Mark Durkan
Foyle · Social Democratic and Labour Party · Northern Ireland
“That review involved an extensive engagement exercise with charities, regulators and funders, aimed at creating a more modern and proportionate regulatory system.”
“When the review was commenced in 2021, many organisations were still in the midst of responding to the pandemic. Since then, they have faced a succession of new and evolving challenges. The ending of European funding programmes, on which so many in our communities relied for decades, has left a significant gap.”
“<BR /> <BR />The broad principles behind the Bill are sensible. The changes will modernise charity regulation, strengthen the Charity Commission's ability to intervene where misconduct or mismanagement occurs, improve information sharing and, importantly, reduce unnecessary red tape, particularly for smaller charities with limited adminis…”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak today. Before turning to the detail of the legislation — there will not even be that much detail in the debate today at Second Stage — I pay tribute to our charity sector. Across every constituency, charities provide support that changes and saves lives every single day.”
“<BR /> <BR />Whilst the SDLP supports legislation that removes unnecessary bureaucracy, we should not kid ourselves that administrative reform alone will secure the future of charities and organisations in the voluntary and community sector.”
“I thank the Minister for giving way. Like other Members, I welcome the fact that we have reached this point. There seems to be consensus among Committee members and, I am sure, all Members that the introduction of these measures will save lives, which begs the question of whether the 10-year delay in introducing the measures had an opposi…”
The complete record
Every one of 3,938 lines we hold for Mark Durkan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 25 of 79.
“That is a particularly bitter pill to swallow when we consider that DFC has not seen fit to fund homelessness prevention initiatives, which are currently operating at a £7·4 million deficit. <BR /> <BR />To better understand the true cost of no-fault evictions, I will share the story of one of my constituents, which also exemplifies the cyclical nature of the policy. That working single-parent family was allocated hotel accommodation that was quite far outside its locality. For weeks, my constituent had to pay for taxis to get the children to and from school and was forced to order takeaways owing to the absence of cooking facilities. Those hidden costs of homelessness are rarely considered.”
“I have spoken with countless private renters who have been evicted after 10 years — sometimes, 15 — for daring to make reasonable requests for repairs or ask for persistent problems in their homes, such as damp, to be tackled. That has, in part, contributed to a staggering 4,500 children living in temporary accommodation. The increased use of non-standard accommodation, such as hotels and B&Bs, for families should be a concern for all of us. Accommodation that was once deemed as a last resort has become the norm, and the rapid escalation in emergency accommodation expenditure has seen costs spiral from £700,000 in 2017-18 to an eye-watering £7·5 million last year.”
“The unaffordability and insecurity of tenure within that sector is responsible for an estimated third of all homelessness cases presented to the Housing Executive. The Tory privatisation of social housing stock, which is their endgame, coupled with the blasé attitude of successive Executives to addressing the housing crisis, has all but decimated existing stock. It has stripped almost an entire generation of the opportunity to have somewhere to call home, denied them the stability and security that comes with that, and forced them to navigate an increasingly precarious rental market. <BR /> <BR />In 2022-23, there was a 17% increase in the number of households presenting as homeless due to the loss of private rented accommodation. That is an extremely worrying trend.”
“Instead, it is a result of a sustained failure by the Executive to fund homelessness prevention initiatives, set and meet ambitious social housing build targets, and prioritise such strategies as the empty homes strategy, which has not made a dent in reducing some 20,000 empty homes across the region. The freeze on local housing allowance rates for low-income private renters, amid escalating rental costs, and the decision to end discretionary housing payments for some of society's most vulnerable have further compounded pressures on the housing waiting lists. <BR /> <BR />The private rented sector here is the fastest-growing across these islands, with twice as many families living in private rented housing than in the social sector.”
