Michelle O'Neill
Mid Ulster · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“We are shocked and deeply saddened for both the victim of the horrific incident in north Belfast and the people who have been impacted on by the disorder that we have witnessed since. There is absolutely no justification for racism, violence or intimidation.”
“It is the latest chapter in a political psychodrama. It has been playing out in Westminster for forever and a day but particularly over the past 10 years. Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of Brexit, which inflicted so much damage to the wider economy. We are now on the verge of having a seventh British Prime Minister in 10 years.”
“We cannot look at things in isolation. Whether it is the refugee integration strategy, the framework or the legislation, all those things need to move together and at pace.”
“I agree with the Member about the ugly language that was used to describe some people in our community. Like the Member, I have met many people from the black and ethnic minority community in recent times. I do that on an ongoing basis, but I did so recently given what happened over the last number of weeks.”
“There is not just one answer to it, as the Member knows. We need to come at it from every angle. That could be a policing response initially, for which additional funding was secured. I agree that this is the third year in a row in which we have had that type of racist behaviour on our streets. Likewise, I would describe it as a pogrom.”
“Building on that progress, the Executive Office is contributing £3·3 million towards the Derry on the North Atlantic Museum, which is due to open in 2027 and will further enhance Ebrington’s role as a heritage and tourism destination. <BR /> <BR />Ebrington is also continuing to develop as a vibrant events space.”
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“<BR /> <BR />There has been so much good over the last year, and so many people have adapted what they do, whether that be healthcare students and social workers stepping up to the front line, people who have retired coming back into the health service, business repurposing their businesses or the sports sector, right across the sporting codes, stepping up and helping communities. The work has been amazing, and I hope that we never lose that again. <BR /> <BR />In building for something better in the future, we have to have a clear focus on protecting jobs and livelihoods. It has to be about a more inclusive and caring society. It has to be about a whole of government and society approach.”
“I thank the Member for the question. Absolutely, yes, I think that we have an opportunity to build. This is only the first step. In our pathway out of restrictions, the Executive have clearly set out that we have three layers of work to take forward. The first is this piece of work on lifting the restrictions, and that builds the foundation for the short- to medium-term recovery. Secondly, in the short- to medium-term recovery, it is about interventions that jump-start the longer-term economic, community and societal renewal. The third phase of that work is around the renewal, the Programme for Government outcomes and the longer-term aspirations.”
“The Executive as a whole have prioritised getting children back to school, but it must be safe. There are so many variables right now that we have to be careful and very cautious. Today is a day of hope, and that is what I want the public at home to feel on seeing what we are doing here today.”
“Everybody needs to put their shoulder to the wheel. Every Minister in the Executive and every elected representative needs to be responsible. <BR /> <BR />There will be a temptation to move very quickly and for people to ask, "What about this sector, that sector and the other?" This is a planned way to do it. There is no room to be haphazard about it. It needs to be done gradually and in a sustainable way, because we do not want to go back into lockdown again. Let us take our time and move cautiously. Our priority is to get children back to school safely. That is what the document says, again, today. We have already announced two phases for schools. The document also says that, after Easter, we will commence the next phase, and that is where we should be.”
“You can interpret the data in whatever way you wish, but our position is different from the position in the Twenty-six Counties, England, Scotland or Wales. Our rates per 100,000 are higher than elsewhere. It is really important that we take all those things into account. I remind the Member that his party is also in the Executive and agrees with the approach. We have all signed up to the plan. <BR /> <BR />Listen, this is not a day for division. This is a day to show a united front: that we want to get to the other end of this as quickly as possible and will pull out all the stops to do that, but that we must be very cautious in doing so. Remember what happened last September, October, November and December and where we ended up in January. Nobody wants to be there again. Health service staff do not want to be there again.”
“We will engage with the key sectors and plan what comes next. This approach enables us to move forward cautiously, on the basis of the evidence that we have in front of us and working in conjunction with the sectors.”
