John Dallat
East Londonderry · Social Democratic and Labour Party · Northern Ireland
“His and Donovan's contributions were invaluable. <BR /> <BR />I know that Alliance Members and others have spoken about Seamus Close, and I am conscious that his wife Deirdre is here today. Seamus Close was an amazing individual, and I had the pleasure of serving on the Public Accounts Committee with him.”
“<BR /> <BR />As you know, Mr Speaker — this will be of particular interest to you — Donovan was a Deputy Speaker, and he was a man of severe discipline. He did not suffer fools easily. On one occasion, there was a Member who was particularly troublesome in the morning. I reassure the existing parties that it was not one of their members.”
“I know other Members appreciated it equally. <BR /> <BR />I could not resume my seat without making reference to Reverend Robert Coulter — Bob, as he allowed me to call him. He was an incredible person who had a vision for the future of the Assembly that went far beyond simply winning the next election.”
“I was in the privileged position of being a member of Coleraine council for over 30 years, and, if I was asked to highlight one of the greatest events I experienced during that time, I would say that it was meeting Harry Gregg. I am not into sport big time, but I am into sporting people who have made a huge contribution to this world.”
“Donovan McClelland was a lecturer in the University of Ulster. Life could have been very comfortable for him, but he did not choose that. He contributed to the peace process that eventually became the Good Friday Agreement and, in doing that, he brought himself danger.”
“I welcome the Minister's responses so far. The average age of people in the northern region is very high. I am not sure whether the Minister knows how many passed away before adaptations were completed or shortly afterwards.”
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“Reference has been made to the fact that terrorist attacks took place across three continents within a few hours of one another, resulting in the deaths of at least 62 people. That brings home to us the extent of what happened on a quiet Friday afternoon. <BR /> <BR />I became aware when I got a phone call from a family in Kilrea whose son was in Tunisia. In fact, he was on a beach close to where the shootings took place. I pay tribute to the British and Irish consular services for their outstanding help in assuring those families who were not tragically affected by the holocaust that their family members were safe and, indeed, that efforts were being made to get them out of the country.”
“I was sure for a moment there that the Minister was whistling my tune when she referred to the north-west. I am sure that she would agree with me that the wealth of culture and music shared by the whole community in the north-west deserves recognition. Does she agree, before her Department goes in different directions, that she should establish a prominent presence in the Maiden City, Derry?”
“I support the decentralisation of public-service jobs to Ballykelly. I hope that other Departments do likewise and contribute to the decongesting of our motorways. Does the Minister agree that, irrespective of its previous use, it is one of the most idyllic and beautiful spots in County Derry, overlooking Lough Foyle and Inishowen? Does the Minister agree that there should be a master plan for the remainder of the site so that best use is made of the 900 acres, rather than flogging it off to the highest bidder?”
“May I add my congratulations to the Minister? Will he please tell the House that the £6 million additional is a mere drop in the ocean compared with the money that could not be spent on the A5 and was spent on the A8 and A2? Will he promise not to lose any sleep over the additional money that he has invested in our railways?”
“I hope that the Minister will not claim that I am pushing the boat out too far. She will be aware that there is a ferry service across the Foyle that has carried over two million passengers since its inception and gets not one brass penny of public money from the Republic or from this Assembly. Will she use her ingenuity at a future meeting to find out why one ferry service here gets no funding while the other two get something like £10 million? Perhaps she will remind Mr McHugh that he is part of the solution.”
“I am glad that the Chairman mentioned that. I realised after I said it that I had made the wrong choice of words. Of course we should remember the nine drivers who lost their life.”
“Does the Member agree that, given that the Chairperson has called for the resignation of the Minister, he is just a little bit biased?”
“Mr Speaker, I have just allocated the Member an extra minute, or part of one. The Member worries me. Does he not accept that one of the features of this Assembly is 11 scrutiny Committees that do their job largely above party politics and that are entitled to go in and shine a light in every corner where they think that improvements can be made?”
“Let us go through it root and branch — the whole organisation from top to bottom — so that we produce a Department capable of overseeing a bus company and rail company that provide the services that the public wants, and let us never again be embarrassed by having street lights that do not work or having potholes. That is not the message that we want to send to the tourist industry, and it is certainly not the message or the legacy that we want to leave behind for future generations.”