“I am proposing a ban on the pervasive practice of no-fault evictions, which has contributed to increased homelessness and hardship and has uprooted the lives of thousands of families here. At present, the over-reliance on the private rented sector threatens security of tenure and access to safe and affordable housing. The majority of private tenancies here are non-protected, and landlords can terminate a tenancy without citing any fault or wrongdoing on the part of the tenant. That creates an unfair balance of power and serves as a stark reminder of the inequalities that persist within our housing system. <BR /> <BR />It is a stain on the record of the Assembly that the numbers on our social housing waiting lists have risen to a mammoth 45,000 households as of March last year. That did not happen overnight.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. I understood that no scheme in Derry would be progressed until the scheme in the Bogside had been progressed. Parking in the area continues to be a problem; in fact, it becomes more so. Does the Minister agree that it is unwise and unfair to delay progress on any and all residents' parking schemes because of difficulties in progressing the scheme in the Bogside?”
“I bring the Minister back to a pothole that has been raised in the Chamber before: the notorious Northland Road "crater" pothole, which caused damage to a significant number of vehicles. Owners of those damaged vehicles are now being passed from pillar to post between DFI and Northern Ireland Water. If I follow this up with written correspondence to the Minister, will he look at the case so that those motorists are not penalised due to the lack of responsibility being taken by any Department?”
“We will not, as you will not be surprised to hear, support the amendment, which calls on the Minister to have a wee think about the merits of maybe doing something this time next year. <BR /> <BR />I thank and put on record our party's thanks to all those who work so hard in the sector. Their commitment has been unwavering, and their work has at times been harrowing. We thank them.”
“To not support our motion because of cost, when there have been no such concerns as Executive parties have passed motion after apple-pie motion that would see spending like we have not seen since 'Brewster's Millions', suggests that some have misunderstood the meaning of Opposition day. Sinn Féin Members seem to have gone into hiding, although I am glad that they seem to be in breach of their two-MLA limit. <BR /> <BR />Child poverty costs society an estimated £1 billion per year, but abolishing the two-child limit has been lauded as the most cost-effective way of reducing those costs and would immediately lift a quarter of a million children out of poverty. Inaction on the matter will cost us dearly. On balance, we cannot accept that scrapping this callous rule would place serious and recurring constraints on public spending.”
“In reference to a point that the Minister made, the more you increase rates — we are not looking to increase rates across the board — the more empty premises we will see. <BR /> <BR />We are open to exploring options alongside Departments and Executive parties. We tabled this motion to get the Executive to act, not to embarrass them for not acting, although it would be impossible to embarrass some of the parties here. I am disappointed but not surprised that the parties that enabled that punitive policy have circled the wagons. Alliance is voting for an amendment that Ms Armstrong described as being "wishy-washy" rather than taking a principled stand or even giving us a plan for how to put money back into people's purses now — wishy-washy indeed.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is a policy that drives poverty and places the UK in violation of international law under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. If such reforms broke Britain, I fear that they will eviscerate the North. How can we, in good conscience, accept that as an example of effective policy? We have been elected to make this place work. That means making tough decisions, but not at the expense or to the detriment of the people whom we represent. We are under no illusion that funding the removal of the two-child policy will be easy. We estimate that it will cost in the region of £135 million in the first three years. That could be, as my colleagues have said, funded by using the rates increase and further reform of the rates system.”
“As if the nature of the two-child policy was not odious enough, the rape clause, which was raised by, among others, Ms Mulholland and Mr McGrath, is an egregious example of insensitivity and injustice in policymaking. It forces women to disclose deeply traumatic experiences of sexual assault in order to access welfare support for a third child who has been conceived as a result of rape. That re-traumatises and dehumanises survivors. It also poses a greater ethical dilemma for social workers in the North than that faced by their GB counterparts, because, under section 5 of the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967, a social worker could face prosecution for not reporting a rape disclosed to them during a universal credit application. The policy therefore fails to safeguard not only women but the social work sector.”
“According to the Child Poverty Action Group, there are twice as many large poorer families here as there are in Scotland and the south-west of the UK. Colm Gildernew made those exact points and stated that his party continues to call for the UK to scrap the policy. Sinn Féin would have been better voting against it than standing with placards on the lawns of Westminster. <BR /> <BR />Despite those circumstances, Mr Lyons recently confirmed that no equality assessment has been carried out on the impact of the two-child cap on the North or on women specifically. It is unforgivable that such a profound policy change was accepted while Departments were blindfolded to the reality of its consequences in this region.”
