Pat Sheehan
West Belfast · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Member for giving way. Does she agree that the Minister's School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill was poor legislation and a missed opportunity?”
“The last point that you made reminded me of one of the witnesses — a young girl — who came to the Committee. During the winter, she wore her own overcoat, but she had to take it off 100 yards from the school gate because she was not allowed to wear it into the school.”
“Agus iad ag ullmhú le haghaidh scrúduithe GCSE agus ard-leibhéil, féadann an imní agus an éiginnteacht sin drochthionchar a imirt ar a n-oideachas agus ar a bhfolláine.”
“Is scannalach go deo an foréigean ciníoch a chonaic muid le seachtain anuas. Tá ionsaithe ar theaghlaigh, ar thithe agus ar ghnólachtaí doleithscéil, agus tá siad dochosanta. Níor cheart eagla a mbáis a bheith ar dhaoine neamhurchóideacha mar gheall ar a gcine, a gcúlra ná a gcreideamh.”
“One of the reasons, Daniel, is that, if we were to have blocked the Bill at the Executive, the SDLP would be saying tomorrow morning "This place is dysfunctional. You're blocking legislation. Sinn Féin is blocking legislation, and the DUP is blocking legislation". No, we are not blocking legislation.”
“I have not once today argued against inspections. Not once. The Bill is about one thing and one thing only: intimidating and punishing teachers.”
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“What utter nonsense. That is not even true, and it does not come anywhere near the truth. If people want to have a constructive debate about the Bill, they should do so. If they have issues with it, they should outline those issues. Talking about supremacy is just arrant nonsense.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak at Final Stage of the Integrated Education Bill. I commend the Bill sponsor for bringing the Bill this far. I also thank her and her staff, particularly Fiona McAteer, for the constructive engagement that we had with them throughout the Bill's passage. It has been useful to us and, no doubt, created a situation of trust and transparency between the two teams, for which I thank the Bill sponsor and her team. <BR /> <BR />There is a lot of hysteria and misrepresentation going around about the Bill. It is effectively being portrayed as a hostile takeover of two massive multinationals by a very small company. I heard Jeffrey Donaldson on the radio this morning say:”
“That does not necessarily mean that she is taking the lead. If the amendment is made, which I expect it to be, the lead responsibility for delivering on this will rest with the Executive Office. I just mention that to provide some clarity and end any confusion. <BR /> <BR />There is not much else that I want to say. Sinn Féin supports all the amendments and welcomes this progressive legislation. As the Committee Chair mentioned, everyone expects toilet paper to be free and available in public toilets; likewise, there should be no charge for period products, and they should be made universally available. I will end on that. Once again, I wish the Bill sponsor well. Pat Catney has done a great job in bringing the Bill to this point.”
“The Bill deals with issues such as period poverty and gender equality, which are important issues in rebalancing the society in which we live and ensuring that it is fair and equal for everyone who lives here. <BR /> <BR />Most of the amendments are technical in nature or are tidying up. There is nothing really controversial there, and I support them all. One issue that has been a bit trickier for some Members is the fact that Robbie Butler's amendment No 1 assigns lead responsibility to the Executive Office rather than the Health Department, which is named in the legislation. Some Members are slightly confused because the Minister for Communities is here today to respond to the debate. Let me make it clear: the Minister for Communities is here to guide the Bill through its legislative process.”
“It is appropriate that we are discussing the issue on International Women's Day. My wife chastised me for not wishing her a happy International Women's Day first thing this morning, so I wish female colleagues from all parties a happy International Women's Day. <BR /> <BR />First, I thank the Bill sponsor, Pat Catney, for bringing it forward. I commend him for having got it to this stage. I have no doubt that it will be enacted. Whatever happens in the election, this will leave a legacy for Pat Catney to look back on with pride. It is another progressive piece of legislation going through the Assembly. If we think of some of the stuff that has gone through over the past few weeks, we know that this is just another piece in the jigsaw.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a freagra. I thank the Minister for that answer. Given the difficulties that the Minister outlined, I welcome her commitment to provide concrete support for refugees. Does the Minister agree that addressing the needs of people seeking sanctuary from a war-torn country should be a priority for every party in the Assembly?”
