Colum Eastwood
Foyle · Social Democratic and Labour Party · Northern Ireland
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. Given the fact that the Good Friday Agreement envisages an Assembly, a power-sharing Executive, North/South Ministerial Council and other bodies, is it the case, today, that, if we do not have the nominating officer here from Sinn Féin, no Executive will be formed?”
“Mr Allister has made my point for me. The Good Friday Agreement is absolutely 100% clear. The power-sharing Executive, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the North-South Ministerial Council: at any point over the last 1,000-plus days, those institutions could have been restored. People on these Benches have tried hard.”
“That is why we are here today. We will gladly take part in those institutions but we will not be party to a stunt that is using and abusing people's emotions and sensitivities over a very difficult issue, which could have been dealt with at any point over the last 1,000 days.”
“<BR /> <BR />Is it the case, Mr Speaker, that without Members here present to my right or who should be to my right that there will not be an Executive formed today? If that is the case, we will be in no position to support a Speaker and allow for the undermining of the Good Friday Agreement through a unionist-dominated shadow Assembly.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is, of course, true that because of the DUP's despicable and disgraceful behaviour, not just around RHI, we have got to this point. It is also true that they were let do all those things. They were allowed to do all those things.”
“We put the papers in on all manner of subjects, topics and areas, but nobody wanted to negotiate back. Nobody wanted to talk to us about how we can invest in the Irish language, protect equality for LGBT people and tackle poverty and discrimination right across our society.”
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“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thought that you were going to call the debate over before I got my chance to respond to it. Some of you would have been happy with that. <BR /> <BR />I want to thank all the Members who spoke. I think that they were largely supportive of the motion and, I hope, the amendment. <BR /> <BR />It is interesting that the debate comes just a couple of weeks after the Christmas break. Derry is a great place to live at any time of year, but that is particularly so at Christmas, when so many people come home. I spent an awful lot of time driving to airports and picking people up. It was a great time to see everybody, and, walking down the street, you see people who you have not seen for years.”
“I thank the Minister for his answers thus far. The Hart inquiry has been extended, and a number of victims have come forward to say that they would like to see the issue of redress in the Hart inquiry accelerated. Has the Minister any view on whether, at the very least, a scoping exercise should be commenced to look at the issue of redress, so that people get what they are entitled to before it is too late?”
“Is the Minister confident, though, that this rationalisation can be carried out without creating long delays in the system and without impacting on people's access to justice?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Given that we have had some public representatives speaking very negatively about the team, will the Minister agree that the work it has done has been very valuable and that it is now up to the rest of us to get this stuff over the line and ensure that we can have no more difficulties in our prisons?”
“— have been attacking members of different communities in this society for far too long.”
“That is a very visible example of how we need to move forward and catch ourselves on, and it is a very stark message to all of us to make sure that we finish the job and get on with sorting out the issues here. <BR /> <BR />I have a couple of seconds left to mention that many minority ethnic communities have joined us in the North of Ireland, and we have not looked after them or welcomed them very well at all. Some of the same people who are going around attacking their houses —”
“It is important to recognise and remember that the City of Culture allowed an opportunity to give expression to a lot of the good work that was going on in communities and had been going on there for years, probably since the 1980s during the height of the Troubles, when we were power-sharing in Derry long before this place had even thought about it. That work, whereby you are able to have the biggest festival of Irish culture on the same street that held the biggest loyal orders parade in the whole of the North the day before, shows a city able to move forward. It is a city that is engaged in a culture of constant conversation, and that is a lesson that can be learned right across the North. <BR /> <BR />That same report also reminded us that peace walls have doubled in number since 1998.”
“There is an opportunity in the talks process this week to find a comprehensive agreement around these issues. It has to be comprehensive because, if we as politicians do not lead by example very soon by standing up and living up to our responsibilities, the public will have moved on from us and from this process. That would be a very dangerous situation. <BR /> <BR />I recognise the work done on the 'Peace Monitoring Report', which recognised a lot of the good work that is going on in my city and yours, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker. It spoke of the good work done on the City of Culture and the work done before that.”
“We are all of us very good at demanding our rights, whether it is about parades, flags or anything else, but we are not always as good at living up to our responsibilities, and, in my view, rights and responsibilities go hand in hand. <BR /> <BR />Some of the language that comes out of this place, whether it is about rewriting Irish history or Greek mythology, or about holding up pots of yoghurt, does nothing for its image as an institution. Neither does it do anything for the image of the North of Ireland. I think that we have become a laughing stock. We often hold ourselves up as some kind of example for the rest of the world, but I think that we should follow the example that we set for ourselves in 1998, follow through and finish the job.”