“The vote in 2015 by the DUP, Sinn Féin and Alliance was not just to acquiesce to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 but to fully endorse the entire suite of reforms — sorry, cuts — that were being driven by a Tory Government. They gave the big, bad Tory wolves the keys to the henhouse. The SDLP was the only party, both at Westminster and in the Assembly, that consistently voted against those reforms. Even Iain Duncan Smith resigned in 2016, claiming that universal credit was not achieving its intended aim of supporting working families and was not safeguarding people with disabilities. <BR /> <BR />I make no bones about it: the two-child cap is discriminatory by design. It disproportionately impacts on families from specific cultural and religious backgrounds, including Catholics and migrants.”
“Those laws compelled the idle to work and perpetuated harmful, divisive stereotypes about the poor — the benefit scroungers — rather than setting sights on the big fish that continue to evade tax by the billion. <BR /> <BR />Some of this narrative was sadly parroted by the DUP at times and in places. I have to say that I am glad that they seem to have wised up, at least in that regard. Essentially, the Dickensian policies, founded by the Tory Government and rubber-stamped by the DUP, Sinn Féin and Alliance, have created a system whereby households in full-time work do not earn enough to support themselves. <BR /> <BR />I should point out for context that that was the Tory agenda that was in play at the very time when the Assembly voted to vest power in Westminster to inflict welfare reform on the North.”
“Sorry, I do not really have time. I will come to you if I have time later on. <BR /> <BR />It is important to understand the events that got us here. The two-child limit was floated by then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, among additional austerity-based welfare reform measures, as part of his post-election emergency Budget in July 2015. Osborne was, even then, deemed one of the most disastrous post-war Chancellors Britain had ever seen — too posh and too out of touch even for the Tories. His reforms were intended to encourage people into work and to cut the welfare bill. It is all very reminiscent of Victorian Poor Law, and I do not make the comparison flippantly.”
“Impact will differ from home to home: some will get it bad, and some will get it worse. <BR /> <BR />The impact is also being felt sharply by and across our local economy. Many in the Chamber were led to believe that the two-child cap, the benefit cap and the five-week wait under UC would be resolved under secondary welfare legislation. In 2021, Minister Deirdre Hargey assured me that they remained a priority consideration and would be progressed as a matter of urgency. The Sinn Féin/DUP-led Executive, however, failed people as they engaged in sham fights over mitigations. Now, Minister Lyons states that he has no plans to mitigate the two-child policy.”
“<BR /> <BR />Since the introduction of welfare reform, compounded by the lack of a functioning Executive, we have seen an increase in child poverty rates, rising homelessness and a huge rise in the use of food banks. As of last April, 422,000 children were impacted by this cruel cap, a number that will rise massively given the recent migration of tax credit claims to universal credit. We are yet to feel the full punch of a policy that disproportionately impacts on single-parent households, chiefly single mothers. The UC migration will ensure that families with three or more children will be financially disadvantaged by £3,400 per year per child for their third child and every additional child, entrenching poverty as a daily reality for hundreds of thousands of children.”
“Our unique position, growing housing crisis, low-wage economy, prevalence of larger families and high levels of people living with a disability mean that the impact of welfare reform has been more pronounced here. The need for mitigations was recognition that this policy was, and is, wrong. Social justice is a core founding principle of the SDLP, and I argue that the two-child cap, the biggest driver of poverty in the UK, is one of the biggest social justice challenges of our time. To stand idly by would contradict the essence of not just my party but that of the Assembly and Executive. This policy contradicts the principles of equality and fairness and cannot merely be mitigated — it must be abolished.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle.”
“It stands to reason that Minister Swann should be responding to today's motion, but getting this done is more important than getting credit for getting it done. <BR /> <BR />A precedent has been set by England and Scotland in recognising early baby loss. Parents and families here must not be left behind. Let us build a health service and society in which every family receives the compassion, care and support that they deserve in their time of need.”