“Given that it is such a short Bill, the Committee believes that the process should be expedited and we should get this done and dusted before the end of the mandate.”
“He forcefully made the point that they employ teachers from other faiths and from none in their schools. <BR /> <BR />The most important part of the legislation is that, when the exemption is repealed, it will give the same protection to teachers under fair employment legislation as it does to every other worker in society. That is all I have to say on this. There is overwhelming support for the Bill in the House and outside it. The public at large will support the measure as well. As the Deputy Chair of the Committee said, we discussed it at Committee, and we would like to see the legislation go its full way before the end of the mandate. Whether that is possible will be down to the Speaker and the Business Committee.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. As both Members who have spoken have said, there is overwhelming support for the legislation. We have discovered, not just in the debate that took place in May last year but in the Bill sponsor's consultation and in our communications in the Committee with stakeholders around the issue, that there is absolutely no opposition to it. <BR /> <BR />I think it was Mr Stewart who said that there was some concern in CCMS that the move might, in some way, affect the ethos of Catholic schools. I do not agree with that; in fact, CCMS and Bishop Donal McKeown, who is chair of the Catholic trustees, made the point that the Catholic schools had never used the exemption when employing teachers.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a freagra. I thank the Minister for her answer. For some communities and individuals, antisocial behaviour is more than an inconvenience; it is a living nightmare. The Minister is well aware of documented cases where people have taken their own life. Does she agree that work needs to be expedited to tackle the problem and to divert young people from the behaviour, which is so distressing?”
“I should probably also have pointed out that some of the emails that I received, even within the past week or two, were still talking about a clause in the first draft of the Bill that stated that there would be a presumption that every new school would be an integrated school. That is long gone. It has nothing to do with the Bill now. That has been gone since the start. Even the sponsor said that it was a clumsy clause that should not have been there. I do not know who has been informing the people who were sending emails, but they are certainly misinformed.”
“The position that the Ulster Unionists have taken up today is interesting, and we already know the position of the DUP, of course. I wonder whether any of the parties or individuals who oppose the Bill have come forward, during the passage of the Bill or even before that, with another suggestion as to how demand for places in integrated schools can be met and how parents can be given the choice to send their children to integrated schools. I have not heard any such proposal or suggestion from those who oppose the Bill.”
“We want our children to be educated together where they can be, and we want parents to have the choice to be able to send their children to integrated schools if they so wish. Sinn Féin will continue with that work in the time ahead.”
“OK, and thanks for that clarification. <BR /> <BR />I will make one other point before I conclude. Again, at the outset of the debate, the Member for North Antrim mentioned Sinn Féin's position, and he referred particularly to John O'Dowd. Were we happy with the initial iteration of the Bill? No, we were not. What did we do? We engaged with the Bill sponsor and her researcher. We have done that the whole way through the passage of the Bill. It is unfortunate that other parties and Members did not do the same. I know that they did not. It would be much better if, when a Member introduces a Bill like this, other parties and Members engaged on it, and, in that way, we could come to a consensus on what the finished article would look like. <BR /> <BR />For our part, we in Sinn Féin want to see divisions in society ending.”
“It now seems likely that the UUP is also lining up to sign that petition of concern. I note that the education spokesperson for the UUP has not been here today. There has been some discussion about why he has not been here, but that is for another day.”
“I reaffirm my support for amendment Nos 5, 6, 10, 11, 17 and 18 and for the technical and tidying-up amendments proposed by the Bill sponsor, which strengthen the Bill. <BR /> <BR />I hope that Members opposite will reconsider their position on the Bill and not pursue a petition of concern.”
“Thanks for that clarification, Dolores. In that case, there is no point saying what I was going to say”
“<BR /> <BR />I voice my opposition to amendment Nos 15, 16 and 20, which deal with training, monitoring and inspection. In relation to amendment Nos 15 and 16, which deal with data monitoring and reporting, how will we assess the effectiveness of a strategy designed to support integrated education if we refuse to gather data on new integrated schools? That does not make sense. Similarly, with amendment No 20, which deals with the inspection regime, I do not understand why you would not include matters relating to integrated education.”
