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.”
The complete record
Every one of 3,736 lines we hold for Paul Frew, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 30 of 75.
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Then, can I put it on record, please, Minister, that you will look at it? Will you ensure that it is a priority for your Department and that the population of Bushmills will have a great buy-in to the future plans, especially around the traffic management of the town, which should have a positive effect, but, in some cases, has a negative effect?”
“Given that the greenway is an important project and a linear route from Portrush to Bushmills, can the Minister encourage Translink to ensure that, when the greenway is up and running and operational, buses will be fitted in such a way that cyclists and walkers can place their bikes and backpacks on them?”
“We know that the public protection arrangements in Northern Ireland (PPANI) and the management of offenders moving between jurisdictions have always been of concern. There have been blind spots with regard to the management of offenders. Given that the Minister mentioned that there are now more formal arrangements between the jurisdictions and that those arrangements have been revised and signed off, can the Minister elaborate on the detail of that and assure the House that those blind spots will be removed?”
“There is going to have to be a lot more work done before we can come to any concrete decisions on fiscal powers coming to the Assembly.”
“The differential that it would create and the ramifications that it would have for our businesses, our tax base, the Barnett formula and everything else that would go with it would be enormous and could be catastrophic. <BR />The amendment refers to a review of rate relief measures. What was a game changer during the time of lockdown philosophy was our ability to remove rates for businesses, That was an absolute godsend. Is the amendment therefore calling for a review of rate relief packages or a review of rates? We have had countless reviews of rates, and, of course, all that those reviews do is make one street more expensive than another. The base stays the same. <BR /> <BR />Even when we see text, when the detail is teased out, what does it mean?”
“I thank the Member for that. Of course, the leader of the Opposition has a bit of skin in this game because, in the previous mandate, he proposed changing the licensing requirements for pubs. That sent shock waves and horror through our industry at that time. I do not know where that proposal is now in the whole scheme of things for the Opposition. Maybe, being a responsible Opposition, it has dropped that altogether. I do not know. <BR /> <BR />These are very important issues. A tweak here and a twist there can have massive ramifications for our industry, and that is why I do not and will not support the devolution of VAT in Northern Ireland without it being done UK wholesale.”
“Our high-street offer takes in retail and services. There should be a collective here: a big picture. To drill down into the detail of what it means to reduce VAT for hospitality, what do the proposers of the motion actually mean? Is it on hotel admissions? Is it on entrance fees for cultural or tourism events? What does it actually mean, and what will it be applied on? It is no secret, as Members will know, that I am not a great lover of more fiscal devolution in this part.”
“I echo what my colleague Diane Forsythe said. My constituency colleague from North Antrim walked you through how important tourism and hospitality is to North Antrim. You will excuse me, Mr Deputy Speaker and the House, if we who represent the constituency feel a bit more qualified to talk about our tourism offer in Northern Ireland. Also, our party has worked very well over the past four to five years in supporting businesses. Not only did we produce the high street voucher scheme, which did not just help consumers but actually helped businesses to get people through the door, but we advocated for the sensible opening of businesses when all the other parties here wanted to keep them closed or to close them. I have yet to see any justification for that. <BR /> <BR />This should not only be about hospitality and tourism.”
“Will that co-design of legislation on XL bullies include dog owners and dog lovers? Have he and his Department noticed any trends or adverse effects from his statement in the House that day?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Can I remind the Minister that there is also Friday night for the Ballymoney show? He would be made very welcome on the Friday night, which is a social gathering as much as anything. The Minister will be aware of the shop window that these shows are in promoting biodiversity and sustainability as well as assisting in health and well-being. Will the Minister give a commitment to the House that he can reinstate the funding enjoyed by the previous Minister, Edwin Poots?”
“War is not the only thing that brings humanitarian crises and consequences to people; bad government does too. Therefore, we cannot and should not judge from here, seeing only limited information about what is going on on the ground. I appeal to Members to forget about your sound bites and your politicking. Let us call for a proper ceasefire in order that something good will come out of the carnage that is being perpetrated on Israeli families and on Palestinian families, and let us hope and pray that, some day, there will be lasting peace in Israel.”