“They almost turned away from politics and asked the politicians then to "finish the job", as Bill Clinton said. Unfortunately, we have left people waiting for far too long. <BR /> <BR />We have continued a situation whereby our communities are divided, and I think that we send out the wrong messages from this place every single day. We have power-sharing structures, but I am not so sure that we have power-sharing in spirit. People see that and are fed up with it. The public want us to break down the barriers, not only in communities but in the House, in government and in politics. They get fed up when we constantly retreat to our own positions.”
“I thank the Alliance Party for tabling the motion, which is, I think, a sensible one. It is important, at this time of budgetary constraint, that we analyse and interrogate all budgets. Had we been doing that for the last number of years, we might be in a better position. It is important that we do it with an eye to the cost of division and segregation, because it is clear that we are double spending in a number of ways. It is also clear that we have not come anywhere near as far as a lot of people would have hoped 16 years ago in breaking down some of the barriers that still exist in our communities. <BR /> <BR />The promise of the Good Friday Agreement was one that everybody, or at least the vast majority of people, bought into.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Does he believe that firefighting, very much a front-line service, should be classed as a front-line service and, therefore, be exempt from any cuts?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement and answers thus far. Will he provide the House today with an update on the all-Ireland research project on unconventional gas exploration and extraction?”
“Otherwise, we will see no impact, other than the cuts of hundreds of millions of pounds that it will take to pay for it in my constituency, those around it and the constituency of Donegal North East.”
“For the first time in a long time, I agree with Invest Northern Ireland's assessment. If that is the assessment of the Government's chief investment adviser, why have we not done anything about it? Why have we not tackled the connectivity issue of roads and rail? I know that it has been a longer, legacy issue than the one over which the Minister has had control. Why have we not done anything about the university? <BR /> <BR />Mr Osborne, another man I rarely agree with, has announced £15 billion of roads investment for Britain. Let us see some of that coming here. If we are seriously going to stand over a decision at some point to reduce corporation tax to 12·5%, we have to do the work beside that to increase infrastructural and skills development west of the Bann.”
“The Member probably does not read all my press statements. However, one of the things that I have put out a number of times is that, in the South, the idea is that you have targets of 50% of investment outside of Belfast and outside of Cork. Now, for some unknown reason, Invest Northern Ireland and the DETI Minister have refused even to countenance any kind of targets around balanced regional investment. That is the truth of it. <BR /> <BR />Let us just say that it is the case. Alastair Hamilton of Invest Northern Ireland has said to me, and I agree with him on this point, that it is extremely difficult to attract high-quality jobs west of the Bann unless we have connectivity of roads and rail and an expanded university that does all the courses, especially the high-tech ones, that we need to attract those kinds of jobs.”
“I have a constant running argument with Invest Northern Ireland and different Ministers in here about the fact that they cannot direct investment to wherever we would like them to put it. That is what they say. Whilst I do not 100% agree with that, I agree with Invest Northern Ireland when it said to me personally and publicly that —”
“We still do not have a significant amount of foreign direct investment and neither does north-east Donegal. Why? If you look at the north-west corner of Ireland as a whole, you will see that the road and rail network is pitiful in comparison to that in the rest of the country. Another issue is that we do not have a major and expanded university with the proper courses to attract all the inward investment that people think we are going to get as a result of lower corporation tax. <BR /> <BR />We need to be very careful and understand that, unless we invest properly and significantly west of the Bann, whether that is in infrastructure or skills, there will not be any great uplift from corporation tax for us.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Executive's investment strategy talks about balanced economic development, and it talks about Derry and Belfast being key economic drivers. That is great. There is a lot in the Programme for Government and in that particular strategy that I do not agree with, but I was glad to see that. However, I would like to see some action on the back of that. I do not put that at the feet of the Minister, because this is a far bigger issue than one Minister or one Department. <BR /> <BR />There will probably be an announcement tomorrow that corporation tax will be devolved to Northern Ireland. I have said a number of times that we already have lower corporation tax in Derry. It is called Muff, Bridgend or Killea, or any of those places that are just on the edge of our city that already have corporation tax at 12·5%.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the Minister for the invitation to talk about conspiracy. However, there has probably been some conspiracy and a fair bit of cock-up over the last number of decades that has led to a very difficult economic position for the people of our city. It feels a wee bit like Groundhog Day. Everybody has been very nice and very supportive, and that is good. We know that there is the current financial difficulty — we all recognise that. However, we must recognise that this is a legacy of neglect of west of the Bann. The way in which the fundamentals of the economy have been allowed to develop over past decades is an absolute tragedy. Unfortunately we are doing nothing, or nowhere near enough, to address that and to redress the imbalance.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Does he agree with me that cutting money to the councils that need it most is hardly the best way to begin a new council structure? Those councils are the poorest councils, which, unfortunately, happen to be located west of the Bann.”
