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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“Thanks for the question. Yes, I can confirm that the Bill is at the policy development stage. There is ongoing engagement with the Office of the Legislative Counsel, and it is on track for introduction. We want to make sure that the legislation is fit for purpose in 2026 and beyond and to ensure that equality and rights are protected in our society. We are determined to work in our Department, across the Executive and across our communities and beyond to build a society that is defined by inclusion and a commitment to equality and human rights and a future where everyone can live safely and free from threat or harm. Yes, we are on track, and I am committed to ensuring that the legislation comes through.”
“If we could all reach for on-the-shelf legislation, we would be at a more advanced stage, but we want good legislation and we want every part of the Administration to play its part, whether that is the Executive Committee's scrutiny or in the Chamber itself.”
“No. What is most important is that we have good legislation. It was touched on earlier as part of the debate that a number of Bills have been introduced and some more will come very shortly. Some are going through the scrutiny process in the Committees and rightly so. Perhaps there will even be amendments where appropriate, if the legislation can be improved. We also have a lot of legislation being drafted by OLC. <BR /> <BR />I have set out where we are with all of that, and I suspect that, over the coming months, we will see a raft of legislation coming to the floor of the House for fulsome debate. I look forward to that engagement. There is no such thing as an off-the-shelf Bill; I wish it were that easy.”
“However, to place those figures in their proper context, it is important to emphasise that the introduction of a Bill is possible only at the end of a detailed and lengthy process of policy development and legislative drafting to ensure that it is good legislation and will achieve the desired policy aims. All Bills must also have the agreement of the Executive in relation both to the underlying policy and the provisions in the Bill itself. Departments are working through those processes and remain committed to introducing their Bills before the summer recess.”
“Our statement of 3 October 2025 on the Executive’s legislative programme listed the 21 Bills that Ministers intended to bring forward for introduction in the Assembly before the beginning of the summer recess in July. That is in addition to the 19 Bills from the 2024-25 programme that have either been enacted or are currently in Committee. The current position is that, of those 21 Bills, two have been introduced and four are currently the subject of consultation within the Executive Committee. The other Bills are either progressing through the policy development stage or are the subject of instructions to the Office of the Legislative Counsel (OLC). <BR /> <BR />We acknowledge the small number of Bills that have been introduced to date.”
“On the latter part of your question, I absolutely agree that the institutions need to pay up and make reparation for their role in the harrowing circumstances that so many people have come through. The Committee is actively looking at that issue in the legislation. We are obliged to chase every institution down, and we have had a process in place for some time to negotiate with them. However, where that is not forthcoming, we have to look at other ways to do that. You will be aware of the previous historical institutional abuse work and the three additional pieces of research on clerical abuse, which we are actively working through the details of now. None of that is simple, given the passage of time in a lot of the cases, but it is the right thing to do, and we will continue to work our way through that.”
“I will get that information to the Member in writing, because I do not want to give her any misinformation. There are transparent processes. Every case is complex, as the Member will know. The Victims' Payments Board has to navigate its way through that, and that sometimes leads to the delays that have been raised in the Chamber, not least by the Member's party colleagues. I will outline the process for the Member in written form, including how it goes through and how it can be transparent and accountable.”
“<BR /> <BR />I should mention that concerns have been expressed many times in the Chamber about delays in processing applications. I assure Members that we continue to do all that we can to look for ways to improve how those applications are processed and to ensure that we get them done as quickly as possible and as efficiently and effectively as possible, albeit with many complexities.”
“Yes. I mentioned some of the figures. The Executive Office has also provided funding of over £7 million to victims and survivors through the representative groups, including through the Victims and Survivors Service to assist applicants with the application process. It is also about additional funding for health and well-being support. I mentioned the five regional groups, which are Relatives for Justice, WAVE Trauma Centre, the Ashton Community Trust, the Ely Centre and the South East Fermanagh Foundation. They do sterling work in supporting victims and survivors, and, through our strategy, our work is about trying to ensure that we give them the tools that they need to support all victims and survivors. That is at the heart of our strategy.”
“Let us continue to do everything that we can to support victims and survivors in the here and now and look towards healing the wounds of the past. That has always been my endeavour.”
“As you know, the heart of our victims and survivors strategy is about being trauma-informed and about being mindful of the needs of victims. It is very much victim-centred. It is about dealing with the past, but it is also about supporting victims in the here and now. Equally, it is about building a shared future. <BR /> <BR />I have always said that I regret the loss of every life without exception. That is what my position will be today, tomorrow and the day after. The job of all of us together is to try to meet the needs of victims and survivors and to ensure that we have the right strategy and the right supports in place through the five regional organisations that we work with and through the 40 groups that we work with on a more local basis.”
