Paul Frew
North Antrim · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Minister for that intervention. Nevertheless, there are concerns that I want to address. The Minister and the departmental officials will know that, even from the range of questions that I have asked. We need to make sure that we get the balance correct.”
“In the written and oral evidence received then, the Committee was advised of potential amendments that the Minister may table at Consideration Stage, including an amendment to remove the commissioner that is being considered in liaison with OLC.”
“That in itself causes some victims and witnesses bother, because they are in a system that they are not part of, which means that they do not get the support that they require. That can sometimes leave them feeling retraumatised, as though they have been put through the wringer again.”
“The Bill makes provision to offer those protections and provide clarity to victims that they do not have to face their perpetrator in court. <BR /> <BR />Members asked questions about a range of matters, including the independence of the office, the ability to review the performance of any future commissioner, the costs of establishing th…”
“I thank the Minister for her intervention. She was absolutely right to take that action, as it means that victims' voices are right at the heart of the matters under discussion. It is now obvious to us that that should have been done years ago, but it is good that it is being done now.”
“Officials explained that the Bill would legislate on the disclosure regime not to prevent an application for disclosure but to set out a process whereby the defence would have to show the relevance of the information that it was requesting. That is an important protection.”
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“I would not have used the words that he used, but, yet, there he is, using those words. That shows you how important the issue is now. There might be other motives —”
“I know people of a socialist nature who have come to my office with concerns about the issue and Polish people who have come into my office concerned about the welfare and safety of their children walking through Ballymena at night. There are massive issues in Ballymena alone that no one seems to be addressing. When you ask the questions that they ask, you are deemed to be a racist and a bigot. That is not the way it should be. <BR /> <BR />We need to have a decent, suitable, grown-up, mature debate on people movement and the controls and measures that are in place in our government to make sure that people move in manageable ways. That is something that we have not had. The most important thing now, which I am glad to hear, is that the Prime Minister, for whatever reason, is coming out now and taking the issue seriously.”
“When you come to a debate such as this and you are trying to raise concerns for the people whom you represent, you are labelled as a "pocket Powell" and a "pound-shop Powell". What populism we hear to get a hit on social media and to reduce the debate to unionists being the big baddies and nationalists being so good. The leader of the Opposition tweets about the planter and the Gael, yet he does not want us to talk about uncontrolled people movement. To the party that names itself Ourselves Alone I say, "How rich is that coming from the opposite Benches?". <BR /> <BR />All we ask for is that the people whom we represent and you represent are listened to actively and not pigeonholed as extremists, racists, bigots and right-wingers.”
“It matters to the people who have lived in an area all their life, have bought their house and have seen their environment change incredibly over the past 25 years. They have seen the difference in their workplaces, their environment, their homes and their neighbourhoods. It has a massive impact. Yet, when those people raise those issues, they are told that they are racist. They are even told that they are subhuman. They are told that they are extreme for fearing the change that is happening in their place and having no control over it. That is the worst part of it: the people there have no control. That is why politicians talk about taking back control. It is what the people want to hear. People want to be comforted and to know that something is being done to manage it, but, of course, nothing is being done to manage it.”
“Alas, I am running out of time. I am sorry about running out of time. <BR /> <BR />The thing is this: in the communities in the constituency that I represent, particularly those in Ballymena, there has been a massive concentration of people movement. There is nothing wrong with people movement. It is as old as mankind itself. People move for all sorts of reasons. That is not the issue. The issue is about controlling that movement, which is vital. We have been failed by our Government. It is not good enough to say, "It is not a devolved matter", because it really matters for the people whom we represent.”
“Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I thank the Member for his intervention. It is because the issue is very serious. If we were to tackle all the issues around people movement, the motion would be three pages long. Let us take one chunk at a time. I thought that the fact that our motion centres on HMOs would lead to a better debate —.”
“I wish that my ears had not heard what I have heard over the past half hour, because reducing the debate to a racist sum is disgusting. <BR /> <BR />People in my constituency are so concerned about immigration.”