“I thank the Member. We think that this is the best way to be upfront and honest with people about what we are facing into. We are not out of the woods, and we have difficult weeks and months ahead. There are so many uncertainties with COVID-19 that, at times, it is hard to be definitive. As the Member recognises, we are judging our ability to move forward against the capacity in the health service, our vaccination programme remaining on track and our test, trace and protect strategy doing its job. Also, the Department of Health is to roll out additional testing in different settings. All those things allow us to have optimism. The data-not-dates approach means, essentially, that, each time that we take a step, we will take a step back in our decision-making. We will pause, reflect and look at the impact of the step taken.”
“Those are the Saturday morning games that many children have been denied for the last year because of the pandemic. In that first phase, another area that we have looked at is the resumption of outdoor competitive sport. Given how important sport is to our physical and mental well-being, that is positive, particularly for children and young people, who can look at this and think, "We are in the first category, so hopefully that is not too far off".”
“That is young people getting together for their sports clubs or whatever it is that they are interested in. It mentions:”
“I could not agree more. This has been such a desperate year for everybody but, in particular, for children and young people, who have not been in school with their peers and their friends and have not been able to go to their sports clubs or do whatever it is that they are interested in. Our priority is to get children back out to the outdoors as quickly as possible. I am glad to say that, in the pathway document, the first step under sport looks at being able to give more flexibility to children and young people:”
“People will probably compute that to a time frame in their own heads. However, those are review points in time. It does not mean that we can do everything within each step in those periods; it will depend on all the other factors. However, it gives people a bit of an idea of what we are aiming for.”
“I thank the Member for her positive comments. This is very much a day of hope. We are saying to people, "Be cautious, and be steady as you go", but we are also saying that there is a way out and this is where we are headed. We have nine pathways, each of which has five steps. You can move at different speeds across each one. We have set it out that we will review the process every four weeks. The first review date, which we had announced previously, is 16 March, when a paper will come forward from Health setting out, "Here is what we can do". I will caution and be upfront enough to say that we do not expect any sort of major change before Easter, but we hope that there will be room and flexibility on the other side of Easter. The dates for the Executive's comprehensive reviews are 16 March, 15 April, 13 May and 10 June.”
“We envisage that that will happen again. It is really important that we put as much information as possible on our decision-making into the public domain. We hope that people can see that our plan sets out how we will make decisions and when we will make decisions and that we will work with the sectors. Hopefully, that gives some comfort to sectors that have been so detrimentally impacted by the pandemic.”
“I thank the Member for the question. She is right in saying that we have been through this before. This is our third reversal out of restrictions. We are trying to learn from experience and find a way to work in tandem with the sectors where we can. We understand absolutely that people need time to plan and adjust. We want to work with the sectors, which is why some discussions are already happening this afternoon. We intend, as part of our engagement plan, to engage with the key sectors — retail, business, hospitality, sport and the arts — and give as much notice as we can where measures are to be eased. We will do all that in a balanced way in terms of the health, economic, social and family impacts. <BR /> <BR />The Member may know that, in the past, junior Ministers led a lot of the work on engagement with the sectors.”
“We have deliberately stayed away from giving dates because that gives people false hope and builds up an expectation that they grab onto and then, unfortunately, they can be disappointed. We are trying to do this with the public and with the sectors, gradually easing our way through. We hope and think that the plan is the best way to avoid any slip back into stricter restrictions.”
“Leaks from the Executive are unfortunate. The media do not have the final version, so whatever was leaked was done in advance of the Executive's final considerations. <BR /> <BR />Today, we want to give people hope. We want people to know that there is something to grab onto and that we have a way forward. We should also be honest with the public and say that the virus is still among us, it is still spreading at too high a rate and there are new variants. What we are trying to achieve with the plan, if we do it in a gradual and considered way and work our way through it gradually and if we are cautious and take the right decisions at the right time, is to mitigate the risk of going backwards. Nobody wants to go backwards; we want to go forwards.”
