Danny Kinahan
South Antrim · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I support the draft Energy Order. I recognise that, today, it is really about putting in place an end date so that we can plan. It is great to hear that the Minister has put in a grace period and has been talking to the providers. I think that most of us have been lobbied at times by the various companies in the industry.”
“When I joined the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee not that long ago, one of the key briefings that I had was with the Northern Ireland manufacturers' association. One of the three main items that they wanted to raise with me is the cost of energy.”
“My original question was to ask the Minister whether he felt that the current transition process was fit for purpose and delivered to the same standard. He seems to have massive changes coming in, which is excellent.”
“Absolutely. Will the Minister guarantee that the flight routes being considered are planned to fit the respective airports and that we will keep in mind all the time that we need to try to make sure that our airports are competing with Dublin and that there is no bias involved, even in respect of our two local ones?”
“We still have ongoing insurance problems. We should keep that in mind when we look at the petition and the plan. <BR /> <BR />The present plan is to develop 400 houses beside the river, with a 10-metre buffer — that is all — with no recognition of the needs of the wildlife, including the otters, the dippers, the dollaghan and many others.…”
“<BR /> <BR />The valley and the river are just on the outskirts of Antrim, and a wonderful council-planned mill race trail runs along the riverbanks and is incredibly popular with locals as an area of natural beauty, for angling, for countryside walks and for nature. It really should be protected and preserved.”
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“That position lasted 24 hours before the Minister completely contradicted it. Who sets the policy? Is it Balloo House or Connolly House, or is he changing his mind?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. We hear that it is still needed after three years. <BR /> <BR />The Minister said on 9 February:”
“Does that mean, Minister, that none will be handed back and that there are enough people queuing up to use it so that none will ever be given back to the Treasury?”
“My original question was to ask the Minister whether he felt that the current transition process was fit for purpose and delivered to the same standard. He seems to have massive changes coming in, which is excellent. However, will he guarantee that that is where he is trying to move to, so that we have a transition process that is fit for purpose and is delivered to the same standard across the whole of Northern Ireland?”
“Absolutely. Will the Minister guarantee that the flight routes being considered are planned to fit the respective airports and that we will keep in mind all the time that we need to try to make sure that our airports are competing with Dublin and that there is no bias involved, even in respect of our two local ones?”
“I was glad to hear the Minister outlining the scheme. Could the scheme fit to the Centre Point in Newtownabbey? That would be an ideal location for grade A office space.”
“In light of comments during the election regarding LGBT matters, does the Minister not feel that it is essential that not just strategies but actions are needed to ensure that no discrimination at all exists?”
“When I joined the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee not that long ago, one of the key briefings that I had was with the Northern Ireland manufacturers' association. One of the three main items that they wanted to raise with me is the cost of energy. That is what really matters to all manufacturing industry, as indeed it does to all of us in respect of our own homes. We must, therefore, keep the pressure on to make sure that we look at all the ways of dealing with alternative energy in the future. <BR /> <BR />I wonder whether the Minister agrees with the MP and MLA for East Antrim that climate change is something that we humans do not affect or believes that we need to take it in as a factor. We support the order.”
“I support the draft Energy Order. I recognise that, today, it is really about putting in place an end date so that we can plan. It is great to hear that the Minister has put in a grace period and has been talking to the providers. I think that most of us have been lobbied at times by the various companies in the industry. It is essential that we always keep them well advised in advance about where we are going so that they can plan on what they work on in the future. <BR /> <BR />One of my concerns is that we need to get money into research and development. We need to make sure that the technology is there for all the alternative energies, whether wind, rain, ground heating or something else, so that they are cheap when they come to happen in the future. That is something that we must not let die or fade away.”
“It is good to hear about the summer camps, but will the First Minister confirm that the 100 camps that he is talking about are all new? Will the camps be spread throughout the summer holidays so that they are not all jammed in at the beginning or the end?”
“Using a definition such as civic union can make that institution seem second class or second rate to some, especially when legislating for their protections, responsibilities, rights, obligations and the benefits of marriage. It is that strong perception of a second-class citizen that needs to be changed, which is why I support the motion.”