“Delivery of the programme will contribute to many of the commitments set out in the strategy and will also provide continuing support and acknowledgement for victims and survivors here.”
“Funding for victims' groups is a key element of the Executive's strategy for victims and survivors. As Ministers, we are committed to continuing to ensure that victims and survivors are supported and that their needs are met. The Victims and Survivors Service is responsible for providing support for individuals and distributing funding to victims' groups in response to assessed and agreed need. The indicative value of funding allocated to victims' groups by the Victims and Survivors Service over the last 12 months was approximately £11·6 million. <BR /> <BR />Since agreement of the strategy, the main focus has been the design and implementation of the latest victims' support programme, and it is anticipated that allocations under the new scheme will be finalised by March this year.”
“I do not speak for Stonewall. I refer you to what I said earlier. Stonewall's role in our being a diversity champion is about inclusive workspaces. I am better placed than you to speak about who is a mother: I am one.”
“I absolutely do. We live in a rich and diverse society, and we should celebrate, respect and nurture it. We need to learn from one another, understand one another a lot better and create a tone, particularly in the political sphere, that allows conversations to be inclusive and people to have healthy exchanges, not exchanges that are divisive or that are othering of some sections of society. It is our job to try to create an inclusive society. That is what motivates me every day. It is the kind of society that I want to build. I genuinely believe that the will of many of those who have been elected to the Assembly, as well as that of people more widely, is to have a society that is based on equality and that celebrates that society's diversity.”
“It is a matter for the organisation itself if it finds itself in some sort of financial difficulty. We have no remit for it. As far as I am concerned, the Executive Office does not provide any direct funding to Stonewall. As a member of the Stonewall Diversity Champions Programme, however, the Civil Service does, via the Department of Finance. <BR /> <BR />Stonewall's purpose is to provide education on how to create inclusive workplaces. The Member might get advantage from receiving some such guidance and training.”
“The Executive Office has no ongoing financial relationship with Stonewall. Our arm's-length bodies operate with statutory and operational independence. Decisions on engagement with external organisations, including Stonewall, are a matter for those bodies.”
“Therein lies the problem. If we were able to look at the issue through a different lens and come at it with the mindset of wanting to get something done and of dealing with the fact that it is a historical site with reconciliation potential and the potential to have immense economic benefit, we might find a way to walk forward together to unlock that potential. That is what I am committed to doing, and perhaps the Member will join me in supporting that.”
“I will continue to do everything that I can to unlock the site's potential. It will be a longer-term project but one to which we need to turn our attentions if we are to ensure that we unlock the site's potential.”
“I will build on my previous answer. The site's potential is immense. There is a genuine opportunity for us to invest in it, but we have to view investment in the round. I would like to think that we will continue to work together to get to the point at which we can have housing on the site as well as provide economic opportunity, with businesses being established there. <BR /> <BR />We do not have to look far to see historical sites with a complex history and heritage that have previously been regenerated. We have only to look to the regeneration of Ebrington Barracks in Derry or of the Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast. When it came to managing complexity, the issues there were similar to those at the site, so we know that it is not beyond us to do that for there as well.”
“The Member will, perhaps, have heard me say in answer to a previous question that I see the enormous potential of the site from an economic, historical and reconciliation perspective. It is important that we reach for the huge opportunity that we have with that huge potential, of which I know the Member is only too aware. However, we have to have agreement on the areas in which to progress. The immense potential in that site is, I think, recognised by all. I assure the Member that I will do all that I can to continue to try to get us to the juncture where we have an agreed way forward. I want to unlock the potential of the site. I make that commitment again today.”
“We are considering advice on short- to medium-term priorities and options for the board. Discussions at official level are ongoing, and we expect to receive further input to help frame our consideration for the way forward.”
“We have been clear that we want to realise the immense potential of the site for the benefit of all and that decisions are needed on the overall way forward for the site. The Committee for the Executive Office visited the site on 5 November and received a briefing from the development corporation staff. We understand that the Committee is keen to see regeneration progress but has differing views on how that could be achieved. We recognise that it will require us to move with consensus and sensitivity, and we are committed to working with the MLK Development Corporation to achieve that. <BR /> <BR />It is clear that there are no straightforward solutions, but we can assure the Member that the future of the site remains a live issue, which we are committed to resolving.”
“As I said earlier, the strategy's success depends on our collaboration and cooperation. I mentioned a number of other strategies, such as the domestic and sexual abuse strategy, that run across other Departments. Every Department has a remit to monitor how successful its strategy has been, but we have oversight at programme board and oversight board level. We look at what is successful and, hopefully, identify what is not successful. We use all the feedback that we receive to steer towards what the next version will look like. We are already looking at the second delivery plan, as is the oversight board. The external and internal oversight boards are inbuilt to the strategy, and external bodies, including some of the regional organisations that are delivering some of the big projects, sit on those boards.”
