private-rented households will not have to leave their home during the crisis. For me, the Bill focused our attention on the tens of thousands of families and hundreds of thousands of people who live in private rentals and highlighted just how vulnerable they are. For some, it is a suitable option, but, for many others, it is their only choice. We have not built enough social housing, and therefore a generation has been excluded from having a secure home.”
“The Housing Executive's pilot scheme in its southern region has shown that it is possible to reduce the time taken for that work by an average of 43 weeks. I will ensure that the Housing Executive continues to prioritise that work. <BR /> <BR />I will revitalise our social housing. I will make it work better, and I will make sure that there is a lot more of it. <BR /> <BR />I also want to talk about another group of people who struggle with their housing: our private renters. The private rented sector is now similar in size to our social sector. It houses an increasingly diverse range of households, including a growing number of households with children. There are twice as many families with children in private rentals than in social housing. They can be asked to leave within four weeks. Just imagine the stress if that happened to you.”
“The new proposal will require further analysis, and, again, I will update the House on that in due course. <BR /> <BR />As the plan will make clear, I will implement the other 18 of the 20 changes proposed in the 2017 consultation. The changes will make our selection scheme fairer and better at responding to objective need. We will also consider what support before and after allocation can facilitate a successful and sustainable tenancy. <BR /> <BR />There are other areas of challenge. I know that there are long-standing issues with adaptations. We have affected some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Issues with procurement have led to some of the problems that have been experienced.”
“They need to ensure that the manner in which the scheme responds to cases of intimidation does not distort the list. Officials are investigating options for an alternative proposal, including consideration of a statutory body to independently manage the verification process. I will be able to update the Assembly further on that in due course. The second proposal that I will not proceed with as per the consultation is the removal of interim or temporary accommodation points. I believe that people who find themselves in any form of temporary accommodation should be awarded points to recognise the additional stress associated with being insecurely housed in whatever form that takes, whether in hostel accommodation or sofa surfing with friends or family. That would involve extending interim points to a wider range of people who are homeless.”
“That is why I have been actively considering how I wish to progress the outcomes of the 2017 consultation, 'A Fundamental Review of Social Housing Allocations'. I have committed to Executive colleagues that, later this autumn, I will publish a report of that consultation and an action plan for implementing changes. <BR /> <BR />Two of the 20 proposals need more work. The first is regarding intimidation points. I do not intend to proceed with the proposal to remove intimidation points. People in danger in their own home need prioritisation under the selection scheme. The manner of that prioritisation needs to be tightly focused on such people, including victims of domestic violence. Consistent with that, the mechanisms for such prioritisation need to prevent abuse and provide robust verification.”
“I am also working with housing associations and have been encouraging them to identify land that is available for social housing. I am conducting, on behalf of our Executive, an exercise to identify surplus public land that can be used for social housing. My officials and Housing Executive officials have been engaging with a range of public bodies to explore the delivery of increased social housing. Some of the initiatives can be implemented in the immediate to short term; others are more strategic measures to be explored in the longer term. <BR /> <BR />The revitalisation of the Housing Executive is also about how it allocates social housing. Ensuring an effective and fair social housing allocations system is fundamental to easing housing stress and making sure that allocations to social housing are based on objective need.”
“We need mechanisms that mean that houses are built where they are needed. I have asked the Housing Executive to identify those mechanisms, and I am confident that it will provide them.”
“I have already told the Assembly that the targets for social housing are far too low. I am looking at assigning significant budget and policy changes to increase the capacity of the social housing development programme. I need to ensure that areas such as north and west Belfast and Derry city, and all other areas with acute housing need, are prioritised. I therefore intend to reintroduce ring-fencing.”
“I will make sure that we have a suite of options to secure community stability and enable everyone to buy a home if they so wish. That must not reduce the social housing supply that we are striving to increase, however. <BR /> <BR />In June of this year, the Assembly passed legislation that will end the house sales scheme for housing associations in August 2022. At that time, I committed to bringing forward a consultation on the future of the Housing Executive's sales scheme. I will do that this month, and I aim to make changes before the end of this electoral mandate. That will address the need to protect social housing stock and deal with the inequality in social housing. <BR /> <BR />We have never achieved more than 2,200 social new-build starts in one year. I want to change that as soon as possible.”