“I am distraught about the level of the debate, which is on a very serious subject. It has been reduced to a zero-sum game. It has been about unionists being pitted against nationalists. It was horrendous to hear some of the language that was uttered in the Chamber over the past number of minutes. There is absolutely no need for that, but it is what we have come to expect. <BR /> <BR />I have a few truths to say. If you are concerned about immigration or have questions around it, you are not a racist. You are not a bigot. You are not a unionist just for the sake of raising issues around immigration. That leads to the point as to why it is so important to have this debate. I cannot be responsible for how other people react to the debate, but I wish that their reactions had not been so.”
“Those people need to know that they are not isolated and alone. Support group branches have now been set up in every county of Northern Ireland and practically every major town. Those people require that support from the charitable organisation VIBS NI, but they need so much more help from government, the Health Department and trusts. I am determined to make sure that they are recognised and acknowledged and that they receive the support that they so badly need.”
“I press the Minister to do everything in his power to make sure that those people are, first, recognised — that the medical fraternity recognises them as vaccine-injured, because there is a fear in the medical profession that it dare not talk about vaccine injury — and that those people be given the support that they need to live the rest of their lives in fulfilment despite their injuries and loss. <BR /> <BR />It will be the biggest medical scandal in our lifetime, not because they were injured because they took a medicine — that is the most natural thing in the world — but because they were coerced into taking that medicine by parties in the House and Governments in Westminster and throughout the Western World. Since that and because of that, those people have been ignored. They have been an inconvenience.”
“I rise to raise awareness of a meeting that took place last week, on Tuesday 13 May, when Vaccine Injured and Bereaved Support (VIBS) NI took a delegation of bereaved and injured people to meet the Health Minister to talk about their conditions, their symptoms and their loss. I must say that they got hope from that meeting. I thank the Minister for meeting them and for providing that hope. <BR /> <BR />Those people have been gaslit, ignored and dismissed for far too long. A Member of the House even told them that they should not meet in Stormont and would be better meeting in a community centre. That is how those injured people have been treated to date.”
“I have outstanding questions on the Bill, so it is good that we will be given time to scrutinise it and make sure that we fill in any blanks in understanding that we have.”
“This is the route that the Department of Finance is going down — it will have its reasons for that — but there is absolutely no reason why the Department of Finance cannot continue with its processes and even have a consultation on a baby loss certificate in the interim, parallel to our scrutiny of the Bill. There would be absolutely no delay to the implementation of baby loss certificates, and the measure should be able to come in in a timely fashion. <BR /> <BR />The Bill will give an enabling power to the Department, but, as I said, in England, Wales and Scotland, that power is not statutory. I hope that the Department will proceed at pace with this whilst we get down to the work of scrutinising the Bill.”
“It is, in fact, legislation catching up with technology, and it should have been brought in well in advance of any pandemic. I certainly support that provision. <BR /> <BR />My party has pushed and campaigned for a baby loss certificate for many years now, and we were delighted to see it in the Bill. However, it is a sensitive issue and one that, we feel, we need time to consult on. Notwithstanding that, it should be put on record that, in England, Wales and Scotland, there is no statutory Act to implement baby loss certificates. Therefore, there is no real need for it to be on the statute book here.”
“I support the motion and the extension date of 1 October 2025. It is important that we have a consultation period and a period of scrutiny, not least because the Bill has not had a normal lead-in consultation period. That is simply because it is establishing what is already a norm in the registration of deaths and stillbirths, as it has been ongoing since the Coronavirus Act 2020. <BR /> <BR />That brings me on to the point that the Chair raised about the Coronavirus Act. That was a period when not only the Executive but the zombie Assembly caused massive harm to our people. However, this is probably the one provision out of that dastardly Act that actually helped people. It removed the rigmarole of registering a death or stillbirth. Therefore, it is only right and proper that it be supported.”
“My job as an MLA is to fight tooth and nail for my North Antrim constituents, and that is exactly what I intend to do.”