“Yes, we are in the midst of war. How do we de-escalate that war? The Israeli state tells us — I have no love for the Government of Israel — that there are two objectives. The first is to bring home the hostages who are still underneath the ground in those tunnels, and the second is to completely destroy Hamas. How can we say that we want peace in the Middle East and that we want a two-state solution when one of the greatest barriers to that two-state solution is Hamas? How can we not see that and not add it to a motion? <BR /> <BR />Millions of pounds were sent into Gaza, but the Government of Gaza — Hamas — did not use it the concrete and steel to build hospitals and schools; they used it to build a network of tunnels so sophisticated that it compares to the underground network in New York.”
“A lot of that cannot be attested to, so where do we get our information? We all have to be careful about what we view and what we see, because we live in a new age of technology. <BR /> <BR />I will give way now.”
“I will give way once I have made progress. <BR /> <BR />Israel must have the right to defend itself. How it conducts the war should be tried and tested at the highest levels of court in the world, not, I suggest, by the SDLP through its motion, which is flawed. It grieves me that my party cannot support a motion that calls for the ending of war. Who are the SDLP Members or anybody else in the House to decide what is genocide and what is war? The motion states that 35,000 people are dead: where did they get that figure? I am not disputing it; I am asking where they got it. <BR />If it comes from the Ministry of Health, it is from a terrorist organisation called "Hamas", so we have to be careful. <BR /> <BR />The sound bites and coverage that we all see on social media have been mentioned today.”
“Just as 9/11 changed everything for the US and, indeed, the world — remember that we sent troops — 7 October changed everything for the Israeli people. That is a stark comparison that must be made.”
“That is an extract from a 1916 novel named 'The Power-House'. It illustrates perfectly what war is. We can take peace so much for granted, yet there are people all over the world who are suffering war. Currently, there are 35 armed conflicts in Africa, 21 in Asia and seven in Europe. I suggest that some of us would struggle to name them. There are six armed conflicts in South America and Central America. As has already been mentioned, according to the UN, since 2014, over 150,000 people have been killed in Yemen and an estimated 227,000 people are dead as a result of ongoing famine and lack of healthcare facilities due to that war. That is what war is. <BR /> <BR />Of course, every one of us here should call for the ending of war.”
“<BR /> <BR />I thank the blue-light services personnel and members of the public who attended the scene to administer first aid and make the area safe. I, like other Members for North Antrim who are in the Chamber today, condemn the attack. With one voice, we say this to the people of Northern Ireland: Bushmills is a safe place to visit and to live in, and it is a beautiful tourist destination. More people should visit the area.”
“I condemn the assault in Bushmills at the weekend, when a man was nailed to a wooden fence with a nail through each hand. Two vehicles were set alight, bringing further risk to the general public, including residents, visitors and tourists. It was a sinister attack of atrocious violence and brutality, perpetrated against an individual who, like every other member of the public, has the right to live free from the threat and impact of violence. Such criminal behaviour must be condemned universally and unequivocally. The community of Bushmills has been left reeling, having woken up to that brutality. Businesses are fearful, not only after the sinister attack itself but with the tourist season just about cranking up.”
“I take the opportunity to again call on the Health Minister to make a statement to the House and to commence an investigation of excess deaths in this country.”
“The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has recorded, for week 15 of 2024, that we have breached over 500 excess deaths, with 502. To put that in context, we have been experiencing excess deaths for two years now, but, this time last year, for week 15 of 2023, it was recorded that there were 117 excess deaths. Last year, there were 117, but, this year, there are 502. It took us until the week ending 24 November 2023 to reach 503 excess deaths, yet the Health Minister refuses to call for an investigation of excess deaths The Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Adviser play down the figures, and the media continue to ignore the deaths.”
“Native tree planting assists in the enhancement of wildlife compared with the forests of evergreen trees for timber production, which basically kill everything underneath them. Has the Minister got the balance right?”