“We can avoid the pitfalls that other models have experienced. Ultimately, we can build a model that is effective and that meets the needs of our tenants. I have asked officials to commence the work, and I anticipate that I will return to the Executive before the end of 2021-22. <BR /> <BR />The revitalisation of the Housing Executive is also about the other ways in which we need to protect social housing stock and about the imperative on the Department to reduce housing stress. Although the Department has invested well over £100 million of capital in building about 1,800 new social homes, we have sold, on average, 483 social homes under the right-to-buy scheme. We have sold those social homes at a discount of up to £24,000: a discount that the public have funded. Clearly, we have one policy that is in direct conflict with another.”
“<BR /> <BR />More work needs to be done on the proposal briefly outlined here, and two years have passed since the most recent analysis of the scale of the investment challenge. The current situation is most certainly worse, and the scale of the investment needed is even greater. The new investment requirements have materialised since 2018, as a consequence of the Grenfell Tower disaster and the ambition to reach a position of carbon neutralisation in our homes by 2050. <BR /> <BR />I have set out to my Executive colleagues that I will focus consideration on options that promise to retain what is valuable about our Housing Executive model. I am interested in options that will see part of the Housing Executive revitalised as a cooperative, or as a mutual. We can learn from models of best practice.”
“<BR /> <BR />The current rental structure does not work. An important part of these plans therefore will be a comprehensive rental review, leading to financial sustainability, in line with the commitments agreed in New Decade, New Approach. Social rents must be affordable to tenants, and they will be. The Housing Executive currently has the lowest social rents in these islands. I will ensure that they remain the lowest. <BR /> <BR />An important contribution to my plans for revitalisation may also be made by exempting the Housing Executive from corporation tax liabilities and by finding better options to remove its historical debts. My officials are actively exploring those issues with colleagues in the Department of Finance and the British Government, as those were commitments made in New Decade, New Approach.”
“If we can change that classification, the Housing Executive as a landlord will secure the freedom to borrow and have the ability to invest in its own homes. <BR /> <BR />I plan to change the classification of the Housing Executive landlord to a mutual or cooperative designation so that it may borrow and secure a sustainable future for all of its 85,000 homes and provide security for current tenants and future generations. To change the classification of the Housing Executive landlord in the manner that I propose will mean its separation from the regional part of the Housing Executive. The Housing Executive regional authority will remain accountable to a publicly appointed board and will continue to remain under the oversight of an Executive Minister, meeting objective housing need in an equality and human rights context.”
“Either option would propel housing stress faster and higher. Neither option is acceptable to me or, without doubt, to the Assembly. We are seeking an alternative that will enable the Housing Executive, as a landlord, to borrow. While the Housing Executive remains classified as a quasi-public corporation, as a landlord it cannot borrow.”
“A 2018 analysis found that the landlord side needed to invest around £7·1 billion in those 85,000 homes over the next 30 years if they are to remain decent homes for households and families. Of that investment, £3 billion is required over the next 11 years, but the Housing Executive can only afford about half of that requirement. The Executive could fund this by allocating about £100 million from capital DEL each year to the landlord maintenance requirement, but where should we take that from? Should we take it from hospitals or schools, or from all the money that my Department currently invests in building social homes? That would be the choice were the Executive to fund the Housing Executive’s investment requirement. Our choice would be to lose either 40,000 of our old social homes or the next 11 years of new social development.”
“The huge investment challenge facing the Housing Executive is a long-standing issue that has previously been communicated to the Assembly. New Decade, New Approach committed the Executive to tackling that challenge. I have, therefore, recently written a letter to my Executive colleagues setting out my plans, and I may now share those with the Assembly. <BR /> <BR />Many of you will be aware of the current set-up of the Housing Executive. It comprises two areas: the landlord piece and the overarching regional housing authority. The housing authority side is responsible for vital and sensitive housing functions such as assessment of need, the management of the common waiting list and the geographical distribution of new social build. The landlord side is focused on 85,000 homes.”