“The Member has hinted at change to come. She sort of said that on the back of Mr Ross's question. Will there be any independent investigation or inquiry into the allegations that were made in the programme?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. What level of funding is available for schools that want to become involved in the programme?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement and his answers thus far. Why has it taken so long to get to the point of mutual recognition of penalty points?”
“The Member spoke about environmental improvements. What impact will they have on the Building's carbon footprint?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Does the Minister agree that it is particularly degrading for prisoners returning from hospital to be subjected to a full body search, especially when there is no intelligence whatsoever to suggest that they require one?”
“Has much work been done on telemedicine to try to improve efficiencies and cooperation across the island?”
“I will leave that with him and hope that we will have a positive response.”
“I am glad that we can now finally move forward and that we remember at all times that this is about the children who go through our education system. We hope that we can ensure that they will have the best education system that we can get. <BR /> <BR />I am glad to see the integrated sector and the Irish-medium sector being represented on the board. That is a very good thing. I implore the Minister at this point, given that the decentralisation agenda has largely gone off the boil in many Departments, to use this opportunity to make a commitment to the constituencies that are really struggling with unemployment. My constituency has the highest unemployment across Britain or Ireland. This would be a tremendous opportunity for him to make a commitment to that constituency by putting the headquarters of the new Education Authority in Derry.”
“I do not intend to speak for too long; we covered most of the points last week. We are glad that we are at this point. It is unfortunate that it took seven wasted years and wasted about £17 million, but we are at this position now, and that is a good thing. It is the result of some cross-party work. We passed amendments last week that, in our view, were imperfect but provided a balance across the sectors and across the ability ranges. We would have liked an amendment at an earlier stage and would like to have seen more community representation, whether it is for early years or for kids who are not in education, employment or training or any of the other community sectors that we would like to have seen represented. We do not have that, but we have a Bill, and we were nearly in danger of not having that.”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. Following on from Mr McElduff's question, the Minister talked about the impact on people here, but was there any discussion on the impact or potential impact on marine life from Sellafield discharges?”
“We have probably the most balanced board that we can expect to have, and we are glad to see that. When you expect to stand up here and have a row with people and it does not happen, it takes the wind out of your sails, but I am glad that we are now in this position and glad to support the amendments that I talked about.”
“Like Mr Hazzard, we would far prefer there to be an opportunity for community representation so that people from early years, for example, and those from organisations representing young people who are not in education — maybe young offenders or whatever — were included in the Bill. The SDLP tabled an amendment at Consideration Stage and is glad that people can now represent the Irish-medium and integrated sectors. <BR /> <BR />Our position on amendment No 11 was that we were happy to accept it, if people across the House were happy to accept amendment Nos 9 and 10. I am glad that we have got to that position and that greater balance will be given to representation on the board. That is a good thing. Like anything that is a compromise, we do not agree 100% with the Bill. It is imperfect, but it is good that we have finally got here.”
“I am not sure what 'The Nolan Show' will do with it tomorrow, but it is good that we are finally at the point at which the legislation can pass. It is important for all the young people progressing through school that we finally get this work done. I echo the Chairperson of the Committee's words about Seán Rogers, who is not able to be here, and his work on the Committee. I said that during the discussion on the earlier group, and I want to repeat it. <BR /> <BR />Our view is that the Bill is imperfect, again, but we are in a situation in which we can find a level of agreement that might not have been imagined a while ago.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I beg your brief indulgence because an issue has come to light in the last couple of hours. The lives of a number of community safety wardens, who work tirelessly in my city, have been threatened by so-called dissident republicans, and all have had to go home from work today. I just want to make the point that the people who made the threats have nothing to contribute and stand in stark contrast to the community safety wardens, who work tirelessly every night for our communities. I thank you for the opportunity to make that point. <BR /> <BR />This is a rare occurrence in the House. I have been here for about three and a half years, and it seems that compromise has broken out. It is sort of strange and hard to get used to, but it is a good thing.”
“We need to support that with its imperfections and support the amendments' imperfections with regard to the Irish-medium sector. We are happy to support them. I think that we need to move in that direction.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. I understand and sympathise with that point of view, but I will go back to the point that we are coming from a very difficult place. We have parental choice. We also have a very difficult history. We have places in the North of Ireland where, 40 or 50 years ago, people could not get educated in a secondary school because some of them just did not exist and were not open to people. We have a lot of other difficulties in terms of our history. <BR /> <BR />We have to understand that the different sectors are imperfect and that we have not quite cracked it yet when it comes to building a shared and truly integrated society, but I think that whether it is shared education or integrated education, people are moving to the right place.”
“We have a unique set of circumstances. We need to move as much as possible to a shared community, whether that is in housing or education. We need to begin that process. The people who are involved in integrated education are doing a fantastic job, and people involved in the new process of shared education are beginning to do a lot of good work around that.”