“Bereavement care needs to be a component of the maternity strategy. It is clear that transformation in this area of health, along with so many others, is long overdue. <BR /> <BR />That brings me to my next point: given the gravity of the subject that has been presented today, and the fact that the majority of actions that are mentioned in the motion fall under the responsibility of Health, I am struggling a wee bit to understand why the Finance Minister is here today. Of course, we recognise the administrative role of the Department of Finance in issuing certificates, but, as Minister Archibald acknowledged during Question Time last week, she cannot do that without the Department of Health.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. There is a notable lack of support for bereaved parents, including bereavement midwives and signposting to available and appropriate aftercare support. We have bereavement midwives, who are brilliant, but they are few and far between. I think of one — she will kill me for mentioning her — in my constituency: Melissa Crockett. She has provided support to so many families over the years and striven to deliver better services in this area. <BR /> <BR />Unfortunately, some parents feel that they have been left in limbo, struggling with their grief in silence, with nowhere to turn. A report from the Baby Loss Awareness Alliance called 'Out of Sight, Out of Mind' found that 60% of bereaved parents felt that they needed specialist psychological support but were unable to access it.”
“We certainly support the amendment, and I think that everyone here will. However, it should never have reached this point. Five years ago, I received assurances from the then Health permanent secretary that work was under way to seek a cross-border solution. It is unforgivable that, to date, there has been no progress on that.”
“I thank those parents for entrusting me with their stories and for wonderful organisations such as Sands NI who offer a glimmer of hope in the darkest times. That recognition would provide an acknowledgement of the significance of those precious lives and would honour the grief of the families who mourn them. <BR /> <BR />Our work does not stop there, however. Alongside the implementation of an early baby loss certificate scheme, we recognise the pressing need to improve perinatal and paediatric pathology services. Too often, families are left waiting for answers, for closure and for the chance to understand what happened to their baby. That is totally unacceptable. Since 2019, those post-mortem examinations have had to be carried out in England due to a lack of specialist staff here.”
“For so many, the first glimpse of those blue lines symbolises the beginning of life, a child for whom they see a future and about whom they tell their loved ones, yet one in four families will lose a baby and will not have that loss recognised beyond the confines of the hospital walls. It is my hope that, by speaking here today, we can help to erode the stigma that still exists and encourage others to speak more openly about their experiences. <BR /> <BR />I would like to share a few words from parents who reached out to me on what a certificate scheme would mean to them. One mother said:”
“Baby loss is a topic that is often met with silence, yet it affects countless families across the North and a number of people in the Chamber. Some here have been very brave and have spoken out about it; others have not spoken, but that does not make them any less brave. I acknowledge their loss. <BR /> <BR />In my years of campaigning for paediatric pathology and on baby loss, I have met hundreds of parents who felt that their loss or the topic of miscarriage remained taboo — hushed. Although their experiences and views were all different, all those I have spoken to recognised the value of a certification scheme. <BR /> <BR />Losing a child is a pain that no parent should ever have to endure. It is important to note that the level of grief is not determined by length of pregnancy, nor should official recognition be.”
“Under callous Tory policy, compounded by Executive absence and apathy, they are teetering on the brink. <BR /> <BR />The Tory assault on the poor and the political malaise here have left families falling through widening gaps in a social security net that has been allowed to wear thin. Systemic barriers that are entrenched in our polices and institutions will perpetuate cycles of poverty across generations. We need to stem that trend now, or society will pay dearly in the future. Anywhere that fails to invest in its children undermines its own future prosperity.”
“The Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that a significant number of children living in poverty had at least one working parent, whereas lone parents had the highest level of in-work poverty. I have serious concerns that the universal credit migration will exacerbate that situation. For example, under that system, the threshold criteria for free school meals and uniform grants will drop from £16,000 to £14,000. At a time when welfare eligibility thresholds should consider inflationary increases, welfare reform, which my party campaigned against vociferously, will see thousands of low-income households stripped of support. Even those who are eligible for free school meals face a cruel summer as we await Executive action on holiday hunger. Families here are no longer just about managing.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. It will come as no surprise to him that I do agree. It is refreshing and heartening to hear the right noises being made by Ministers. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. We need to see action as well as hear words. <BR /> <BR />Poverty is a vicious cycle. It entraps families and is nigh on impossible to escape from. We need to foster the conditions to create jobs and equip people here to do them. Tackling child poverty requires, as, I think, everyone has said, a multifaceted approach. I think that "multifaceted" is the word of the day. Economic challenges, such as low wages and colossal childcare costs, place immense strain on families who are already struggling to make ends meet.”