“I thank the Deputy Speaker for the extra minute, and I thank the Member for the intervention. Again, because of the silo mentality and everything else that goes with it, we have not been able to get things right. Of course, the Member's party played a part over the past number of years in government with the atrocious legislation that it brought in, to the point where that party was even going to sack nurses for doing their job. <BR /> <BR />There are many issues that we have to get to grips with. I will do all that I can to apply pressure on every Department and every Minister in this place to ensure that the Civil Service is as effective as possible and that Ministers deliver on what was promised by the devolved Executive and Assembly.”
“<BR /> <BR />There are many challenges out there and many things that we need to fix, and I want to test the Executive to make sure that they do that. I want to scrutinise properly, efficiently and effectively to ensure that the devolved Executive and Assembly deliver for their people and take control of our governance and the Civil Service.”
“What are we really doing to solve that issue? Whom are we blaming? It seems to me that we can blame the farmers and get away with it, yet government is polluting Lough Neagh and nothing is done or said. Nobody is taken to court, and, when they do get taken to court, who pays for that? The ratepayers — our people — pay for it. <BR /> <BR />There are massive challenges. We have a health service on which we spend more per head than any other part of the United Kingdom does, yet it is failing. It is failing our people because of the growing waiting lists for cancer and other conditions, but, worse than that, there are brand spanking new hospitals that cannot even be opened. Talk about rubbing salt into the wounds of our most vulnerable.”
“That is a novel aspiration. That is exactly what we require, but we will not provide more social, affordable and sustainable housing just by throwing money at it when we cannot get the infrastructure right under the ground with the water and sewerage systems. Some developers in my constituency cannot build houses because they cannot get sufficient infrastructure under the ground. They are having to go through novel engineering experiments to satisfy Water Service and the planners. If they satisfy Water Service, they will not satisfy the planners, and they are going round the ring. They cannot build the properties that we need in order to equip our people with sufficient, efficient and effective housing. That is just one aspect. <BR /> <BR />What about protecting Lough Neagh and the environment? Look at the mess that Lough Neagh is in.”
“The Budget is there to finance the Programme for Government. We still have a lot of work to do to get to the point where all three of those are aligned. The short mandate will not help with that, nor will the one-year Budgets that we have year after year, but hopefully we will get to a point where those three stars align. When they do, we will be able to be more effective and efficient for the people whom we serve. <BR /> <BR />There are many issues, and we can talk about the Budget book and the fact that it alludes to the Programme for Government at table 4.1 and table 4.3. When I look at table 4.3, I see:”
“This is a set-piece Budget debate that we all have to go through and thole, but does it make a difference? I suppose the question that I pose and the challenge that I put down to the Executive and the Assembly is this: do local Ministers make a difference to the Budget? In the DUP, we have some great Ministers, and there are Ministers from other parties whom we scrutinise. However, there is another issue, and the SDLP touched on it, to be fair: the silo approach between Departments. There is absolutely no point in having a Programme for Government and having a Budget aligned to it, closely or not so closely, with that approach. <BR /> <BR />Then, of course, you have the Executive's legislative programme. You want it to be the power behind the transformation: the legislation and Bills that meet and greet the Programme for Government.”
“What is the difference between direct rule, where Ministers from England, Scotland and Wales direct the Departments — in effect, the Departments are in charge — and the devolved Executive and Assembly? It is that Ministers are here to make the difference. Local politicians are meant to make the difference. The Opposition are meant to enhance that in the Executive — sorry, in the Assembly. We should always respect the difference between the Executive and the Assembly. It strikes me that the SLDP will vote against the Budget not because it is in opposition but because it does not think that it is the right Budget. I remind the House that the SDLP usually voted against the Budget when it was in the Executive. Why? Because it had the luxury of being able to do so because of its numbers.”