“That was reflected in New Decade, New Approach (NDNA), which, amongst a range of vital housing priorities, committed to the inclusion of a housing outcome in the next Programme for Government. That was a recognition that a good home is the foundation of social, physical and mental well-being and is central to addressing our most pressing societal challenges, including poverty and inequality. <BR /> <BR />Today, I wish to specify how I plan to deliver against those challenges in the current mandate. This will include proposals for legislative and structural change. My ambition in delivering that programme of work is, ultimately, to ensure that every household has access to a good-quality, affordable and sustainable home that is appropriate to its needs. First, I will revitalise the Housing Executive.”
“There are far more families with children living in the private rented sector than in social housing, with all the insecurity of tenure and the high cost that comes with that. The demographic and economic forces that are pushing increasing numbers of households into housing stress are too great to be countered by our current efforts to increase supply. We must do more social housing development, but upscaling current action will not be enough, and we have to face that. We need to do more, but we also need change. We need to secure the future of the social houses that we have. We need to increase the rate at which we add to them. We need to build and allocate more social homes to meet growing need. We need housing sectors beyond social housing to provide affordable and suitable homes.”
“Successive Executives have invested in increased social housing supply, and I commend them for that. However, in that 18-year period, housing stress increased by 17,000. The Executive have invested £2·3 billion to build 30,000 new social houses and, in the last seven years, we have, on average, started the construction of nearly 1,550 new social homes each year. However, housing stress has risen by an average of 1,000 in each of those years, and we see the human face of that every day in our constituency offices. <BR /> <BR />Our population is changing. The number of households is projected to increase as we are living longer. The broader housing market has also changed dramatically over the past few decades. A generation whose parents are homeowners or who live in social housing is now renting privately.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and thank you for the opportunity to make this statement to the Assembly, in which I intend to outline my plans to address some of the most significant challenges facing our housing system. These are challenges that I will not shy away from, and I am asking today for Members' support in progressing this ambitious programme of work. Everything that I do will be focused on ensuring equality, addressing the highest need and fundamental transformation. <BR /> <BR />Members will know that the number of households in housing stress means the number of households on the social housing waiting list with an acute need for a home. At the end of 2002-03, the number of such households was 13,042. At September 2020, the number was 29,539.”
“<BR /> <BR />If I have missed any issue, I will write to the Committee; indeed, if the Committee wants further information, it can write to me. Without further ado, I commend the motion to the Assembly.”
“I thank all the Members who spoke. Like everyone, I am deeply uncomfortable at having to use the LCM route. I am not taking the scrutiny of the Committee lightly. That is its role and its job, and I want to ensure that that process is not thwarted. However, I think that there is an acceptance that, if the amendments were not discussed and voted through, we would put pension holders here at a disadvantage, which we did not want. Just to be clear, if there are further amendments, they will be brought to the Committee and the Assembly. It is now abundantly clear that everyone has accepted that safeguards are provided for in the Bill, which was mentioned by those who spoke, and that people have access to what they are entitled to through dashboards in public, private and commercial pensions.”
“<BR /> <BR />The use of the legislative consent motion procedure in this case should not be seen as a precedent or an indication of how I intend to proceed in the future in this area. I am very much aware of the importance of the Assembly's role when considering legislation and, in particular, the value of the Committee's scrutiny role. <BR /> <BR />It is very important that the provisions in the Bill are enacted in Britain and here at the same time because it provides us with legal certainty for schemes and employers to allow preparatory work, for example, for the introduction of climate-related financial disclosures to proceed.”
“In view of that, it is sensible that the amendment should also apply here, as many schemes operating here are based in Britain, and it is desirable that the same regulatory framework is in place here to facilitate compliance, planning and enforcement. <BR /> <BR />Importantly, under the Bill, the power to make subordinate legislation and to commence provisions relating to devolved matters will vest in the Department for Communities. Likewise, the powers of control and subordinate legislation will rest with us here. <BR /> <BR />The Bill ensures that the pension system is fit for purpose for the future by strengthening the systems and introducing important safeguards and deterrents against those who might seek to avoid their responsibilities.”