“<BR /> <BR />Children growing up in poverty here have worse outcomes in mental health and education. In deprived regions like Derry, today's weans have a life expectancy that is 11 to 15 years less than those in more affluent areas. That is harrowing, and it underlines the need for concerted efforts, as others have said, across all Departments to tackle regional imbalance.”
“Furthermore, where is the anti-poverty strategy? The previous Communities Minister gave assurances that it would be implemented in the previous mandate. Minister Lyons says that he is considering the next steps, but where is the sense of urgency? The lackadaisical approach to date adds insult to injury. We welcome an amendment that recognises the need for the anti-poverty strategy to be brought forward, and we will support any effort to do that, except where it removes any sense of urgency to do so. I fear that the amendment does remove urgency. We were considering opposing it for that reason, but the fact that the DUP and Sinn Féin are supporting it confirms to me that it lets them off the hook and allows them to kick the can even further down the road.”
“<BR /> <BR />Figures that I requested from Minister Lyons show an 18% increase in the number of children living in relative poverty, before housing costs, in just one year. As of 2023, 109,000 children were deprived of the basic necessities. To those who held these institutions to ransom for five of the past seven years and prevented action, I say this: you should be ashamed of the Dickensian conditions that you have helped the Tories to create. <BR /> <BR />Poverty is a complex issue, but understanding why child poverty is so pronounced here is not that difficult an equation to solve. The child poverty strategy ended in 2022 in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and an economy reeling in a post-pandemic landscape. While there was plenty to criticise about that strategy, now we have none — nothing.”
“Creating a society where every child has a fair chance to thrive should be not an ideal but a basic tenet of any democracy. If Governments are judged on how they treat their most vulnerable citizens, surely the fact that one in five children lives in relative poverty — rising to one in four in more deprived areas — is a damning indictment on leadership here. Food bank usage and the number of homeless young families are at a record high. How has that been allowed to happen? Poverty is a lived reality for a growing number of families in Northern Ireland because leadership parties here put short-term political popularity over doing what is right for the people whom they purport to represent.”
“— that the deputy First Minister may be able to answer about how projects are selected for funding and about how new projects can come forward under the process.”
“I have also seen at first hand some extremely successful CIT projects in the Creggan area of my constituency — I commend all involved in them — but there are other projects, the effectiveness of which is perhaps not as obvious. That has sometimes led to frustration in the community. There are questions —”
“For clarity, there are no implications for existing contracts, should a company be found guilty of any or all of the offences listed by the Minister.”
“We should learn from the example of other EU countries and embrace innovative solutions that allow water utilities to save costs and enhance resilience and financial viability. The future of water relies on improved collaboration between NI Water, stakeholders and Governments on both sides of the border, specifically on capital projects in border regions. Investment in our sewerage and waste water infrastructure that meets the needs of present and future generations must be a priority.”
“Go raibh maith agat. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Member for her intervention. That, again, goes back to collaboration across Departments rather than the silo approach that we have seen for so long in this place and that has served no one well. It may have served parties well at certain times, but it has never served the public well. <BR /> <BR />We only need to look across the water to see the cost of privatisation not just to people but to standards. The picture is nothing short of medieval, with sewage spilling on to the streets and analysts denouncing 35 years of privatisation as the biggest fraud story in the UK. I welcome the work of fellow Derry man Feargal Sharkey in shining a light on that scandal. <BR /> <BR />The Executive must work with Northern Ireland Water to identify income-generating opportunities such as renewable energy.”
“<BR /> <BR />As for the options — to come back to today's motion — at the current juncture, DFI should explore all the tools in its arsenal. We cannot oppose the motion just because we know or think that we will oppose some of the options brought forward; let us learn more about them. The SDLP also needs some convincing that mutualisation will not result in further charges for households, which we will never accept. Further hardship cannot be heaped on hard-pressed families who already struggle to make ends meet.”