“My understanding is that there are around 2,000, which equates to the lowest percentage of all sectors at the minute. There are fewer empty places in the integrated sector than in any other sector. I am not sure what point the Member wanted to make. If he wants to tell me, I will be happy to take another intervention. No? OK. <BR /> <BR />We have all been sent plenty of emails and so on over the past while, particularly from the controlled sector, complaining about the Bill. I do not know how many I got from schools in the controlled sector, from rural areas in particular, that said that they were in my constituency. It is a bit of a mystery. I did not realise that so many people travelled outside west Belfast to go to rural schools in west Tyrone, Fermanagh and so on, but there you go. Every day is a school day.”
“Rather than giving the integrated sector an advantage, we are trying to bring it on to an equal footing with other sectors so that, if a parent wants to make the choice — we have all said today, on all sides of the Chamber, that we want parents to have the choice — of where they send their children to school, this legislation will give them that choice. They will have the choice to send their child to a school in the integrated sector.”
“Earlier, in an intervention, I raised the point that, if a child wants to go to a controlled school or a Catholic maintained school, although they might not necessarily get a place at their first-choice school, they will get into the sector that they want to go to. I have never heard of a case, ever, where parents wanted to send their child to a school in the controlled sector or the Catholic maintained sector and were not able to get their child into that sector. By contrast, some parents are unable to send their children to a school in the integrated or, indeed, the Irish-medium education sector because there is no such school in their locality and it would be much too far for a child to travel to get to the nearest school of that type.”
“Secondly, I have not heard anyone here argue that the maintained or controlled sectors should be disadvantaged in any way.”
“It is a priority for Sinn Féin to make sure that that demand is met as we move forward. <BR /> <BR />A lot of misinformation has been spread about the Bill, and that has been reflected in some of the hyperbole that we have heard in the Chamber today. Some of the language used has been off the scale. We heard my learned friend in the corner talking about a "supremacist" attitude, and even Mrs Dodds said that we need to stand up and support 93% in the controlled and maintained sector. First, the percentages are inaccurate, because they do not take account of students in the Irish-medium sector.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak today. I do not intend to speak at any great length. I support the amendments proposed by the sponsor, and I will support amendment Nos 5, 6, 10, 11 and 18. <BR /> <BR />I commend the work that the Bill sponsor has done in tabling her amendments. They are largely technical and tidying-up amendments that seek to resolve some of the outstanding issues identified at Consideration Stage by the Minister, who, we have heard, did not bring forward her own amendments. You wonder why that happened. <BR /> <BR />The Good Friday Agreement placed a duty on the Department of Education to encourage and facilitate integrated education. We want to build on that and see more progress being made. Currently, there is a demand for integrated education that is not being met.”
“On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have looked through the amendments, and I do not see anything about supremacy in them. I wonder whether that is relevant to the debate. I know that the Member for North Antrim is expert in the supremacist approach; I just wonder where it is in the amendments.”
“At Consideration Stage, I made the point that if a parent wants to send their child to a school in either the controlled sector or the maintained sector, invariably they will get into a school in that sector. They might not get into their first choice of school, but they will get into a school in the sector. On the other hand, in the case of integrated education and Irish-medium education, there are children who may not be able to get into a school in the sector that they want to get into. In that situation, there is a disadvantage to those children who want to attend schools in those sectors. Is it not right, therefore, for the Assembly to take measures to address that by passing legislation that ensures that all sectors are put on an equal footing?”
“The Bill provides us with an opportunity to take a first step and make some progress. The Minister is aware that ongoing work is required of her and her Department to produce a clear plan that shows us what teacher registration looks like and, crucially, what regulation looks like. I look forward to continued engagement with the Minister and others as we progress the legislation in the weeks ahead.”
“Our pupils, our teachers and our school leaders deserve better, and they are prepared to work with the powers that be to bring about that much-needed change. Graham Gault, from the National Association of Head Teachers summed it up well:”
“For example, a teacher could resign from a school before any disciplinary action can be processed; a substitute teacher who does not have a contract with a school could be accused of serious professional misconduct; a teacher who has been referred to GTCNI for serious professional misconduct could make an application to teach in another jurisdiction; or a teacher who has been referred to GTCNI for serious professional misconduct may wish to work from home as a tutor, using their teacher registration certificate as proof of their suitability to teach children. I impress on the Minister the importance of tightening up those areas for the purpose of child safeguarding and ensuring the welfare of our children and young people. <BR /> <BR />We need a fresh start.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is important that we also acknowledge the child safeguarding issues that were of grave concern to the Education Committee as we looked into the GTC. We must address the shortcomings and put the welfare of our children and young people first. In Committee, we were told that school leaderships and boards of governors would be able to deal with safeguarding issues in schools. A teacher facing serious allegations, however, might not be an employee of a school. That could be the case for a number of reasons.”