“<BR /> <BR />An amendment has also been made to clarify an existing power allowing for the modification of statutory provisions to make it clear which provisions may be amended and for which purposes. <BR /> <BR />Overall, the Bill aims to help people plan for the future and to protect people's pensions by giving the Pensions Regulator greater powers to tackle irresponsible management of pension schemes, including actions taken by employers that could compromise the viability of the pension scheme. I very much support the principle that members' interests should be at the core of everything that we do. <BR /> <BR />The Assembly has already agreed the principle that the Bill should contain provision for here.”
“This is with a view to limiting pension scams. <BR /> <BR />There is a pensions dashboard amendment that will make it clear that there will be a public service pensions dashboard as well as a commercial dashboard. The intention has always been to provide a public service pensions dashboard through the Money and Pensions Service. The amendment now makes that explicit in the Bill. <BR /> <BR />Amendments have also been made regarding the use of delegated powers in relation to collective money purchase benefits. The delegated powers for the authorisation criteria and subordinate legislation will now be confirmatory. The delegated power for the transfer rights will also be subject to the confirmatory procedure. This is in line with the corresponding powers relating to British legislation, which will be subject to the affirmative procedure.”
“This amendment ensures that the regulation-making powers in the Pensions Act (NI) 2015 regarding charge caps apply to CDC schemes so that a similar charge cap can be implemented in CDC schemes. The existing charge cap, set in the regulations at 0·75%, provides an important protection for members in the default arrangements of money purchase schemes used for automatic enrolment. <BR /> <BR />There are transfer rights amendments that are designed to protect scheme members from targeting by criminals and fraudsters. For example, they will clarify, in prescribed circumstances, that the trustees or managers of a scheme are not required to carry out a person's request to transfer pension benefits to a different scheme unless they are satisfied that the person concerned has obtained prescribed guidance or information on pension transfers.”
“This move will ensure that asset managers and FCA-regulated pension schemes are required to report their assets' climate risks in line with recommendations from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure. <BR /> <BR />These provisions are largely beneficial for scheme members. The new policy seeks to strengthen the requirements placed on trustees and managers of occupational pension schemes to include proper climate risk management in their governance processes and publish that information so that it is available to all. <BR /> <BR />Since the Bill was introduced, other amendments have been made to add further detail to the policies that are already in the Bill. In summary, the amendments are as follows. The first is a charge cap for collective defined contribution schemes, which are commonly called CDC schemes.”
“<BR /> <BR />Climate change is expected to have significant impact on pension schemes assets and returns for savers, both through the risks of a warmer planet and the transition to a lower-carbon economy. Therefore, it is only right that long-term investors such as trustees are informed and empowered to take action to address those risks and protect the retirement savings of scheme members. These measures aim to ensure that pensions and schemes are in a good position to play a role in the change to a sustainable low-carbon economy. <BR /> <BR />On 2 October, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) outlined a time frame to align its climate risk reporting requirements with those flowing from the Pension Schemes Bill.”
“Many schemes are also supported by employers or sponsors whose financial positions and prospects are dependent on current and future developments in relation to climate change. <BR /> <BR />The effect of these amendments on private pensions policy is to strengthen the requirements placed on trustees and managers of occupational pension schemes to include proper climate risk management in their governance processes and publish that information so that it is available to all. This builds on the expectation that occupational pension schemes and other large asset owners disclose in line with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure recommendations, as set out in the 2019 green finance strategy.”
“Occupational pension schemes with 100 or more members are already required to explain how they take account of climate change in their investment strategies. Under the regulations from last month, all schemes are required to report publicly how they do so, as transparency is key to informed decisions and informed change. <BR /> <BR />The Pensions Climate Risk Industry Group, which was convened to provide guidance for trustees of pension schemes on integrated climate-related risk assessment and management into decision-making and reporting, has highlighted that all pension schemes face climate-related risks, irrespective of the way they invest or the estimated duration of liabilities.”