“I rise to speak in yet another Budget debate. I do not know if I am being punished, but I end up speaking on all finance-related matters, including the Budget. I must have been a bad boy in another life or in another guise. <BR /> <BR />My heart goes out to the Minister, as this is a set-piece Budget debate in which Chairs of Committees will record the stresses and strains of the Departments that they scrutinise. It is more about placing on record issues about the Budget than it is about talking about the Budget. I have been here for many years, and I get that, but, sooner or later, this Executive and every Executive will have to be tested on their effectiveness.”
“In that regard, because this is such a monster, I think that a ban in schools is the bare minimum that we should be looking at. In my politics, I am a libertarian, so I have to meet a high threshold to ban anything. However, I see the harm, so, in a legislature such as this, which passes legislation, the first thing that we should look to is harm. If a section of our population — our young people — is being harmed, we need to act. This is one occasion on which I support a ban in schools and the stricter regulation of online companies, including those in the gambling world.”
“You cannot escape it. Even if a young person does not intentionally go on to a casino app or a bookie app on their phone, they will be bombarded by gambling advertisements. It is suffocating; it is immense. When young people, who are fanatical in nature, support their local team or their favourite football team and follow the team online, they will be bombarded by advert after advert after advert giving them ridiculous odds — massive odds — so that, if they win, they will get all this money. Then, however, there will be a particular scoreline that they must match, which is nigh-on possible. <BR /> <BR />These people are masters at manipulation not only in the gambling world but in the wider online scene, and we must protect our young people more.”
“The figures also show that almost one quarter — 23% — of young people are experiencing some degree of gambling-related harm, with 5% falling into the problem gambling category. Smartphones mean that young people who, in years gone by, would have driven by a bookies now have a casino in their pocket 24 hours a day. Whilst we can applaud the technological advances of our age, there are two faces to that, and I can tell you that, when it shows its ugly face, it is an absolute monster. It is probably the biggest enemy in the parenting world. <BR /> <BR />Most young people are interested in sports, and, when they go on to the Sky Sports app, they are directed straight away to Sky Bet.”
“It is not only the fact that we have lost the ability to manage risk; it is the fact that we now do not see the risk in the same way. We cannot measure something that we cannot see, and that is simply because of what children now do. I was encouraged to go out, ride my bike, meet friends, play in the sunshine and everything else. Most youngsters now tend to stay in their bedrooms, and parents will think that they are safe when they are anything but, because the world is now in front of their eyes. <BR /> <BR />I want to talk about one specific online harm: online gambling. According to the recently published gambling prevalence survey for Northern Ireland, 38% of young people aged 16 to 24 have gambled online.”
“I applaud the motion and the Member who moved it. I thank her and her party for that. I also thank my colleagues who tabled amendment No 1, which strengthens the motion on tackling the impact of online harms on young people. <BR /> <BR />I have listened intently to Members talk about the dangers of online harm and the online world, and we keep talking about the digital world. I grew up in a world in which I could climb trees, swim in rivers, ride bikes and do all sorts of things that would now be classed as very risky. A lot of parents have lost the art of measuring risk. I think that that is down to the experiences that we had growing up and how we have matured in this digital world. We have lost the ability to manage risk.”
“Thank you, deputy First Minister. Maybe the reason that we cannot get that data is the real fear and concern that some victims have about the terrorist threat. Does the deputy First Minister agree that the crass and hurtful glorification of terrorism by the First Minister goes against the ministerial code of conduct and the spirit of peace and reconciliation and makes a nonsense of the claim to be a First Minister for all?”
“Of course, stress, being what it is, will impact on and affect people on waiting lists, not least those with cancer. <BR /> <BR />Cancer is a devastating illness that needs to be tackled, and we should resolve to do all that we can. However, if we think that we can simply throw money at the issue without the Health Department and the health service being transformed, we are mistaken —”
“My prayers and thoughts have always been with those people. However, that just shows what cancer does and how it rips through communities, families and people. It is probably the biggest enemy that our people have when it comes to health, so why can we not get to grips with it? <BR /> <BR />I remember being in someone's house the week after they were diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, it was the week in which our previous Health Minister said, during COVID, that cancer patients would be turned away. Words can be clumsy, and I am as much a culprit of that as anyone, but the devastating effect that those words had on that lady was as if she was melting away in pain, sorrow and anxiety. When people sit on waiting lists, it is as if the clock goes faster, and they become more and more anxious and stressed.”