“thereby reducing confidence in the police. Will you reassure the House that you will do nothing through the hate crime Bill that will reduce confidence in our police?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. Just because it goes forward from the Executive does not mean that the Committee and Assembly work is not vital with that. That is really only one stage. <BR /> <BR />The Association of Scottish Police Superintendents has warned that:”
“It is important that we never have to ask for or vote on an extension to the Coronavirus Act in relation to this provision.”
“The death and stillbirths amendment regulations would amend the Civil Registration Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 to enable a death or a stillbirth to be registered by telephone or electronic means, without the attendance and signature of the informant. Again, the statutory rule is subject to the negative resolution procedure. The deaths and stillbirths electronic communications order will amend the Births and Deaths Registration (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 to facilitate the use of electronic communications and the electronic transfer of documents in relation to the registration of deaths and stillbirths. Again, that statutory rule is subject to the negative resolution procedure. <BR /> <BR />It is important to speak on those statutory rules in the Chamber at this time.”
“That is a valid point, albeit this will work as a seamless provision, and at no time will anyone be required to go back to the old way. Given that the two statutory rules are being pushed through by negative resolution, it is important that, while we have the opportunity, we place on record exactly what the provisions do, enhance the terminology that the Minister used and echo her sentiments around the fact that the Department proposed to make two related statutory rules to amend the relevant primary legislation that will enable both telephone and electronic registration of deaths or stillbirths and electronic transmissions of documents in those circumstances. <BR /> <BR />The proposed rules are the death and stillbirths amendment regulations and the deaths and stillbirths electronic communications order.”
“In fact, it was an example of law catching up with advancements in technology and of law for the betterment of the people, so who would be opposed to such legislation? It is clear that something needed to be put in place on a permanent footing, if for no other reason than to give the provision the respect that it needs. That is why it was so important to remove it from the ambit of coronavirus law, which has caused severe damage to the health of our population in many ways, and to put it on its own statutory footing. I am glad that, with a bit of pressure from the Finance Committee and my party, the DUP, we are at that point. <BR /> <BR />There is a point to be made about the fact that, when you look at the SL1s and the changes that they make, you wonder, "Could it not have been brought in sooner?".”
“I welcome and support the legislation, because we are now at a point at which we have concrete proposals to make the provisions in the law permanent, which has been the cry of my party since we came back here. I am glad that the Finance Committee facilitated our making those views known and that the Department has acted in the way in which it has. I support the Minister and the Department on that move. <BR /> <BR />The loss of a loved one, whether elderly or a baby, causes families shock, trauma, pain and sorrow, so it is only right and proper that government help to reduce that burden. Nothing will bring a loved one back, but government can at least reduce the administrative burden on families following the death of a loved one. To me, that was always common sense.”
“I rise to speak on the statement that the Prime Minister made in the past few days in which he clearly stated that, since the pandemic, something has gone badly wrong. We know what has gone wrong: the lockdown philosophy and the deployment of fear. It is those elements of policy — government policy — that have hurt our most vulnerable and our young people and have increased anxiety, depression, loneliness and isolation. That is what has gone wrong. Now we have a Prime Minister who wants to totally alienate those people and to not support them. That is an absolute shame. Of course, the Assembly, when it was in zombie form, also laid down that policy, which has hurt so many people in this country.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. That is a different thing. Wealth tax is different from a price cap. We should never, ever distort the two. If you do not distinguish between the two, you will only bring more pain to the taxpayer. <BR /> <BR />One of the big things that the Assembly can do is fund the Utility Regulator to do its job properly and appropriately to control the big beasts that generate and distribute energy here and the System Operator for Northern Ireland (SONI). We need a properly funded Utility Regulator. The Assembly can gift that funding.”
“Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. <BR /> <BR />I am grateful for that clarification. There are a number of things in there, so let me pick the bones out of what the Member said. We have a fairly small number of people who generate electricity in this country and then distribute it. It is not the same in England, where there are countless such businesses. What has happened there is that, when a cap is set, it is like a speed limit, with everybody racing to get up to that speed. They do not go slower or lower. Rather, they all go up to that target. When, inevitably, companies have to push through the cap, some go to the wall. Companies in England can afford to do that, but we cannot afford to have more companies go to the wall in Northern Ireland. Our market is too limited.”