“<BR /> <BR />In practical terms, that will allow the Government to mandate the recommendations of the international task force on climate-related financial disclosures, the most widely used framework against which institutional investors report and assess exposure to the financial risk of climate change. <BR /> <BR />The climate-related financial disclosures amendments cover three areas: governance requirements, publication requirements, and the powers of the Pensions Regulator in the case of non-compliance. The amendments also require schemes to have regard to the official guidance on complying with effective governance and publication requirements. The amendments build on regulations that are already in place and which require occupational pension schemes to take account of climate change in their investment practices.”
“This additional legislative consent motion is required to cover amendments made to the Bill since its introduction. The amendments introduced a new policy regarding climate-related financial disclosures, which is outside the scope of the original motion. The new policy seeks to secure effective governance and disclosure of the climate change risks that schemes face, with the long-term objective of protecting members' benefits against the risk of climate change and the risks and opportunities associated with the transition to a lower-carbon economy.”
“As Members will recall from the debate on the original legislative consent motion, the Westminster Pension Schemes Bill establishes collective money purchase schemes where contributions are pooled and invested to deliver an aspired benefit level. The Bill strengthens protection for scheme members, enhances the powers of the Pensions Regulator and introduces stronger sanctions for those who wilfully or recklessly harm their pension schemes, including a maximum seven-year prison sentence and a civil penalty of up to £1 million. It increases transparency about individuals' pension savings by introducing pensions dashboards and provisions to tackle pensions scams. <BR /> <BR />The original legislative consent motion for the Bill, as introduced in the House of Lords, was approved by the Assembly on 1 June 2020.”
“As well as that, we will continue to ensure that, through the development of a local development plan process, there is appropriate protection for Knock Iveagh, its historic landscape and the setting around it, because the whole setting is important and should not be disturbed any more than it needs to be. <BR /> <BR />I will conclude by appealing to people, particularly those in ABC Council, as the planning authority, to read the Hansard report of this debate and ensure that our considerations are taken on board as much as possible. We all have a role to play in the preservation of a historic society, historic communities and, indeed, the artefacts that we need to protect and cherish for future generations. <BR /> <BR />I thank Doug and the other Members who spoke in the debate.”
“The Member very cleverly weaved his constituency into my mention of two other constituencies. He has my commitment. My official, Iain Greenaway, whom I am sure many of you will know, is nodding, so we will come back to the Member on that. It is disgraceful that some of those artefacts are withering away in storage. I have always found it disturbing for that to be the case. What is more, the fact that the public are paying through the nose for that storage does not make any sense whatsoever. <BR /> <BR />We will continue to provide advice to ABC Council.”
“My officials will continue to monitor the situation there and ensure that the relevant statutory policy protections for the site are respected and, more importantly, upheld.”
“Without repeating what I have just said, my officials are playing a key role in addressing a number of issues at Knock Iveagh, as we say in north Belfast, or, as you say in south Down, Knock I-veagh. That says it all for me. The question is this: do I understand the importance? I absolutely do.”
“I hear what the Member has said. I am saying that that is the planning authority, and we are still talking to it regarding the reconsideration of this application. I am not saying that it is not my responsibility and that it is ABC's. For the record, the Department has supported local government since the start of the pandemic, prior to it and will continue to support the councils afterwards. <BR /> <BR />The Member is well versed in conventions. The Valletta convention requires there to be statutory scheduling and protection undertaken by the Department on heritage and archaeological protections. It is unbelievable that we were not involved as a consultee. <BR /> <BR />What is DFC going to do?”
“The council continues to consider requests to revoke planning permission for the turbine, to discontinue the use of land for wind-energy generation, and to remove the turbine development. For the past three years, departmental officials have provided substantial expert advice on the archaeological impacts of the turbine to inform consideration. I am not passing the buck — I am stating the obvious — but I do not have any legal powers with respect to discontinuing this or revoking planning permission. It is a planning matter, and any associated compensation is something that needs to be considered. I hear what people have said.”