“Serving in the forces or working in a job in trying and testing conditions can create great pressure. Even under pressure, you must always be able to debate or argue, accept each other's differences and, afterwards, sit down together and carry on amicably. That is being professional. That is how it should be in the Chamber. For those who cannot do that, that will always be their limitation. <BR /> <BR />I support the motion because it combines marriage equality and the respect for the rights of the religious institutions to define and practise marriage within their beliefs. Marriage is not just a Christian institution but one that crosses all religions and is also secular.”
“<BR /> <BR />I am proud of the Ulster Unionist Party for making this a free vote, in which everyone can vote in accordance with their religious beliefs, values and conscience. That is how this debate should be for everyone. I suspect that some in the Chamber are not voting as they would really wish. That, on a matter of conscience or religion, is wrong — very, very wrong.”
“I want a society here in Northern Ireland where no one is made to feel like a second-class citizen to any extent, and certainly not due to sexual definition. I want no discrimination whatsoever on account of religious belief or sexual orientation. <BR /> <BR />I had a gentleman visit one of my constituency offices last week who proceeded to berate a young man working there about my stance on certain issues. It left him very shaken. That is totally unacceptable. Debate, yes; discuss, certainly; but bully, never. I want a society where no one feels that their religious belief is necessarily superior to others. I so want to see more Christian forgiveness, tolerance and understanding.”
“One of my great friends, an excellent soldier in another regiment, left the army, and it was only much later that I discovered why: he failed vetting because he was gay. That opened my eyes as to how wrong society could be. When serving and knowing the risks of doing so, you recognise the importance of absolute trust in your comrades. When on active service, you do not care about the religion, colour or sexuality of the man beside you, and, when injured, you most certainly never ask who donated the blood that saved your life. <BR /> <BR />A society that is great, whether British, Irish or Northern Irish, is a society where no one is discriminated against and where everyone is allowed to practice their religious beliefs freely and without fear.”
“I rise saddened that the Chamber is being used by Sinn Féin to play party politics but, as ever, hopeful that somewhere in the words and minds of all those here is a genuine intention to do good. I will not be taking any interventions. <BR /> <BR />At school and in the army, I believed and, I am ashamed to say, joked, carried by the flow, that gay, lesbian and such matters were wrong and could be laughed at. I had never really sat down and thought about it. In the 1980s, when you were due for promotion from captain to major, you were vetted; every aspect of your life was questioned so that it could be judged whether you were suitable to take on higher levels of responsibility, such as receiving or giving orders, doing your duty and making decisions under pressure that would risk soldier or civilian lives.”
“I also hope that DRD and DARD will look into the issues that are relevant to them. The development should either not happen at all or should be completely rethought. It is the test on the whole of our new planning system. Thank you.”
“We still have ongoing insurance problems. We should keep that in mind when we look at the petition and the plan. <BR /> <BR />The present plan is to develop 400 houses beside the river, with a 10-metre buffer — that is all — with no recognition of the needs of the wildlife, including the otters, the dippers, the dollaghan and many others. That all needs to be studied properly and accurately in an environmental statement. That should be carried out so that we know all the issues. <BR /> <BR />The application was validated just after the new super-councils began, so it should be subject to the new local area plan when it is created and should take into account all the community's views before any decision is made. I hope that the Minister will confirm that that is the case and that previous area plans are now redundant.”
“<BR /> <BR />The valley and the river are just on the outskirts of Antrim, and a wonderful council-planned mill race trail runs along the riverbanks and is incredibly popular with locals as an area of natural beauty, for angling, for countryside walks and for nature. It really should be protected and preserved. It should be part of a tourist trail and a tourism strategy — if we had one — in Northern Ireland that promotes our country sports and countryside. We should keep in mind that, in Ireland, angling alone contributes €755 million to the economy. <BR /> <BR />We all know that the Sixmilewater has often been appallingly badly polluted, and, indeed, in 2008, there was great flooding after heavy rainfall. The blockages around the bridges and other pinch points led to appalling flooding in people's houses.”