“Imagine the fear and distress, though, when they have to wait and wait and wait. The statistics — they are people — are absolutely shocking and shameful. If the devolved Assembly cannot get to grips with waiting times, not least cancer waiting times, we will have failed. <BR /> <BR />What do we do? Trust in the Health Department is probably at its lowest ebb in decades, so it is important that we have a strong Minister. To be honest, it is probably more important for all of us that we have a strong Minister in Health compared with any other Department. As I listened to Members speaking, I could not help but think of the Members who have been affected by cancer. I have been here since 2010, and I can rack up a few Members who have been directly affected or have family members who have been affected.”
“<BR /> <BR />People need to have trust and confidence not only in our health service but in our Health Department. I make a distinction between the two because very rarely do you get a complaint about a staff member — the caring nurses and doctors who meet and greet patients under traumatic circumstances with diagnoses of the most serious nature. We do not usually get walk-ins to congratulate the health service. We usually have to prise it out of people, but when you do get to speak to people, they usually tell you that they had really good service and that a really good, caring bunch of professionals looked after them. However, there are so many horrific stories from people who come into our offices who are still waiting and waiting and waiting. A diagnosis can be devastating, traumatising, horrific.”
“I support the motion from my party colleagues Ms Diane Dodds and Mr Alan Robinson. I place on record our satisfaction and our gratitude to Diane and Alan for the sterling work that they do on the Health Committee in representing the people and, secondly, this party and its views and policies. It is service that is second to none, and that has been reflected in the debate. The near-unanimous support for Diane and Alan's motion is a measure of the strength that they have in that Committee. If we, as a devolved Assembly, cannot assist in our nation's health, we may as well shut up and go home. There is nothing more important than the health of our people, because from health springs everything else. Therefore, it is vital that people have a health service when they require it.”
“We in government should support it more and get in line with the sponsors, who know a good event when they see one. Well done to the North West 200.”
“Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will talk about the amazing spectacle that is the North West 200, which was held last week. I record my sincere thanks to and appreciation for the clerk of the course, Stanleigh Murray, as well as Mervyn Whyte and the rest of the team. They put on a tremendous spectacle for all sports fans and tourists alike. <BR /> <BR />Thousands travelled to the north coast of Northern Ireland to view the bikes and their riders, and they witnessed some amazing races. My heart goes out to Michael Dunlop and Paul Jordan — two of our own, who won on Saturday and Thursday — as well as to the spectacular Davey Todd and Richard Cooper, who put on a tremendous show. We should value the North West 200 more.”
“We would all like to see the day, I am sure, when the Palestinian people are free from terrorism and war. My heart goes out to all who have suffered in the war. I hope that the war ends soon and that people can go back to what remains of their lives after the losses that have occurred. I pray that we will see peace in that ancient land sooner rather than later.”
“I am horrified at the scenes in what is a war-torn land in Israel and the Gaza Strip, and I worry about the activities there. There are clear rules of engagement in war. There are clear rules in the Geneva convention, and there are clear rules in international law. The laws of a state should also be adhered to. I hope that all lapses from the Geneva convention and international law are investigated thoroughly to ascertain whether there have been any breaches. <BR /> <BR />When it comes to the war, the people who suffer are the Israelis and the Palestinians. We would all like to see the end of the war. The Palestinian people have suffered not only because of the war in their area and their land; the Palestinian people have suffered for so long at the hands and under the burden of terrorism in the form and guise of Hamas.”
“The sooner the Committee can get on with its work of scrutinising the Bill, come to conclusions on it and make any amendments that we see fit and the sooner parties in the Assembly can make amendments that they see fit and we have good legislation coming out the other side, the better. An extension of six months is neither here nor there. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the extension and welcome the fact that the Bill is in the hands of Committee members so that they can scrutinise it and so that the Assembly can scrutinise it. We have already had a touch at Second Reading. We are going to Committee Stage now, and Consideration Stage is after that. I commend the extension.”