“I was, of course, extremely disappointed that the A5 did not go ahead, but, again, that cock-up happened before Mr Kennedy took over. The A6 is parked somewhere, and, again, the bypass at Dungiven was not decoupled, as the SDLP asked for on many, many occasions; but, again, the Minister of the day said, "No, no, just one contract; let it proceed". Of course, it has not. <BR /> <BR />We are discussing this today, and the message probably going out to the Department is that, yes, there is a lot of disquiet at how things have happened.”
“Many of them serve in multiple organisations. That needs to end, and the public appointments process needs to change to ensure that Translink and Northern Ireland Water, which does not have a single woman on its board, change and move with the times. They need to ask the searching questions that are being asked here today, because the cosy relationship that existed between the Department, Translink and Northern Ireland Water in the past does not work any more. We are in a modern world.”
“This generation will not be forgiven for leaving behind a legacy of underdevelopment, which means that the future generation will have to pick up the penalties from the European Union should infraction become an issue. Let us move on from that as well, and let us hope that, in the future, the Executive will provide the capital investment that is needed to make sure that infraction is not an issue, as the Chairman mentioned. <BR /> <BR />Let us move on to Translink, and let me acknowledge straight away that that company provided a public transport service during the worst days of the Troubles. Nine of their drivers lost their life, but, again, that is in the past. Let us forget about it, at least for this purpose. The Minister will perhaps address this issue, but there is a board of directors in Translink who are sitting on their hands.”
“I just wonder how many potholes could have been filled, how many grass verges could have been cut and how many street lights could have been repaired with the hundreds of thousands of pounds that was spent on legal fees for a case that never went to court because there was no justification. Sadly, during that time, four directors of Northern Ireland Water were sacked because they dared to change the way things ran. Mr Kennedy, you inherited that, and Northern Ireland Water today is somewhat better than it was then, but let us not live in the past. Let us move to the current dilemmas. <BR /> <BR />I am seriously worried about infraction — I have raised it on a number of occasions at Committee meetings — and not because the Minister has perhaps mishandled his budget but because the money is simply not there.”
“At the outset, let me assure the Minister that the SDLP is not looking for his head on a platter — certainly not today and most definitely not in the week following his £46·1 million investment in the Belfast to Derry railway. I have some sympathy for the Minister. He inherited an awful shambles from the past, and some of us who served on the Regional Development Committee in the past remember those dark days when Northern Ireland Water virtually ceased to function, with a dysfunctional chief executive, Laurence MacKenzie; the permanent secretary of the day, Paul Priestly; and, of course, the Minister of the day.”
“Does the Minister agree that those who set up the Roe Valley Country Park in the first place and brought it to its present state have created something that is beautiful beyond belief? Will he tell those who drop their litter in the Roe Valley Country Park that they are to blame for anything that is wrong there?”
“The Member has inspired my memory to work. Did she hear this morning, on 'Thought for the Day' on 'Good Morning Ulster', about the two bands from quite diverse backgrounds that eventually discovered that they were playing the same tune? Does she agree that money should be invested to encourage people to play the same tune?”
“To clear the Member's mind of any thought that the motion on disability and community transport was party political, I say to him it was not, because it was my suggestion that that particular motion should come to the House before the motion down for tomorrow. It was not party political, and I have made it perfectly clear today that my contribution is not party political. However, people who are affected will not give one hoot whether it is the Social Development Minister, the Regional Development Minister, the Executive or the Assembly as a whole. We have not lived up to the principles of equality.”
“I have listened very carefully to the Member and I respect what he says, but does he agree with us that, when speaking about alternatives or cuts, we should not attack the most vulnerable people in society? They do not have a choice or an alternative, and they depend on community transport for mobility.”
“Yes, I will indeed. I conclude by placing my trust in the Minister, somehow, and in the Executive, because they play a critical role in this. Please provide the money for those groups.”
“I cannot think of any more deserving groups than those that depend on Disability Action and community transport to provide them with a level of mobility to which, I believe, they are entitled. It would be a shame and disgrace if the Assembly were to go down in history as having taken away the meagre resources that those groups have to give people a reasonable chance of staying in communication with the outside world, visiting their doctors, dentists, physicians and attending hospital appointments — all the things that those organisations provide.”