“Alongside that are the economic impacts, such as the impact on workers and businesses and the availability of economic support to assist businesses. Those three areas will be factored in to all our decision-making.”
“I thank the Member for the question. We have set ourselves a range of principles by which we will take our decisions: health, the community and the economy. All three things are crucial. It is about the vaccination roll-out, capacity in the health service and the rate of transmission of the virus. Alongside that, it is about the mental health and physical well-being of all our people. This has been one of the most challenging years that many of us have been through. We recognise that, and we want to factor it in to our decision-making. It is about the education of our children and young people. The Executive have prioritised the issue of schools being opened safely. It is about the impacts on the more vulnerable, whom you referred to.”
“With all those things in the mix, it is really important that we take decisions but that we tell people why we are taking those decisions and communicate that. <BR /> <BR />I hope that the communication plan that we have also agreed on today will allow us to be able to do the very things that the Member has set out.”
“<BR /> <BR />I think that the plan is a good plan in that it is flexible enough to be able to allow us to move at pace where we can and to slow down a little where we need to, if we need to. I think that dealing with every sector in a separate way, through the nine different pathways, allows people to look at what is important for them and see where they fit into the plan. I hope that many people get some comfort from that. <BR /> <BR />We have not been date-led. We said that we would be led by the data and the specifics of how the vaccine is going, the situation in our hospitals and the pressure on the health service. We have said that we will be led by the transmission of the virus and the roll-out of all these things.”
“<BR /> <BR />As part of the plan, there is a strong communication and engagement plan, because, when it comes to getting ready for recovery and being able to open things up, it is really important that we work with all the different sectors, whether that be sport, retail or close-contact services. No matter what it is, the Executive have committed, as part of our plan, to work with the sectors, and we have started that process today. As I delivered this statement on behalf of the Executive to MLAs today, there is a parallel process under way to engage with key sectors. That will not just be done today but has to be done the whole way through this recovery, because it will not happen overnight. There is a journey to be undertaken here.”
“I thank the Member for his question. To correct something that he said: this is not an Executive Office plan; it belongs to the entire Executive. It is for us all to work together to get us out of this current phase of dealing with the pandemic. It is for every Department to do the heavy lifting, it is for every Department to engage with the sectors for which they are responsible, and it is for every Executive Minister to work together, to be on the airwaves and to do everything that we can to communicate this to the public. <BR /> <BR />Obviously, you know that the Executive meeting went on into the afternoon, and that is why we were late in even asking the Speaker to give us the space in the Chamber today to make the statement. Nonetheless, we are here, and I am glad that we are here.”
“<BR /> <BR />In summary, we publish our documents today, and we ask everyone to take the time to read and digest them, to think about the need for caution in our approach, to continue to follow the public health advice, and, most certainly, to take the vaccine when it is offered. We all have hope for this year, and, together, we will get through this.”
“We know and understand that people go out for essential reasons, such as shopping, exercise, necessities and well-being, but we are concerned about crowded places, even outside. Therefore we continue to ask everyone to take great care and to think about the risks. That is why we have set out very clearly in the pathway, for everyone to see, the approach that we are taking to decision-making. <BR /> <BR />Each week, Departments will meet as a collective to discuss the available information and to proactively consider what steps can be proposed to the Executive. After each step is taken, we will pause and reflect, look at the data and the impacts, engage with the key sectors, and enable them to reopen only if it is the right thing to do. That gives us the best chance of achieving sustainable steps and avoiding another lockdown.”
“Washing our hands, keeping a safe distance from others, wearing our face coverings and reducing social contacts as much as we can make a real difference, and we cannot let those good habits go. Adhering to the remaining restrictions and engaging with our communications have played a key role in getting us to the point where we can start to think about lifting restrictions. We say thank you to everyone for that. <BR /> <BR />There are new variants, and they need to be guarded against. That is part of the reason why travel is so severely limited. We ask for patience and understanding on that point. COVID-19 is a successful virus because of its ability to transmit between people so easily. The new variants are even more so. Therefore the "Stay at home" message remains important.”