“I am really pleased to present this petition, which calls for the reconsideration of the proposed development of the Belmont Road on a site alongside the banks of the Sixmilewater river. The petition contains 1,047 signatures today and is, I am told, still live and now has 1,182 signatures. I thank Stevie Munn, a game angling consultant, and the Six Mile Water Trust and its colleagues, who pulled the petition together. They highlighted the key issues, and I have enjoyed working with them since I entered politics. Sadly, this matter has arisen at election time, and I hope that it can be resolved by all the politicians in the area working together into the future.”
“I thank the Minister for his comments so far, and I am glad that he will take on board all the objectors' comments. Will he clarify the position on funding for Arc21? I think that £50 million or £51 million was placed in your budget by the Finance Minister.”
“On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. At the beginning of the debate, Mr Sheehan made a point of order that the Education Minister had written a letter to everyone. During the debate, we have been trying to find a copy of that letter. It does not seem to exist. My point is that the Minister said that he believed that the document should be removed. In a further one, he went on to say that it should be done away with.”
“Northern Ireland is ranked just behind London for FDI, and that is really down to the calibre of our graduates. Does the Minister believe that there will be better support for graduates under a Department for the Economy rather than under a Department for Employment and Learning?”
“— which most potential teachers could respect and commit to. I hope that everyone will support our motion today. When it comes to the amendment, we are intrigued to see how long "interim" is meant to be before we decide on whether to support it. Anything that leads to getting rid of the certificate suits our motion.”
“Many have said that there is not a particularly Catholic or Protestant way in which to teach geography or maths. I would even add that religious education is a subject for which a common syllabus was agreed between the four main denominations about 20 years ago. Therefore, in theory at least, even a religious education teacher does not need to be the same religion as the majority of the pupils whom he teaches. I am not a theologian, but when I hear people talk about and describe a distinct ethos in the Catholic sector, it does not seem to be radically different from a broadly Christian world view, ethical framework, mission statement and outlook —”
“<BR /> <BR />This simple question needs to be answered: should schools be free to select teachers according to their religion? They cannot in the state-controlled sector, they normally do not in the integrated sector, but they can and do in the Catholic maintained sector, which is fully funded by the state; that is, by taxpayers of all religions and none. <BR /> <BR />Regarding the related issue of the certificate in religious education, I know that those involved in the Catholic maintained sector attach great importance to it. However, there is no obvious reason that all teachers in Catholic maintained primary schools need to have a religious education certificate. One is not required in Scotland, where there is a similarly strong tradition of Catholic schools.”
“There are other similar examples, but, in summary, there has been buck-passing between OFMDFM and the Department of Education for two years. Whatever the protestations of the Minister of Education, I get the distinct feeling that someone, somewhere in the heart of government is blocking change. <BR /> <BR />To be crystal clear, parents in Northern Ireland have an absolute right, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, to bring up their children in the religion or belief of their choice, without interference from the state. However, apart from a handful of independent Christian schools, all schools in Northern Ireland are fully state-funded. That should, and must, have consequences for autonomy in employment practices.”
“In the same month, I asked the First Minister and the deputy First Minister whether they planned to review the Fair Employment and Treatment Order and bring forward legislation to remove the teacher exception under article 71. The response was:”
“Therefore, why at Stormont has there been a game of pass the parcel when it comes to doing something legislatively about this blatant discrimination? Two long years have passed, in which I have tabled Assembly questions, as have others. For example, in March last year, the Minister of Education replied to my question for written answer with the comment:”
“Article 51 of the Council directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000, establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation, said that the teachers' exemption should remain. Two Equality Commission reports of 2000 and 2004 said that the reform was needed. Reform is long overdue: the teacher exception should go, and it should go now. <BR /> <BR />Interestingly, not long after our previous motion was passed, senior officials from the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) appeared at the Education Committee. On 29 May 2013, Jim Clarke, its chief executive, plainly said that CCMS did not rely on, and did not want to see, the continuation of the teacher exemption from fair employment and equality regulations, stating that CCMS:”
“The teacher exception, which is now nearly 40 years old, was to be abolished a decade ago, in all secondary schools at least, in the long-forgotten single equality Bill.”