“I am hopeful and I believe that the Minister, being the decent person that he is, will restore the money that went missing for Disability Action and the community transport groups. I believe that it is the only honourable way to address this problem, and, while we may have this debate, at the end of the day, I plead with the Minister: please put right those issues on which, I believe, some officials within your Department have totally misdirected you. <BR /> <BR />At the outset, I said that it is critical that, whatever our political problems, we do not forget the first principle of that agreement that was signed 17 years ago. The principle of that was to provide equality across the board.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. That leads me to my next point. Members may know that I am the longest-serving member of the Public Accounts Committee and I do not take prisoners easily. No group is more scrutinised than the 11 community transport groups. They are not answerable a few years after the event; they must make returns on a monthly basis, so there is no reason why the Department would not know that those groups represent good value for money. Again, like Disability Action, they provide an essential service. That was a bad mistake, and, as the Chairman and other members know, during our inquiry we discovered that there is some remote group within the Department, which probably has no contact with the outside world, that brought forward these arbitrary figures.”
“I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not have a party-political thought in my head as I speak. This is about people who I took a decision to represent in public life. Forget about party labels or the election that might be coming up next year or perhaps even sooner. <BR /> <BR />The cuts were announced in mid-March. They are implemented from 1 April. Disability Action expected to receive some kind of cutback but not such a ferocious one. Disability Action is represented right across Northern Ireland, and it simply cannot sustain the type of cut that was imposed on it and, at the same time, provide the essential service that it does. I am sorry that Coleraine is one of the areas that will no longer be able to provide the driving lessons that I mentioned earlier for people with a disability.”
“Mr Speaker, 17 years ago, I left a secure teaching job to pursue the aspirations of the Good Friday Agreement, particularly on the principle of equality, because I realised that equality was not simply between Protestants and Catholics, but between everyone. When I heard of the cuts affecting Disability Action, I was emotionally upset. Members may remember that, many years ago, one of the first people to arrive from eastern Europe as a migrant worker lost her lower limbs in a tragic accident. She became a friend, and is still a friend, of the family. I pay tribute to Disability Action, which was involved in that girl's learning to drive, resuming her life and continuing a very normal way of being. <BR /> <BR />I believe it was a bad mistake to target Disability Action and the other group.”
“Mr Principal Deputy Speaker, we are talking about the railway, which Michael Palin described as one of the wonders of the world. This is a day for celebration; it is a day when we can all get together and say, "Success." Yes, the Minister is an Ulster Unionist, but I do not mind that, because, since he took over the portfolio, he has invested almost £70 million in this railway. He took it over when, as he said himself, it was on life support. Let us look to the future. Can the Minister assure us that his ambition to create a fit-for-purpose station at Derry which is able to accommodate the increasing number of people from the north-west who are choosing rail as a means of travel is still on target? <BR /> <BR />Finally, this is not just about the north-west; this is about the railway network of Ireland as a whole.”
“May I just add my congratulations to the Minister and tell him that I strongly believe in the old adage that a new brush sweeps clean. The Minister made reference to East Derry. Will he, being that new brush, agree with me that we desperately need an economic task force set up in the north-west to identify the strengths of the region but also to establish why there has been a dearth of potential inward investors to that region, which has been savaged over the last decade, with losses of jobs in industry, textiles and farming?”
“I am sure that the Minister agrees that transport and logistics is not exactly a new phenomenon. Indeed, it probably dates back to the days of the red flag. Will the Minister explain to us why he is only making plans now for the development of this and why these subjects are not integrated across a range of degree courses, so that we can catch up with the rest of Europe, which is light years ahead of us in training people for transport and logistics?”
“I welcome the Minister's response. I also welcome the idea of her Department coming to Ballykelly. Would she agree with me that that is only a tiny part of a 900-acre site? Will she please explain to the House why, in her discussions with Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister and others, they are scurrying about only this week and talking about a master plan for a site that has the potential to create hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs? Finally, will the Minister tell us where else in the world you would have a site like that, with an airport beside it, a railway running through it and a main road going past it? There is still no master plan, and an economic task force has still not been set up, so —”
“I am not directly involved in the popular campaign to keep Ballymena courthouse open. However, given that socially deprived people without transport are over-represented among those who appear in court, does the Minister think that his policy of closing courthouses across the North, particularly in Limavady, was a bright idea?”