“We share the concerns about the fact that the Irish-medium sector has not been particularly mentioned in the amendments. However, our view is that we have an opportunity here with the Alliance amendment. Amendment No 1, one of the Minister's amendments, proposes that we insert, "facilitate and promote shared education.". I think there is an opportunity there to add integrated education. Again, it is not perfect, but we are happy to support that. <BR /> <BR />We need to guard against the debate falling into an argument about whether it is shared education, integrated education or whatever. We have to understand that we come from a very difficult place in education. We can go back as far as you want in the North of Ireland.”
“I am not a member of the Education Committee; I am playing a sub's role today, as Seán Rogers is ill. I thank him for the work that he has done on the Bill thus far. It is a very good thing that we are, finally, at this stage and that we have no petitions of concern. We might have a couple of Divisions but nothing that is going to halt the progress of the Bill. Quite a bit of good work has been done behind the scenes to ensure that we can move the Bill forward. It is not going to be a perfect Bill, but we will have a Bill, and this delay will have, finally, ended. <BR /> <BR />We are largely happy not to oppose the amendments in this group. We have some concerns around the need for standing committees and everything else, and we understand Sinn Féin's concerns on the topic that has been most discussed so far.”
“I thank the Minister for that update. Given that we have seen some high-profile closures in my city, including Austins, which has, thankfully, been bought this week from the receivers, can the Minister tell us whether the review will do anything to prevent major established businesses in my city and other towns and cities across the North going out of business as a direct result of rates issues?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Does he agree that the work done on the built heritage, the protection and support of it, has been of great economic benefit to our city? Will he further give a commitment — if he is able, in these economically straitened times — to continuing that work and ensuring that we have protection for the built heritage and the economic spin-off as a result of that?”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. Given the current financial uncertainty, will the Minister give a commitment that any future decision around reparations for victims will be unaffected by the current financial difficulties?”
“Are there still people in our communities whom people know to be child abusers and rapists who have been let run free to work freely in our communities? People with knowledge of those issues need to come forward fully, openly and transparently and tell the truth because this issue is not going away.”
“<BR /> <BR />I do not know whether there is any point in making this point because today was an opportunity lost, but I will make it anyway: Sinn Féin and the Provisional movement need to take the next available opportunity to say it straight that they believe Maíria Cahill's full account of her abuse and the abuse investigation's cover-up, and they need to say it about all the other victims in my city, in this city and in communities across the North. They need to come forward and tell the communities in Donegal, Louth and Monaghan who the abusers are and where they are. Are they, like some others have been, working for community organisations or working for youth clubs? Is that what is happening?”
“We have to make sure that we recognise that this is about victims. There have been many victims of sexual abuse, cover-up and denial and institutional abuse, cover-up and denial, not least from the state, from the security services, from the police, from the army, from loyalist paramilitaries and from the IRA. This is not the only case that people know of across our communities. It is very sad that the people and the communities that suffered most at the hands of the British state have suffered terribly at the hands of the IRA as well, and, every day, we hear more stories of how that happened.”
“However, when anybody challenges Sinn Féin's account or the IRA's account of what happened in this or any other case, it is political point scoring. Do people really think that, when asked by an abuse victim, democratically elected politicians on this island will stay quiet about an issue of this magnitude? We will not. I do not feel one bit ashamed because my name is on an amendment calling for accountability and truth from an organisation that does not have a good record when it comes to accountability or truth — just ask the families of the bodies that are buried all across the border counties on this island.”
“Her story was covered up, and then, when it came out because she had the guts to tell it in the public domain, her story was denied. After that, her character was assassinated. Then, all of sudden, we saw the trolls — the nameless Internet trolls — unleashed, like something out of an MI5 playbook, to assassinate Maíria Cahill's character and portray anybody who stood with her and said publicly that they believed her as playing politics and engaging in political point scoring. <BR /> <BR />When Sinn Féin, rightly, along with a lot of other Members, condemned and challenged the Catholic Church on its abuse and cover-up in specific incidents across the island, it was holding people to account and rightly so.”
“I did not think that I could be shocked in the House, but I am genuinely shocked by the way in which the debate has moved. Earlier, when I saw Martin McGuinness's name on the list of Members to speak, I said to colleagues, "Finally, Sinn Féin has realised that this is out of control and that somebody needs to take it in hand, make a corporate apology and tell the whole truth". I really, really believed that that was what would happen today. I am shocked and saddened that it has not happened and that, again, we have heard a denial. We have seen a refusal to accept and deal with the issues surrounding the Maíria Cahill case. <BR /> <BR />When Maíria Cahill — I believe her, by the way — was abused, it was she who was investigated.”
“For somebody who did not set out to attack the SDLP, you have done an awful lot of research into some of our previous documents. I do not want to press you on it, but the question that I asked you was, "How do we stop the levy being collected, no matter who collects it?" We are all ears.”