“In 2000, when the European Union provided for general anti-discriminatory law, supposedly to improve labour flexibility in the single market, the UK secured a continuing Northern Ireland opt out in the directive, permitting religious discrimination in teacher appointments. <BR /> <BR />The fact that teachers in Northern Ireland are the only occupational group in 27 member states to be legally unprotected should bring a huge degree of shame to our equality laws and should be an absolute priority for the Equality Commission. It was good to see in an email today a recommendation from the Equality Commission that we should be removing the exception in secondary schools and considering removing it in primary schools.”
“I know how sensitive people can be about these things, and I want again to put on record my appreciation of and, indeed, admiration for, the very many excellent schools within the Catholic maintained sector. Exam results suggest that they are doing a great deal right, but, in the area of teacher employment, they are getting something wrong. <BR /> <BR />We as an Assembly, and OFMDFM as the Department with responsibility for equality, also have a duty to do something about it and to do it now. In 1976, Parliament exempted employment as a teacher in school from anti-discriminatory legislation. That is the so-called teachers' exemption.”
“The Ulster Unionist Party believes it is not only time to revisit the teacher exemption issue in teaching employment practices but time to take action and to seriously examine the whole issue of the certificate in religious education requirement for teaching in primary and nursery schools in nearly half the schools in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Regarding the FETO exemption, rather than rehashing the fair employment in teaching debate, which no doubt all Members wishing to contribute today will have revisited, I will in a moment summarise the backstory. <BR /> <BR />First, I want to make it absolutely clear that the purpose of my motion is not to have a go at Catholic or any faith-based system of education.”
“Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I take that on board. I do not remember seeing a letter from him clarifying that, so we will wait and look at it later. I do not think it changes what we are saying today. <BR /> <BR />I hope at the very least that, at the end of this debate, we will have an answer from the First Minister or the deputy First Minister to the Education Minister's alleged written requests, and that they will take action to remove the religious education certificate requirement in some educational employment practices on equality grounds. <BR /> <BR />This exchange reminds me of the debate I led in the House nearly two years ago on the related issue of repealing the exemption for teaching appointments in the Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (FETO).”
“I welcome the opportunity to bring this issue to the Assembly again. The purpose of this motion, which I propose on behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, is to set the scene for finally ending discrimination in the field of employment in schools and to lay some foundations for shared education and a genuinely shared future. It is sad that we have no Ministers responding today, given that there are four in OFMDFM and one in the Department of Education. It is extremely poor that there is no one here today to respond. <BR /> <BR />During Question Time in this House on 9 February, the Minister of Education answered a question about the requirement for prospective teachers to have a special certificate in religious education to work in the Catholic maintained sector at primary and nursery level. He said:”
“Does the Minister recognise that the heavy workload on teachers makes it extremely difficult for them to have the time to learn and to teach foreign languages? If he is looking for a way of doing things differently, he should maybe drop the sacred cows like the Irish language school in Dungiven. He should park it for the moment. We still want Irish language in the future, but why does he not put that money into languages that help children to learn so that they can get jobs worldwide?”
“Thank you very much. Given the support there was for rugby last weekend, will she also wish the whole team great support for tomorrow night and for football to get as much support as rugby does?”
“I thank the Minister for her answers so far. The centenary of the battle of the Somme falls into the budget year 2016-17. Has any provisional budget sum been decided on to cover the run-up to July 2016?”
“I congratulate the Minister. When I have raised issues of lighting or spraying or something that has been a risk to health or safety, it has been sorted out very quickly. How much are we going to need to carry on with the cutting, lighting and everything else that we require?”
“That is very good to hear. I would very much appreciate confirmation also from the First Minister that at no time did his office know anything about those letters until the Downey case came forward.”