“Given that there are 94 vacancies, would the Minister agree that that in itself is an emergency?”
“I preface my question by paying tribute to the Ambulance Service, certainly in the northern and western areas. Does the Minister agree with me that, when someone makes that 999 call, they expect a response?”
“Just on the very point that Mr Swann is speaking on, Lifestart was one of those programmes that gave hope to families with children with special needs that their children might well leave school being able to write and to have basic skills. Does the Member agree that that programme, and others in the voluntary sector, was the key to pointing to real equality in Northern Ireland between not Protestants and Catholics but people who had what they needed and others who did not?”
“How can the Minister ensure that shared education goes beyond the annual outing to the Balmoral Show in the same bus and, in fact, genuinely awards schools that bring their children together to work and be educated together?”
“As the lone ranger who came to the aid of the DVLA workers in Coleraine, my question is this: will this voluntary exit scheme in any way help those people who still have not found permanent positions?”
“The Minister will, of course, know that there is a very long and rich history to the library in Enniskillen and recognise that, historically, people could not afford to buy their own books. Is the Minister committed to that same principle at the turn of the century? Can she assure us that it will apply across the North?”
“The Minister will agree that the environment is the most critical aspect of life for us and future generations. Can she give us some indication of what the relationship will be with the Environment Agency? Will it have the independence and the teeth to go after those who pollute our land and our waterways?”
“Is the Member aware that the A&E department in Coleraine hospital is, on many occasions, much busier during the night than during the daytime?”
“The Causeway Hospital has not let us down, the people who serve in it have not let us down, and God forbid that the Assembly lets the Causeway down.”
“Will you prevent them causing a future train wreck of a different type, involving the health and well-being of our people? <BR /> <BR />In drawing to a conclusion, I know that there are many issues that I have not dealt with, such as the ongoing management of palliative care, midwifery and the relationship with the Ulster University. Hopefully, others will pick up on those and other important issues. I look forward to other MLAs' contributions, because this is a task that we must do together. I particularly want to hear the Minister's response, whom I have confidence in, to the most important issues facing the people whom I and others represent now and in the future.”
“It has already demonstrated that it can deliver acute hospital services that are safe, of high quality, sustainable and effective. The challenge to the Assembly and to our Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety is this: will you rise above Donaldson? Will you back a winner and give direction to those who are responsible for the long-term planning of health care in the Causeway area? Will you tell them that you believe passionately in the people who make the Causeway the hospital what it is and can be in the future? Will you ensure that there is capital investment and local leadership in planning the future? Will you avoid the blunders of past consultants who had no mandate and little knowledge of the areas that they reported on?”
“Do not let Donaldson become like the Beeching blunder of the 60s, when thousands of miles of railways were closed down on the back of an ill-informed report that almost destroyed the railway system. Indeed, since that, many of those railways have had to be reopened. <BR /> <BR />We need to go for it and tackle all the factors that made the Causeway less attractive for recruitment and training. I mentioned collaboration with other hospitals, but in-house training is also vital and demands immediate plans to gain recognition and re-accreditation for a wonderful hospital that deserves to be the flagship of health care covering the entire north-west and beyond. <BR /> <BR />The Causeway can and will move with the times.”
“I suggest that it would be utter madness to allow a situation to develop where people would have to travel 40 miles to Antrim or a similar distance to Altnagelvin, leaving a huge area isolated. In that respect, we must use our influence as a local Assembly to rise above those consultants' reports and to do what is best for our people. We should not leave it to a future generation to undo the harm that would be done if a report such as Donaldson's were implemented in its entirety. We need to question those reports and ask who is writing them and what superior knowledge they have over local medical doctors who have spent their entire lifetime working in this area. <BR /> <BR />Please do not let the hospitals become another railway story.”