“During the last mandate — a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle, you will be aware of this — the housing supply strategy was published to great fanfare. It promised to remove barriers to increasing housing, including water and sewerage provision. I am interested to know what engagement there has been and is ongoing with DFC. <BR /> <BR />Without a joint departmental and wider collaborative approach to address the issues, we risk falling even further behind. The Executive must support DFI to deal not only with the historical underinvestment in the water network but with its ability to plan for the short and long term. It is vital that NI Water can utilise multi-year budgets to allow for stronger future planning.”
“I am glad to see DUP recognition of the fact that investment in this area is key to driving economic growth and protecting the environment. That recognition was there in October 2021 when we debated the same issue. It is disappointing that the same party prevented any action by collapsing the Executive just four months later.”
“Across Departments and parties, there was a recognition of NI Water's role and the need to upgrade our infrastructure and move this place forward. However, underinvestment in water long predates these institutions. I concur entirely with Cathal Boylan's point on the impact of Tory austerity, although I agree with Patrick Brown that we cannot lay all of the blame at their door.”
“People and businesses have lived the consequences of system pressures and battled the devastation wrought by increased incidences of flash flooding, which, sadly, is a trend that is likely to continue as the climate crisis deepens. <BR /> <BR />In 2021, Minister Mallon recognised the imperative for investment across waste water and allowed NI Water to begin the task of addressing storm overflow and to kick off PC21. Yet, since 2023, DFI has signalled a move away from that enabling plan. At Committee, officials said that they were ready to deliver at pace but the massive cuts being imposed were forcing them to make unthinkable decisions. DFI has huge budgetary challenges, as do all Departments, but that is what the Executive signed up to.”
“Let us be realistic: what we do or do not do today in this debate will have no major implications for our immediate future and for generations to come. However, unless the Executive take swift and meaningful action and make sufficient interventions, we will be in big, big trouble. Water infrastructure is a core issue, one that cuts across every facet of daily life. The budget outlook for NI Water is bleak, and infrastructure that dates back to the Victorian era cannot keep step with the demands of a modern society. A legacy of chronic underfunding has resulted in failing infrastructure. As Audit Office reports tell us, it poses serious environmental and economic risks and causing overspill into our lakes and rivers. At present, as we have heard, 19,000 proposed homes are unlikely to be built due to insufficient capacity.”
“Here is hoping that Mickey Harte and the Derry boys continue to impact positively on mine.”
“It was fantastic to see the involvement of four players from city clubs, all from Steelstown Brian Ógs, in the successful campaign, with two of them playing in the final last week. It has been amazing and inspirational to see clubs open their doors to more and more members, maximising the number of people who can enjoy the physical, mental and social benefits of participating in sport and culture. The popularity of Gaelic4Mothers&Others teams is a great example of that. <BR /> <BR />The success of sport in boosting individuals and building communities is something that I have previously acknowledged. The contribution that coaches make across all our sporting codes is measured not in the number of trophies won but in the number of lives on which they impact positively.”
“Derry football is used to ups and downs, having been relegated to Division 4 in recent seasons. The team's resilience, determination, vision, ambition and ability have seen it bounce back to the top table. It has been a while since 1993, but we have enjoyed huge success in recent years. As well as a National Football League title, Derry has won back-to-back Ulster Championships. Glen and Steelstown have had all-Ireland club success, and the lift that that has given Derry cannot be overstated. <BR /> <BR />It is not just dyed-in-the-wool Gaels who have a spring in their step over recent success. Interest and participation in Gaelic games has grown across the county but nowhere more so than in Derry city.”
“I congratulate the County Derry senior football team, management, back-room team and supporters on winning the National Football League Division 1 final in Croke Park against Dublin last week. The match itself was a real thriller. I have just about got my voice back, although the nails might take another wee while. Fans went through a roller coaster of emotions before the Oak Leaf men showed nerves of steel and emerged victorious after a penalty shoot-out. The joy and relief were palpable when captain Conor Glass was presented with the trophy by Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael, Jarlath Burns.”
“Ba mhaith liom an ráiteas seo a dhéanamh inniu le comhghairdeas a dhéanamh le peileadóirí, bainisteoirí agus lucht tacaíochta Dhoire, mé féin ina measc, faoin bhua iontach a fuair siad seachtain ó shin i bPáirc an Chrócaigh.”