“We will do that for parents too, in partnership with our colleagues in the education system who are working so hard to adapt to the current pressures. <BR /> <BR />It is vital that all of that is grounded in the reality of the pandemic. COVID-19 continues to impact on every aspect of our lives. The new variants are a sharp reminder of the need for care. Our health responses have developed considerably over the past 12 months, and we owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who has worked in the health and social care sector. <BR /> <BR />The role that we all play this year will be important. That starts with sticking to the public health basics, which remain vital. We all benefit when we get that right.”
“We are keen that everyone can find some comfort in the document and what we hope it means for them, while seeing the cautious steps that we will need to walk through. <BR /> <BR />In line with our commitments on transparency, the pathway also explains how we will take our decisions and the process for that. It sets out the pathway in the context of our plans for recovery. The pathway does not seek to take us back to where we were before the pandemic, and it recognises that there will be some adaptations in our lives. That will be the case across a number of sectors for some time to come. The Executive are, however, committed to getting education back as quickly as possible for the sake of children and young people and their education, well-being and future aspirations.”
“<BR /> <BR />We will work towards the gradual and careful reopening of the nine sectors that are vital for our citizens and their families: home and community; education and young people; worship and ceremonies; sports and leisure activities; work; retail; hospitality; travel and tourism; and culture, heritage and entertainment. The pathway looks at each sector in detail. It sets out a step-by-step process, starting with where we are now and will then take the first cautious steps towards gradual easing, the further lifting of restrictions, and preparing for the future. It also illustrates our hope and aspirations for the practical real-life benefits that that will bring to our citizens.”
“Finally, while we set our own course, we do not operate in a vacuum. We work closely with other jurisdictions, with the Irish Government, and with other Administrations on an east-west basis. We are willing to learn from what works best elsewhere and to share our experiences here. Our pathway includes conditions outlined by the World Health Organization. <BR /> <BR />The Executive will, of course, take our own decisions, and, in our pathway, we have set out the basis on which those decisions will be reached. An evidence base, necessity, proportionality and sustainability will be key to all decisions; we will be driven by health, economic and societal impacts and informed by key data sets in those sectors.”
“Keeping restrictions in place will be done only if it is necessary and is proportionate to the threat that we face from COVID-19. <BR /> <BR />Thirdly, we will continue to look holistically at the challenges that we face. While our focus today is on the pathway out of restrictions, we are also working on our building forward recovery strategy. That is where we will draw together the key interventions and actions that are needed to jump-start economic and societal recovery. We are joining up the collective effort through the Executive's COVID-19 Task Force, and, alongside the protection and recovery work streams, we are building an increased focus on adherence and strategic communications.”
“Hope and care are equally important, and that requires a balanced approach. Our approach is built on some core considerations that I will set out now. <BR /> <BR />First and foremost, our approach is risk-based and will be driven by health, community and economic data and analysis. We will not be driven by hard dates. We recognise that everyone is looking for certainty, but we do not want to set potentially unachievable dates that will only disappoint. Our commitment is that we will keep restrictions in place only as long as they are needed and that, as and when we build headroom to open a sector, we will most certainly take that opportunity. <BR /> <BR />Secondly, we will continue to be open and transparent in our decision-making. We will keep everyone up to date and explain our thinking.”
“We have developed a pathway out of restrictions that builds in time between key steps and relaxations. That leaves time for decisions to be properly informed by the health, community and economic data and to see the real-time impact of the prevalence of the virus. That time will be used carefully to look at the results of the regular modelling and to assess whether it is safe to take the next step. <BR /> <BR />This is a risk-based strategy and one that, we hope, will be understood in the current COVID-19 context. Our aim is to find a safe, secure, sustainable and understandable way forward for our citizens, sectors and businesses. We will be hopeful, optimistic and realistic in our pathway. We recognise that our citizens need hope and that they will understand that we need to move carefully through the coming months.”