“I thank the Minister for the statement, and I congratulate both the ladies' and male teams of Ireland for their terrific success at the weekend. Does the Minister recognise that there is more than a perception that Tourism Ireland is not delivering for Northern Ireland in line with the amount of money that we put into it? Is she satisfied with Tourism Ireland's performance and, if not, will she instigate a review?”
“I also thank the Minister for the statement and congratulate InterTradeIreland for its success. I note that the statement is on trade and business development, but when we had Horizon 2020 representatives at the Committee, there did not seem to be any emphasis on education below employment and learning. Will the Minister ensure that, in future, we will be looking for funding that will help schools? STEM funding has been cut, and we need more influence from business. Can we get that on to the agenda so that we prepare children earlier to create more trade and business development?”
“Will the Minister meet the Huntington's Disease Association and the Health and Social Care Board to see how it can be dealt with better?”
“That is why we support the amendment. That is the way that we should be going to discuss and find a way forward. What disappoints me in the amendment is that there is no timescale —”
“Freedom of conscience needs to be allowed and respected, as do the rights of citizens and of all other groups. All too often in this Chamber, there is an arrogance among some who try to force their views on others. That must cease, and, if we are to set the right example to society, we must all do that. We live in a democracy and under the rule of law. When it comes to the Ashers case, let due process take its course. <BR /> <BR />When it comes to the amendment, I sincerely believe that we have to find an accommodating range of views. Freedom of conscience and religion have to be protected. We must also accept that the rights of citizens and groups to equality of treatment is key in any liberal democracy worthy of that name. The amendment recognises "the differing views expressed" and calls on the Assembly to:”
“The failure to bring forward a single equality Act is yet another manifestation of the dysfunctional nature of OFMDFM. The people of Northern Ireland deserve better. Did we not all enter politics to make Northern Ireland a better place? <BR /> <BR />I come to the freedom of conscience amendment Bill. The Ulster Unionist Party has a long tradition of permitting Members to vote according to their conscience on matters of conscience. The case involving Ashers bakery is due to be heard in court within the next two weeks. Whatever one thinks of the rights and wrongs in that specific case, I hope that we can all agree that it should never have come to this. There should be space in our society for people who wish to live their life according to their religious beliefs. However, we need to find a way of accommodating the whole range of views.”
“It is also sad that, in life, common sense and good manners cannot be allowed to resolve these matters and that we feel that we have to go to legislation. <BR /> <BR />The motion also expresses concern that no progress has been made on introducing the single equality Act in this mandate. The idea of a single equality Act has been around for more than a decade, but, like so much with the process of administration in Northern Ireland, it has ground to a halt. That is typical of so much of what passes for government in Northern Ireland. Departments and bureaucrats are excellent at coming forward with strategies and consultations. They then assist Ministers in drawing up action plans, which lead to task forces and working groups, but, at the end of the day, there is not too much tangible progress in the shape of delivering meaningful change.”
“<BR /> <BR />The motion is correct in that, since the passing of the Equality Act 2010 at Westminster, we have been out of step with the rest of the United Kingdom in equality protections. I had expected other Members to go through those who need to be protected and those whom we are protecting them from. I find it rather strange that we have not gone down that route at all and have hardly touched on what is in the equality Bill. I too want to move on to other matters, but I point out that an email I got today from the Equality Commission highlights that we in Northern Ireland are behind, especially on disability and women's rights. Those are the two areas where I thought that we would probably least be concentrating today. It is sad to see that all being pulled together with a Bill of rights.”
“I am pleased to speak in the debate on behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party. <BR /> <BR />The issues of equality and rights are key in any modern liberal democracy, but we would add a third concept, because with rights come responsibilities, and we all must remember that. We should all wish to live in a society that is open, tolerant, respects the rights of others and promotes equality for all. You only have to look at TV bulletins to see that, in far too many countries, too many people are forced to live under regimes that have no respect for the rule of law and have scant regard for human rights and equality. We are fortunate to live in the United Kingdom, where respect for rights and equality before the law are part of our democratic culture.”