“It is a similar situation in Germany. The European Union has taken both states to court because of the way in which they configure prices. <BR /> <BR />My question is simply this: if we impose a cap on energy prices, who pays the difference? Energy prices do not come down that way. Rather, it just means that someone else pays. Who pays, if it is not the customer or the consumer?”
“We can all call for a task force, but surely we have enough expertise in bodies that are already in situ to deal with some of the issues. If the Minister establishes a task force, all well and good, but it will probably produce a report with ingredients that we already know about. <BR /> <BR />I am very interested in having a cap on energy prices. Northern Ireland suffers from having one of the highest levels of electricity costs in the whole of Europe for businesses and manufacturers. We compete with Italy, so our costs are either the highest or second highest. Sometimes we beat Italy, while sometimes it beats us. Our domestic situation is not as bad, but that is to do with the way in which we have worked out the tariff. It is the opposite down South, by the way. There, the domestic customer pays more, while businesses are subsidised.”
“It interests me that the first line of the motion talks about the 290 souls lost every year in winter, yet from March 2022 to March 2023, there were over 1,000 excess deaths in this country, and no one wants to talk about those people. They died over the summer. In this rolling year of 52 weeks, 766 souls were lost. No one wants to join me in asking for an investigation of why people are dying needlessly. It is as if Members do not want to know or those people are not really dying. Why is that the case? <BR /> <BR />There is no doubt that we need a fuel poverty strategy, and one that is updated and fit for purpose. I look, however, at what the Opposition want to see in such a strategy and see that they list a menu in the motion.”
“I agree that more can be done to prevent fuel poverty and to lift people out of it, but we are in danger of looking in the wrong places and of tackling the issue in the wrong ways. We could miss tricks that we should adopt but do not because we go down a certain path.”
“I have listened to the debate intently in the Chamber or up in my room when I was having to make calls. Everyone here knows of my interest in energy, so fuel poverty is a natural progression of that.”
“<BR /> <BR />We all can see and think about six months, but those people — the Israeli hostages who were taken by Hamas — fight a war of personal attrition in which they do not know whether they will stay alive for another hour, when they are going to eat or have a sup of water or when they are going to receive medical attention, and they do not know when they are going to be molested again. Think also of their families who sit at home awaiting the safe return of those hostages, not knowing whether they will ever see their loved ones again. Within that number are two babies who were nine months old on 7 October, and no one knows whether they are alive or dead.”
“Mr Speaker, I appreciate that. We are all, I think, horrified at the escalation of the war in the Middle East, with the recent attack that Iran has perpetrated on Israeli soil for the first time in history. We see the horrors that war brings and the innocent victims who suffer war. However, I want to talk about a group of people who have been forgotten about: the 129 people who were lifted from their homes, who witnessed their family being slaughtered on 7 October and who, to this day, remain captive. For more than six months, they have been hidden away underground, in tunnels, with no daylight and very little food, and treated appallingly.”
“If I am hearing the Member correctly, that means the extension of the contract will delay the roll-out of new printers. Is that right?”
“I ask the Minister whether the vaccine damage payment scheme should be reformed in order that people who have been vaccine damaged get the support that they need for the rest of their life.”
“That has had a massive impact on confidence with regard to medicines. <BR /> <BR />I will make progress and say one other thing: the vaccine damage payment scheme is totally and utterly inappropriate. I ask the Minister to comment on that. If you prove that you are damaged and disabled — over 60% disabled — you get only £120,000. Some of the people whom I have met have a life-limiting condition. They cannot proceed to live a normal life, and £120,000 just does not cut it; yet, you have to go through the rigmarole of assessment in order to prove that you are 60% disabled. What if you are 59% disabled? What if you are 50% disabled, and your life is ruined? Where do you go from there?”