“I imagine that that would have been the case, but I cannot say, retrospectively, that that would have been the decision. Given the way in which the division in my Department made sure that that wrong was put right, I imagine that they would have put up an argument, proactively and aggressively, for the historical importance of the site. I believe that, in this instance, the planning application was flawed. That is my opinion. <BR /> <BR />It is important to note that the wind turbine and associated works, regardless of how many metres away they are, are unsettling and have been a consistent concern. That is why we are looking at the impact of unsettling the cairn and that historical area.”
“An intrusion into the scheduled area surrounding the cairn, where a shallow depth of sod and topsoil was removed, occurred at the time the broadband mast was erected. That has been resolved through a legally agreed scheduled monument consent process, commensurate with the level of impact involved in the breach. <BR /> <BR />The wind turbine and related planning matters are ongoing for consideration by ABC council, which is the planning authority in this case. Planning permission for this turbine was granted in 2013 by a former Department of the Environment, prior to the review of public administration (RPA) and the transfer of planning responsibilities to councils. To be fair to Doug, he clarified that at the start of the debate. Departmental archaeologists were not consulted when they should have been. That was a fundamental mistake.”
“As a statutory planning consultee, my Department's historic environment division provided advice to the council's planning authority, and that led to the successful removal of the broadband mast from the hill. Related impacts on the top of the hill and the cairn setting have been repaired through planning enforcement. That is an example of what happens when we use our powers to best effect.”
“It does so under the scheduling provisions of the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (NI) Order 1995. That statutory designation recognises the regional and national significance of this historic and very important site. These legal protections have been in place since 1996, and the site was included in the sites and monuments record for a considerable time before that. There is history of Knock Iveagh in the Departments, let alone the community. As a result of those scheduling provisions, my Department undertakes regular inspections of the cairn, provides management advice to the site owner and must consent to any works affecting it. <BR /> <BR />From what everyone has said this evening, two main impacts have been the focus of recent attention at Knock Iveagh: an unauthorised broadband mast and a wind turbine.”
“Thank you, Doug, for securing this Adjournment debate. I also want to thank Jonathan Buckley, Jim Wells, Sinéad Ennis, Sinéad Bradley and Andrew Muir. Andrew's comment that it was worth being electrocuted to see Kilnasaggart will be recorded in Hansard for ever. I will also check Hansard for other comments that were made, just for accuracy. <BR /> <BR />I was not dragged here; I am happy to be at this debate. I will also be happy to visit Knock Iveagh when the weather is a bit better and I can see it. I do not mind getting caught up in or soaked by rain. That does not bother me, but I would like to see it. <BR /> <BR />The significance of the burial monument was mentioned by everyone who spoke this evening. I want to clarify that my Department legally protects the ancient burial cairn on Knock Iveagh hill.”
“Along with all of you, I, as an MLA, a Minister and a member of the community am committed to changing that for them. That is why we are here. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Members who tabled the motion. It has been a good experience. Hopefully, those who read Hansard will feel relieved, even if it is too late for them, for the many people who come behind them.”
“First, I thank the members of the Communities Committee — sorry, I am biased. I know from the previous Committee for Social Development — that is how far this issue goes back, as the Speaker is well aware — how wearying it can be to see the same lobbyists coming up and asking us to make a difference. Hopefully, today marks the start of looking at what we can do by way of a remedy and at what DWP will do. This will have an impact on budgets, but we knew that. All of us can proudly stand over this and argue the case for people. That is why we are here. We are here as legislators. We are here to make legislation and to make new laws. We are also here to make a difference. If we can, we must change this rule and give terminally ill people and their families a bit of hope. To be frank, they have all waited long enough.”
“Some questions, although they are in five parts, are the same. I have done that, too, so I understand. These things are absolutely relevant. People read our questions, debates and comments. This debate is important to anyone who has nursed someone or had to comfort someone who was terminally ill. It is most important to those who have had to deliver to people the news that they need not apply because they have a year rather than six months to live. They will be encouraged when they hear what we have had to say. Let me repeat: I am completely committed to continuing to improve the process to make a real change. We are talking about end of life, and it is very difficult for people. <BR /> <BR />In particular, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the debate.”