“As the Member will be aware, some of the work that has been done thus far, in the early days of the strategy, has been promising. We are already getting feedback to say that it is making a difference.”
“As the Member will know, there are many threads to the programme. The beauty of the change fund work is that projects are coming organically from local community groups and sports organisations. They know best how to reach young people, particularly our boys, and they know best how to engage with them and get messages across. That is a huge strength. There will, therefore, be duplication among those types of projects. <BR /> <BR />All of us have signed up to the ending violence against women and girls strategy. It dovetails very much with a number of other strategies across Justice, Health and Education. It is important that we are collaborative in how we join up and that we do not duplicate on the bigger strategic pieces. The strategy is there to ensure that we do not have that duplication.”
“It is about listening to young people and identifying, community by community, townland by townland, where projects are needed. We are funding work that reaches right into our communities in order to listen to young people, in particular, about their concerns, and that, in response, creates and targets programmes that are all about education and prevention to help young people understand what a healthy relationship looks like, what a bad relationship looks like and what coercive control looks like.”
“Yes. Again, it is so important that we do everything that we can. We all were alarmed when we saw what was reported last week and even this week about how some pupils may be using it against other pupils in a school setting. That is so detrimental to the people who will be negatively and horribly impacted on by it. <BR /> <BR />There will be a number of tracks, as I said, including the Ofcom work. Just last week, our junior Ministers attended an Ofcom event to discuss its new guidance, which is all about a safer life online for women and girls. <BR /> <BR />I underline and highlight the brilliant work that is being done as a direct result of our ending violence against women and girls strategy. The approach is very much organic.”
“I also welcome the fact that the Justice Minister has committed to bringing forward legislation to address the issue where the legislation from London falls short. We raised that at the Executive last week. We had a conversation about the Minister's plans to introduce legislation for us to debate in the House. I want to work with the Minister, as, I think, all of us do, to ensure that we get it right and that we use the opportunity that we have to bring forward fit-for-purpose legislation.”
“I concur with the Member's concerns, which we all expressed last week, about what we now see as a norm. Such issues are increasingly coming to the fore, even in a school scenario, as reported today. We all need to do our due diligence and work together on the issue. It will be a combined effort. It is about the legislation and the role of Ofcom and what it can do to ensure that such companies do the right thing and have very clear structures around what they can allow. In no world should Grok or any other social media tool be able to create deepfakes or indecent images that are criminal of women, girls or anybody in society. <BR /> <BR />It will be a combination of the Ofcom work and the legislation. I welcome the fact that Ofcom has started an investigation into what happened with Grok in particular.”
“<BR /> <BR />We recently contributed to a collaborative funding model for the extended late-night public transport pilot, led by the Department for Infrastructure and the Department for the Economy, in recognition of the need for safe and accessible public transport to achieve safer socialising. We are working closely with colleagues in the Department of Finance on the development of NICS-wide training on the root causes of violence against women and girls and to support staff in preventing and responding to it. <BR /> <BR />We will continue to develop future actions, including campaigns and communication materials, with colleagues across Departments. Successful delivery depends on strong, ongoing collaboration, which we oversee through the direct involvement of our junior Ministers as chairs of the oversight board.”
“Ending violence against women and girls is a Programme for Government priority, and "working better together" is one of the six outcomes of the ending violence against women and girls strategic framework. We are working collaboratively with Executive colleagues in a number of key work areas in the delivery plan, including through our sectoral groups on safer socialising, the workplace and tertiary education. We are working with the Department of Education, which is leading on the development of an action plan to coordinate interventions that are targeted at children and young people and are focused on healthy relationships.”
“As everyone who knew him will know, he really did have that rare ability to lift spirits. He had the ability to bring smiles wherever he went. He was a gentleman and a deeply insightful, skilled and committed political activist. I certainly will miss him profoundly, as will all here in the Sinn Féin team. <BR /> <BR />My thoughts today are with his wife, Caroline; his daughter, Saoirse; his sons Michael, Seán, Niall and Lewis; and the wider family. His family have lost a kind and deeply devoted father and grandfather. Newry and our wider society and we in Sinn Féin have lost a giant of our community. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.”
“Then, as a Sinn Féin MLA and MP for the area, his door was always open to people right across the community. He gave of his time so generously to everyone who sought his help. He loved the people of Newry and Armagh, and they loved him in return. <BR /> <BR />As an Irish republican from his involvement in the civil rights movement through to the peace process, Mickey witnessed and often spoke with great pride about the strides forward towards justice and equality and towards a new and united Ireland. I certainly will always remember Mickey for his sharp wit and the captivating stories that he told us all with such natural skill and enthusiasm, stories that were always populated with a whole cast of countless Newry characters because, in Newry, Mickey knew everyone and everyone did know Mickey.”