“I have applauded the vaccine roll-out since the very day it began, but I will tell you this: taking medicine should be down to individual choice. It is all very well for Members and Ministers to say, "Everyone should get a vaccine" and actually discriminate against people who do not, but it is about people's individual health needs, and that is why they should consult their GP. No MLA should force a vaccine on anyone. That is especially important when medicine can have side effects. <BR /> <BR />The Member talked about confidence. I look at that issue now, and I am absolutely appalled. One reason why people have no confidence in the Department of Health on this is that they see how people who have been vaccine damaged are treated — being ignored, gaslit and called anti-vax.”
“The vaccine was promoted by the Department of Health, and those people now need support, but the very people who could give them that support — MLAs, the Department of Health and the Minister — turn their face away. I will give way now if that is OK.”
“I will make progress and then give way. We know, according to the yellow-card reporting scheme, that over 51 fatalities have been reported. That is in Northern Ireland. We know from the scheme that there have been over 5,000 reports of serious adverse incidents. I have met well over 100 people who have been injured, and the journey that they have been on has been absolutely horrendous, yet we will not hear a debate in this place about how those people are being affected. Why is that? Why are they being ignored? Why does the Department of Health ignore them? Not only does it ignore them but, at times, it gaslights them. <BR /> <BR />I have heard many times from Members, in the House or outside, that people who are vaccine-injured are anti-vaccine. That is an absolute impossibility. They took the vaccine in good faith.”
“Why, then, do we ignore those people who have been vaccine-injured? Why can we not be open and support them? Whilst there is a veil over the eyes of the Department towards those people, they will not receive the acknowledgement and the help that they require in order to move on with their lives.”
“That is a period of shame that we all look back at and ask ourselves why the Assembly found itself in that position, where, first, it had to coerce people into taking a medicine that was highly promoted and, then, discriminated against people who did not receive it. Taking it should have been a free-will choice. <BR /> <BR />It was good that medicine was available. It was not good that people were coerced into taking it, and, because people were coerced into taking that medicine — COVID-19 vaccines — that is why the Minister, the Department of Health and the previous Executive, all of whom coerced people, then ignored those who have been vaccine-damaged. That is very serious, because we know that, with every single medicine — it could be the best medicine in the world — people still have adverse reactions to it.”
“First, I pay tribute to my colleagues Diane Dodds and Alan Robinson, who have been doing sterling work on the Health Committee to scrutinise a lot of the measures and to shine a spotlight on the Department, and I welcome that. <BR /> <BR />I would fight for anyone's right to obtain a medicine that they thought would assist them with their health. It is important that medicines be available for people when they require them. That is a given. The issue that I have, and that I have lived through over the past four years, is with the way in which the Department of Health created an us-and-them society, whereby people were shamed if they did not take a medicine.”
“<BR /> <BR />That is all in the context of us having experienced and lived through two high-death years relating to the pandemic, which pushed our averages for deaths up. At a time when we should be seeing excess deaths drop, we have seen them rise further, yet the Department of Health in Northern Ireland and the UK Government in Westminster refuse to investigate why so many people are dying excessively and why so many do so at their private home. Departments and Ministers want to ignore the fact that so many people are dying excessively now.”
“I will talk about excess deaths. I will push out some figures, and I want the House to remember that, while we can all throw out figures and facts, they are real people: mums and dads, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and wives and husbands. <BR /> <BR />We have already seen from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) figures this year that we have experienced 235 excess deaths in 2024 alone. Excess deaths are those that are above average. In the past year, from week 10 to week 10 ending 8 March 2024, we have had 569 excess deaths. More startling, however, are the figures from March 2022 to March 2023, ending in week 10. We experienced 1,024 excess deaths. Those are mums and dads, brothers and sisters.”
“That is a full 12 or 13 points higher than it is in Chris Heaton-Harris or Rishi Sunak's constituencies. That means that Northern Ireland, with the lowest taxable capacity in the UK, is already more stretched in its taxable capacity with regard to the business rate than any other part of the UK, compounding greatly the need to ensure that we are funded to need before there can be any discussions or moves on revenue raising. Mindful of that, I ask the Minister what she is doing to hold the Treasury to the full Wales precedent, which is the provision of a fiscal floor to need and an uplift from 124.”