“The recent report 'Future Hospital' emphasises the need for generalists, rather than super-specialists, to take responsibility for inpatient care and to respond in particular to the increasing prevalence of elderly patients with multi-morbidity. The Causeway is well placed to respond to that. <BR /> <BR />I emphasised the need for partnership and integration with other providers, but that must be on the basis that the Causeway is not in any way diminished in its core values as an acute hospital not only in name but in practice. The Causeway serves a population of at least 150,000, rising intermittently to 200,000, and caters for a mobile student population.”
“<BR /> <BR />Let us be reminded that Transforming Your Care has emphasised the need for closer working cooperation between hospitals and community services, with more care to be delivered outside the hospital. The Causeway is ideally suited to develop that concept in view of the already effective links, with GP practices and specialist nurses crossing the hospital/community interface and with the presence of two GP-run community hospitals. Let us learn from the blunders made in other areas, such as Mid Staffordshire, where the disintegration of the health service led to a renewed focus on the basics of general medical and nursing care.”
“It is now time to reassess that strategy and to recognise that previous attempts to centralise services 30 miles away were flawed. Perhaps the recent appointments that I referred to are the first visible signs of intent to reverse that policy. I hope so. That needs to be underlined. <BR /> <BR />In accepting it is time for change, let us make sure that we put the present and the future needs of the community that the Causeway Hospital serves at the top of our agenda. In doing so, let us remember that easy and rapid access to local hospital services is essential, providing as a minimum the services that currently exist at that hospital. That is key.”
“<BR /> <BR />Time and again, we are told about problems with the recruitment of senior and middle-grade medical staff over the last five years. That could be corrected by clear investment in the future. Recent appointments and the apparent drive to create new partnerships can remove the uncertainty and will, with little doubt, stimulate interest in applying for posts in the Causeway Hospital and in Altnagelvin. I saw evidence of that at first hand when people from different parts of the world worked in harmony as a team to deliver a health service that is, without doubt, fit for purpose. <BR /> <BR />It is interesting to note that, since its official opening in 2001, the Causeway Hospital has had no capital investment, while Antrim has had very heavy investment.”
“<BR /> <BR />In bringing about change, I welcome the increased collaboration between the Causeway Hospital and Altnagelvin Area Hospital. It is something that the previous Minister of Health, Edwin Poots, advocated, and I was pleased to see the current Minister, Jim Wells, in Altnagelvin this week. This is not a one-way street but a genuine exercise in sending patients in both directions to bring about higher levels of specialisation not just for the Causeway Hospital but for the Derry-based hospital, which has important links with Letterkenny General Hospital. Surely, that is good practice that protects the accident and emergency service. We must not allow our accident and emergency service to become simply a shopfront for patients who would be transferred to Belfast hospitals.”
“<BR /> <BR />The arguments for ensuring that the Causeway Hospital remains an acute hospital have been well made by people locally who have worked in the service and dedicated their life to it and by those who have experienced the highest standards of care while they have been patients in that hospital. We all know that nothing remains the same and that change is inevitable, but change must be for the better and must be based on sound judgement and not on the back of a report from an author who does not share the experience of those who have worked in the hospital for a lifetime and know much better what works and what would be a disaster not just for the Causeway Hospital but for the health service as a whole.”
“Remember, this is the man — I am talking about Donaldson — who was called on to resign by the British Medical Association when he was Chief Medical Officer in England after producing a highly controversial report on modernising medical careers. His record is not without blemish. In our case, he has produced a one-dimensional, management-centred, financially driven report that completely ignores patient-centred local factors. <BR /> <BR />The Assembly had a difficult birth and its adolescence has not been without trouble, but surely the one thing that we must agree on is our ability to make decisions that suit our people present and future, particularly when there is universal agreement on what should happen for the best reasons.”
“The unnecessary and intolerable strain placed on the Ambulance Service is already well established, with 96% of paramedic staff reporting stress and other health problems relating to work. <BR /> <BR />In the case of the Causeway Hospital, if such a daft proposal were to be followed through, it would mean the deskilling and erosion of the confidence of local medical and nursing staff, and that would be a tragedy because I know of no staff more dedicated, more committed and more representative of a health service that puts patients at the centre of its work. <BR /> <BR />I plead with the Minister not to accept the recommendations of consultants hook, line and sinker, particularly when those recommendations are plucked out of another area which is quite unlike and unrepresentative of our own.”