“, for your condolences. It was with deep sadness that we learned on Friday evening of the untimely death of our dear friend and party colleague Mickey Brady. Mickey was, of course, a former Member of the Assembly, and then a proud abstentionist MP for Newry and Armagh, until his recent retirement as an elected representative in 2024. <BR /> <BR />Mickey was a lifelong champion for the people of Newry and Armagh. He dedicated more than five decades of his life to his community and to Irish politics. He really was an exemplar for political activism grounded in his community, but he was also engaged in politics at national and international levels. He had a deep-seated passion for his community and its people, always fighting their corner with boundless energy, and he had a prolific knowledge of welfare advice.”
“I can point out as a matter of fact that I addressed the House from the Back Benches as Sinn Féin vice president, as the Member's party's Ministers do on occasion. I am confident in the actions that I took in the discharge of my duties. I have repeated that on numerous occasions today.”
“Again, that has nothing to do with the Executive Office, and I believe that Ms Ní Chuilín answered that question in the Committee.”
“In my initial answer, I stated that there is nothing to be seen and that we will write to the Committee. I have already signed off on the response that will go to the Committee, as I have just stated. That response will set out clearly that there was no briefing and no list of invitees. Junior Minister Reilly did not attend in her capacity as junior Minister, and you know that.”
“I am confident in the action that I took. I have nothing to add to what I have said already, folks.”
“You may not like it, but the answer is very factual, and I can stand over the position that I took. When I made the statement to the House on 22 October 2024, I did so as Sinn Féin vice president. There was a criminal investigation, and the action that I took was wholly appropriate in the context of that investigation.”
“I think that I have answered that question. I have made very clear the basis on which I —”
“As with many of the questions that have been asked today, that is not a matter for the Executive Office. <BR /> <BR />There was no criminal investigation. The PPS and the PSNI did their job.”
“I really believe that that will help us to improve community relations and to deliver a truly shared and inclusive society.”
“One of the areas that we can be so pleased with in the work on Together: Building a United Community has been how it has brought people together. It has had a really positive impact, and that is why we are now looking at future iterations of it. The good relations programme is match funded, delivering £2·8 million in funding in 2025-26. That supports good relations projects on the ground that we are all aware of in our constituencies. Even since this summer, we have had additional funding provided to fund projects that are about the promotion of integration, particularly given what we saw earlier in the year.”
“On 22 October last year, I made a statement in the Assembly as Sinn Féin vice president. The events in Belfast City Hall on 19 October 2024 have been fully investigated by the PSNI. The PPS has made its decision, and that is the appropriate course of action. Given that there was a criminal investigation, the actions that I took were absolutely appropriate. I am confident in the action that I have taken.”
“I agree. I say it time and again, because it is important to underline it. Across the world, you can see how harmful disinformation and misinformation are, particularly in the world of social media where things can be said unchecked. Quite often, a lot of the big companies are not even taking those things on in a responsible way. <BR /> <BR />People look towards us, as political leaders, for some guidance as to the misinformation that we see. Absolutely, we should all be about promoting inclusivity and tackling the hatred that we see sometimes. That is the huge responsibility that we all have as political leaders. The tone of some commentary that we have heard in recent weeks adds fuel to the fire. People elect us to speak up on their behalf and to lead society. We need to ensure that we call out the wrongdoing when we see it.”
“Well, as a matter of fact, folks, it is. I have discharged my duty in my remit; my role as Sinn Féin vice president. Outside that, it is for the PPS, which has made its views known.”
“The Member knows that that is the role of the PSNI and the PPS.”
“I am pleased with the work that we have been able to do. <BR /> <BR />All aspects of the strategy are important, but it starts here, with appropriate information, with facing down racism and with the language that is used even in the Chamber. It starts with honesty and taking to task people who peddle myths and create divisions in society and perceptions of divisions and the unequal nature of some things in society. If we work together on that, it will lead to a better and more inclusive society.”
“I agree that it is our responsibility to stamp out and say no to racism and to face it down when we see it in our society. You referred to the racial equality strategy; that is a really important piece of work. The strategy is multifaceted, because there are many barriers that people in the ethnic minorities out there in society are facing. We all need to properly understand the data that is available to identify those barriers, if we are to tackle hate crimes, which, unfortunately, are on the rise. The strategy itself looks to how we can support community cohesion, and I am very pleased with the work that we have done, particularly since the summer, in supporting communities that face race-hate-fuelled incidents. It is important that, where those occur, we are able to respond immediately.”