“We must do everything that we can to make this the last lockdown, with the underpinning insurance policy that the Executive will take the steps needed to protect the health service. Taking all those factors together, we can take some tentative preparatory steps towards the lifting of restrictions, but great care is still required. That is why the Executive have agreed today a careful, cautious and hopeful approach to existing restrictions, and we will publish that later today for everyone to see. <BR /> <BR />We want to outline our thinking in the Assembly first. From the very outset of the pandemic, we undertook to keep the Assembly and our MLA colleagues up to date not only on our decisions but on our rationales, and we are glad to do so again today. The Executive's approach will be a cautious one.”
“We also continue to see good adherence to the current restrictions, and we are very grateful for that too. Consequently, the R number has reduced to between 0·8 and 1·05, and the pressure on our health service has started to reduce. <BR /> <BR />We believe that now is the time to look forward in a hopeful way, recognising that there is still a huge risk from COVID-19, especially from the potential for new variants. We cannot afford to let the numbers go back up to the point at which the health service is overstretched again. Our colleagues, friends and family members who provide health and social care services deserve our duty of care and ongoing respect. Nor do we want to be in a cycle of opening and closing huge sections of business and society.”
“Sadly, we have lost over 2,000 of our fellow citizens, while 112,000 of our people have tested positive. It is, however, time to look to the future with hope, and the conditions for doing that are starting to emerge. <BR /> <BR />The vaccination programme is a foundation block for building forward towards our recovery, but it cannot take the heavy lifting on its own, especially not at this time, and restrictions in some form will, unfortunately, be a fact of life for some time yet. We are incredibly proud of the vaccines work. The Department of Health has a first-class programme of delivery, and our citizens are responding exceptionally well to the offers of taking the jab. As of 28 February, there had been 558,597 vaccine doses administered here, made up of 525,400 first doses and 33,197 second doses. That is a crucial step forward.”
“Thank you for the opportunity and for allowing us to make the statement here today and to disrupt the business that was planned. As we all know, this year, we will turn a corner in the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is much more to do, and we are not out of the woods yet. <BR /> <BR />For some, this year has been the most difficult that they have experienced, and it was a sad milestone last week when we reached the first anniversary of our first COVID-19 case here.”
“I thank the Member for his question. He is absolutely right: Casement is a crucial project, not just for Gaels but for the Executive, because it has been a flagship project for some time. Therefore, there needs to be an end to the delay as soon as possible. I am glad to say that the Finance Minister has included £20 million in the Budget for that development. <BR /> <BR />It is disappointing that the planning application still has not been completed. I expect that the Infrastructure Minister will now work to ensure that there are no further delays. It has been more than 10 years since the Casement project was announced. It is time to return Casement Park to its place as a shining beacon for Gaels in Antrim, and for the wider economic benefits that it will bring to Belfast and Ulster.”
“We want to publish the pathway next week, as that is really important to giving the public an understanding of what the future looks like.”
“The message across the board, across both these islands, is to stay at home. That remains the case, even as measures are announced on what a pathway to recovery and what opening things up again could look like. We are still dealing with the pandemic, and the message, for now, is to stay at home. People should not be travelling anywhere, whether from Clonoe — where I live — to Belfast or from Dublin to Cork. People should stay at home. That remains the message. <BR /> <BR />We are still in the middle of the pandemic, dealing with a challenging situation. Whilst things are going in the right direction and are looking good, if we do not keep the virus suppressed, we will keep yo-yoing in and out of lockdown. That is not where we want to be. We need to see steady progress.”
“I look forward to the day when all the people who live on this island, across these islands and globally receive the vaccine. There is no room for any nonsense about "vaccine nationalism", as I have heard it described. We are in a global pandemic; if there was ever a time for us to work in a global effort, this is it. I look forward to the day when we are all vaccinated, when we can get back to some sense of normality, and that people are allowed to be with their family and friends and go about their daily business without the fear that comes with living in a pandemic.”