“I would argue that, in recent years, rather than enhancing the status of teaching, the dysfunction of the leadership and governance arrangements of the GTC threatened to undermine the status of the teaching profession. <BR /> <BR />In the autumn, at what was a difficult time for schools due to COVID and the associated staff absences, the General Teaching Council could not process hundreds of newly qualified teachers, which prevented them from entering the classrooms when they were most needed. As a non-departmental public body, it is failing, and many of its members believe it to be failing. As legislators, we would be failing in our remit if we did not bring this to an end sooner rather than later.”
“The General Teaching Council has been blighted by governance and leadership failures in recent years and, as a consequence, has failed to live up to its responsibilities as the regulator of the teaching profession here. Such is the scale of the dysfunction that we find ourselves working to fast-track the winding down of the General Teaching Council. Sinn Féin supports that approach. <BR /> <BR />The GTC describes itself as:”
“The exercising of its responsibility to regulate the teaching profession and register new teachers has been abysmal for many years. I acknowledge that the Minister has taken decisive action, although it will take quite a long time before she can fully implement change in that organisation. This, however, is a first step in ensuring that the Department can give direction to the GTCNI leadership. It is for that reason that we give qualified support for accelerated passage in this case.”
“First, I offer my sincere condolences to the family of Christopher Stalford, particularly his wife and young children. It is heartbreaking to realise that their four young children have been left without a father. I would also like to offer my sympathy and condolences to the Minister and her DUP colleagues. I know that they will miss Christopher greatly, as, I am sure, will everyone in the Assembly. You could not help but admire Christopher's intellect, intelligence, wit and sense of humour. I said the other night on Twitter, and I will say it here again: the Assembly will be all the poorer for Christopher not being here. Thank you for allowing me to say that, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. <BR /> <BR />We have known for a long time that the GTCNI has been a completely dysfunctional organisation.”
“What implication does the DUP's decision to unilaterally walk away from the Executive have for the work of the independent advisory panel on welfare mitigations, and will it prevent the introduction of further measures for hard-pressed families?”
“Even if the protocol is done away with, the DUP will not nominate a deputy First Minister if Sinn Féin becomes the largest party. So, there is a lot of hypocrisy here today. We heard the vicious and hostile contributions from the party opposite in a debate earlier when people should have been empathising with those who were victims of British state death squads. <BR /> <BR />In any event, I want to finish by saying that —”
“<BR /> <BR />The Minister mentioned in her contribution how she will prioritise the implementation of the report, 'A Fair Start', and mentioned investment and nurture. It beggars belief that the Minister can stand up and talk about that when her party is intent on pulling the place down around our ears, and, at the same time, spokespeople for her party are going to the media and saying that there is no prospect of the institutions being resurrected again until the protocol is done away with, and even if the protocol is done away with —”
“As I said in my previous contribution, this is an important step forward for flexibility around school starting age. It does not go as far as most of us would like, but, still and all, we welcome it and acknowledge the fact that the Minister has brought it forward. All the groups and individuals who have campaigned will be pleased to see it moving through the Assembly, and, hopefully, we will get to Final Stage before the mandate finishes. <BR /> <BR />Other Bills have finished their passage recently, including the Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill, soft opt-out organ donation today and the Charities Bill, and I was just reading a tweet from a BBC journalist today saying that, when Stormont works, it can have a massive impact on people's lives here. That is true.”
“In many countries, children do not start school until they are six or seven years of age. I appreciate and acknowledge that, particularly in P1 and to an extent in P2, a lot of the learning is learning through play. Still and all, perhaps it is time to rethink the starting age for formal education, and then we can have a strategic view about the age at which children start school. <BR /> <BR />Where there is clear evidence to support deferral as being beneficial to other groups of children, including premature children, consideration should be given to the potential for allowing greater flexibility. On that basis, we will support the Bill.”