“A clause in the Bill repeals a section of the Coronavirus Act once the Bill receives Royal Assent. Whether that happens in September, December or March does not really make a difference, because people will not see a change to the provision. We should be concerned about the time that the Committee takes to scrutinise the Bill, which will make the provision permanent, because the Bill includes other elements that the Committee Chair rightly highlighted, such as the baby loss certificate and the registration of births by same-sex couples. <BR /> <BR />The Committee has a duty to scrutinise all those measures thoroughly, as it does and has done with other Bills. The pressure is off with regard to extensions and worrying about September deadlines.”
“Now that we have the Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Bill before us, having gone through Second Stage, the pressure is off for extensions, because we can now read the text of the provisions in the blue pages of a Bill. Whilst the extension takes us to 24 September, there really is no issue with pressure in having a further extension in September, and that is coming from someone who has been deeply frustrated by the extensions going on and on. The reason I say that to the Minister and the Department is that, if the Bill were purely about the registration of deaths and stillbirths, I do not think that the Committee would have any issues with going through our procedures as fast as possible, coming out the other side and giving the Department the concise nature of the scrutiny of the Bill, getting us moved on.”
“No matter what format has to be used, we need to ensure that the people who suffer loss and bereavement do not fall back into the way things were done before.”
“It really is, if you like, the Executive and the law catching up with technology, so I welcome the provisions. It is probably the only aspect of the Coronavirus Act that I wholeheartedly support, so, of course, I want to see it placed on a permanent statutory footing. <BR /> <BR />The Chairperson of the Committee highlighted the Committee's frustration at how we have been told one thing and then told another about how this can be put on a statutory footing. First, we were told that it could be secondary legislation, and then we were told that, no, it had to be primary legislation.”
“I am a Member who has been desperately frustrated at the continuing extension of this power, because I believe that the Assembly should reflect on everything that it did around the Coronavirus Act 2020, the harm that it caused our people and the role that the Executive and the Assembly played in that harm. <BR /> <BR />Notwithstanding all that, I recognise that this provision — Part 3 of schedule 13 to the Coronavirus Act 2020 — was all about ensuring the effective and efficient registration of deaths and stillbirths and to assist in taking away some of the rigmarole that families have to go through when they suffer bereavement on the loss of a family member or a baby. I believe that such legislation should have been brought in before the pandemic.”
“Given that the report states that there is an increased risk in managing sexual offenders, will the Minister give credence to undertaking a review of the wider Public Protection Arrangements for Northern Ireland (PPANI) and the police's position within them?”
“The Member makes a valid point. A lot of what the Member is saying goes to the heart of governance, and I have sympathy for that argument, but does he realise that our Government's governance is temporary, whereas, in this place, parties tend to be in government permanently? That is a massive difference.”
“When the Member talks about the poor and the super-rich, where are his defining lines? How does he class and define "super-rich"? What does he define as "poor"?”
“They do not have the foggiest. <BR /> <BR />We will not support the devolution of fiscal powers until we get a proper settlement and are assured that we have the capability and capacity to deal with those powers and that the parties opposite will not hurt our people and drain them of all their resources and hard-earned cash.”
“The Member has made a valid point. Why has Sinn Féin not moved on corporation tax when it holds the role of Finance Minister, even though it could synchronise our corporation tax with that down South? Why not? It will take a cut in our block grant: is that the issue, or is it that they are champagne socialists? Is Sinn Féin enjoying the money that it gets from the United Kingdom? We have been given more money by our Government this year than ever before; yet, I agree that it is a challenging Budget. Sinn Féin enjoys that amount of money. It is a cry — a mantra — to say that it wants more fiscal powers. Of course, it is — that is all that you hear from the party. It is all that you hear from the Opposition, too. What would they do with those fiscal powers? Nobody has told us. Nobody can tell us, because they do not have a clue.”