“The victims' pension should be paid to all those people — every single last person — who have been directly impacted on by the conflict. Anybody who has received an injury should be eligible for the scheme. There is a cohort of people who have been left out of the scheme, and I know that they will fight this case in the courts. I support them in doing so because they are equally entitled to a pension. I previously said that my focus and priority are to make sure that we get the pension paid, that the payment is no longer delayed, and that the British Government must step up and resource something that they took policy decisions on.”
“That is a lot of financial resource that the Executive would have to bear the brunt of providing if the British Government are not forthcoming with finance. It would put the Executive and the Assembly in a very difficult position, and we would have to take the money from health, education and all the other public services. I am very focused on getting a solution, trying to find the money and making sure that those people do not have to wait a moment longer.”
“This is a very sensitive issue, and we should be very mindful of the fact that, in normal political discourse, we can goad each another. Obviously, you and I will never see eye to eye on many, if not all, given issues, but, when it some to the victims' pension, Members need to be very sensitive. Those people have waited for far too long to get their pension. <BR /> <BR />I am committed to doing all that I can to make sure that they get that payment as quickly as possible, but the political reality is that Westminster took policy decisions that were far advanced from what, politically, we had agreed previously. It is therefore incumbent on Westminster also to resource it. I have talked about the challenge with the costs and about the fact that we could be looking at a central estimate of £848 million.”
“The roll-out of the vaccine and the fact that it is working so well — we commend all those who are involved in delivering the vaccine — combined with keeping the virus suppressed for as long as possible mean that we need to chart what the future will look like for people. As I said, we hope to do that next week.”
“Yes, it is really important that we set out the pathway. As the Member is hopefully aware, the First Minister and I intend to present it to the House next week, hopefully on Monday. We very much want to give the public a route map and show how we will reverse out of the current restrictive measures that we have in place. Everybody is looking for some hope and towards the future, and we want to spell that out for people. It will need to be a step-by-step process, however. There is no doubt in my mind that it will need to be gradual and that the lifting of restrictions will be slow and steady.”
“My thanks to the Member. I have not seen the data, so I cannot comment on that per se. What I can say, however, is that we have always held the view that the Health Department should put all that information into the public domain. A fair amount of information is shared on the Department of Health website, but when it comes to us making those decisions and bringing the public along with us, the more information that we can put into the public domain, the better. That will help people understand the pathway of the virus, the trends and the patterns, and how those inform our decision-making. My general answer is therefore that we should put everything that we can into the public domain.”
“The framework and the legislation are crystal clear. It is the legal responsibility of the Minister of Health to ensure that the services are provided, and the longer the delays go on, the longer he is denying women access to compassionate, modern and vital healthcare services. That needs to end, and the Minister must act.”
“In simple terms, the answer is yes. That is my view. Since the framework came into effect, there has been a legal responsibility on the Health Minister to ensure that he provides modern, compassionate healthcare and abortion services and that they are provided via the health trusts here. I believe that his failure to do so is failing not only women, who have a legal and human right to compassionate healthcare services, but his health trusts, which have a right to expect leadership from the Minister. Women should, under no circumstances, be compelled to travel to access vital healthcare services at any time, let alone during a global pandemic, so the Minister should end the delays and fulfil his legal responsibilities to make those services available to women. His failure to do so to date is totally unacceptable.”
“That is not a question, a Cheann Comhairle, but let me say that, given the history of this place and the fact that so many people were denied access to voting, we here in the North know how important our vote is, so it is incumbent on all of us in political office to ensure that it is made as easy as possible for people to participate in the democratic process.”
“First, the Member will know that I am speaking here as joint head of Government and joint First Minister, so if you want to address the matter politically with the party, that is fair enough. However, let me say that the Electoral Office's role should be to facilitate people to register to vote and to make it easy for people to exercise their franchise and to take part in the democratic process. Given that, right now, normal procedures cannot be followed because of the pandemic, if you wipe the register now, how will people be able to go door to door, for example? There are pragmatic issues that need to be addressed, and I hope that the Electoral Office takes that on board.”