“<BR /> <BR />Most children, regardless of their age, will thrive in primary school, but some parents, stakeholders and clinicians believe that it is in the best interests of some children to defer starting school. In the wider context of protecting children's right to access education, an element of parental choice and judgement about that youngest cohort of children starting school is appropriate and proportionate. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the proposed introduction of flexibility for young-for-year children and hope that we can go further in future. As the Chair of the Committee pointed out, this is very modest legislation, and I encourage the Department to investigate other options further. The North has the youngest school starting age in the whole of Western Europe.”
“The operation of the current compulsory school-starting-age policy can result in some children being required to attend school shortly after their fourth birthday, resulting in a gap of almost a year between the youngest and the oldest children in the class. Some children who had a due birthdate in July but were born in June can end up being the youngest in the class, whereas, had they been born on their due date, they might have been the oldest. <BR /> <BR />A year may not seem like a great deal of time when one gets to the age that we all are, but, for children so young, it is a very big gap. Research evidence shows that children who are young for their year and fall behind in their learning often never catch up. They are then at a disadvantage the whole way through their school career.”
“Everyone on the Education Committee agrees with that view.”
“From the outset, I place on record my support for greater flexibility in school starting age. The proposals are long overdue. For a number of years, I have been lobbied on the issue by various individuals and groups; indeed, my colleague John O'Dowd attempted to take forward similar proposals in 2016 before running out of time in that mandate. I commend the efforts of all the campaigners including TinyLife, as the Committee Chair mentioned, and Sure Start. Those groups have fought relentlessly on behalf of the children whom the proposals will benefit. <BR /> <BR />While it would have been preferable to carry out proper scrutiny of the legislation in the Committee, we understand the urgency and the need to get it over the line before the mandate concludes.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a freagra. I thank the Minister for her answer. Our public transport network is vital for connecting people and communities and tackling social isolation. Translink received substantial COVID support funding of over £100 million in the years 2019-2020 and 2020-21. There is an increase of between £14 million and £15 million in its resource budget in the draft Budget for 2022-25. Will the Department for Infrastructure prioritise public transport in its budget to ensure that no cuts happen to any vulnerable services, particularly those in remote rural areas?”
“Will the Minister comment on the status of the capital works programme overall? Will she also advise what impact the pandemic and rising construction costs have had on the delivery of new and much-needed school infrastructure?”
“The Minister's Department has confirmed that it will lose £65 million of funding owing to Brexit, and the Minister proposes to plug that gap by increasing student fees and cutting support grants and apprenticeships. Why should students and apprentices have to pay for that loss, given that it was the British Government, supported by the DUP, that delivered Brexit and is failing to provide alternative funding?”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a ráitis ar maidin inniu. I thank the Minister for the statement today. <BR /> <BR />The education of children with special educational needs has been particularly affected by the pandemic, so I am delighted that the Finance Minister has prioritised special educational needs by providing an additional £18·4 million. Will the Minister outline briefly how that will be used to support our children with special educational needs? Will he continue to prioritise special educational needs in future monitoring rounds?”
“One of the most important of those recommendations was an individual duty of candour for all those who work in the health service. I hope that those recommendations will be implemented soon. They will obviously complement the ombudsman's statement of principles.”
“However, I have encountered one issue in all the health scandals, whether it was hyponatraemia, the ill treatment of patients in Muckamore and Dunmurry Manor care home or the neurology scandal that has been in the media more recently: those who are responsible for the ill treatment or whatever else may or may not be held to account, but the one absolutely sure thing is that no attention seems to be given to those at a senior management level who had oversight and managerial responsibility for ensuring that the type of scandals that we have seen did not happen. That is a weakness in all the complaints procedures. <BR /> <BR />We had a public inquiry into hyponatraemia. A number of children died, and Claire Roberts was one of those. Justice O'Hara made a number of recommendations, which are still to be implemented.”
“They had to endure lies and untruths about what happened to Claire when she was in hospital, a cover-up and false information being given to the coroner at the first inquest, and they had to go through a second inquest before they finally got to the truth of what happened. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the statement of principles, as far as it goes.”