Jim Allister
North Antrim · Traditional Unionist Voice · Northern Ireland
“<BR /> <BR />Last week, a 'News Letter' editorial rightly drew attention to the fact that there is a chorus of demand that it is up to the British Government to pay for that, but no pressure whatsoever on the GAA — the primary beneficiary — which still persists that its contribution will be a miserly £15 million.”
“Public money, we are constantly told, is in short supply and scarce. I am sure that it is, and will continue to be so. Yet, while many in the House pay lip service to the need to prioritise health, there seems to be a majority here who would prioritise public spending on a sporting facility, namely Casement Park.”
“That editorial stated that the DUP "should make clear" its view on the Casement Park costs. Yet, yesterday, we had the launch of the DUP manifesto and not a mention of Casement Park. We have a Minister — Minister Lyons — who has ruled out clawback for non-GAA use of that stadium.”
“Therefore, the Minister comes to the House with a proposal that, effectively, has been written in Brussels, because it tells us how much we can give to our fishing industry in Northern Ireland.”
“The Minister told us that this is a scheme under the Fisheries Act, which it is, whereby all the devolved regions and England and Wales can make their own provision.”
“Rather than removing the green lane, the introduction of the new customs border arrangements will further advance the development of the green lane, thereby helping to make the Irish Sea border and our alienation from the rest of the UK more firmly established.”
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“I trust that the people of France will have the resolve and determination to ensure that they will not pander to terrorists or fete them in any way, such as happened in this country. <BR /> <BR />Another uncomfortable truth is that the open borders of Europe, sadly, have the appearance of supplying a supply line to the fifth column in Europe that would destroy our civilisation. Europe needs to assert itself and assert control over its borders before more of this horror is visited upon us. I trust that that will be a lesson learned from this horrendous episode.”
“It is a question that had to be asked in this Province as well, because the uncomfortable truth is that the unmitigated evil that manifested itself in a theatre in Paris was the same unmitigated evil that lined innocent workmen up against their van in Kingsmills and riddled them to death; the unmitigated evil that launched an attack on a restaurant in Paris was the same unmitigated evil that attacked a pub in Greysteel or in Loughinisland; and the unmitigated evil that launched bombs to kill was the same unmitigated evil that we experienced in La Mon and, yes, even in the most sacred of places, a remembrance service in Enniskillen. Terrorists — all terrorists — are evil and remain evil. There are no good terrorists, even in retrospect.”
“I join in the sentiments of shock, dismay, empathy and deep sympathy with the people of Paris and France at this time. We in this Province, of all places, know the horrors of terrorism. The scale of the slaughter in Paris, I think, causes us to struggle with the question of how any human being could do such things.”
“I acknowledge that the Minister is finally, though grudgingly, here tonight. Surely it is central to the credibility and authority of the House that Ministers make key policy announcements, when they can, to the House. By choosing deliberately not to do that, can I ask the Minister why he showed such contempt for the House and its processes, and how he thinks the general public can be expected to show respect if he demonstrates such obvious contempt? And, if I am permitted, can I ask him why, since he is sweeping away the Health and Social Care Board, he is not also dealing with the Public Health Agency? Why can its functions not be dealt with by the trusts and his Department?”
“Thank you. Academic selection has been an elevator for many people from very socially deprived backgrounds, so the positive proof of academic selection is that it lifts people. In deploying the argument that was used, it was deploying the Minister's approach, because it is his constant mantra that academic selection exacerbates the conflict between those who are socially deprived and those who are not. The challenge to the Minister, since that is his view against academic selection, and since the Bill ensconces that, is that he is being less than forthright in failing to acknowledge that it is a leg-up for the anti-selection campaign that he heads, because it embraces the very concept that lies at the heart of —”
“Will there be any opportunity to write into the code an obligation on councillors to request and receive allowances only to their personal accounts, in order to end the abuse that is presently ongoing with Sinn Féin councillors in some areas? If that cannot be done within the code, how will the Minister deal with that abuse?”
“The news at McAuley's was most welcome and came against a landscape of a succession of less-good-news stories for Ballymoney, where there has been a downward trend in employment. Although the McAuley announcement was somewhat overshadowed by the news from Michelin, it is nonetheless of itself good news for Ballymoney. On the subject of Ballymoney, what can the Minister tell us about planned and scheduled FDI visits to that part of north Antrim?”
“Does the Minister agree that it would be liberating for this trading nation, the United Kingdom, to be freed, in consequence of leaving the EU, of the shackles of bureaucracy on our economy and that it would be liberating with regard to the growth markets which are outside the EU in that we would have the free facility to make our own trade agreements where there is growth rather than be tied to the moribund EU economy, which is now down to less than 20% of the world's GDP?”
“<BR /> <BR />Mr Speaker, I am normally fairly diligent about staying on to listen to the entirety of a debate, but I have an arrangement that I have to fulfil. I hope to be back in time to hear the Minister's reply, but I apologise to succeeding contributors if I am not here when they speak.”
“No. Judging by his previous contribution, I do not think that there is a lot of merit in giving way to the Member, although I normally do, as he knows. <BR /> <BR />I think that there is a bit of discomfort among them, and so there should be, and if I can add to that discomfort by shining the torch of truth on to what is really going on, not for the first time I am happy to do so. <BR /> <BR />I will finish where I started: education should be about outcomes and improvements. It should not be about ticking fashionable boxes, and doing so in such a way that it financially disadvantages others whose cause some still claim to endorse. I have no interest in the social engineering that I detect in the Bill. Therefore, I think that the Bill is of the nature that I have described.”
“That is, patently and obviously, what it is about. There are those who, by dint of the political agreements that they are required to make to keep themselves in office, have strained at many a gnat, but here is another camel that they are quite prepared to swallow. The DUP has swallowed this camel. It will still wear a badge that says that the party is for grammar schools or for selection, but its Members will troop through the Lobbies to endorse the very philosophy that undermines the —”
“thereby comprehensivising all of the educational system.”
“I was making the point that the credentials of the Member in making a judgement of when and where there are Trojan Horses are perhaps a little suspect. <BR /> <BR />You cannot analyse the Bill without the conclusion. Ask yourself the simple question: does the process outlined, along with the statutory duty in last year's Bill, advance comprehensive education or the alternative? I think that any fair-minded person would come to the conclusion that the primary beneficiaries will be those who build their philosophy on the words of clause 1(2)(b) by bringing together:”
“With respect, the DUP Chief Whip is the last person to give lectures on fantasy windmills because, of course, it was the DUP that bought into Government in 2007 on a number of premises, each of which has now been shown to have been utterly false. They now discover that the party that they are sitting in Government with is controlled by a body that they said had been disbanded with the decommissioning of all weapons. Now they find that is not so —”
“The Member puts it well and articulates what I myself feel about this. This is a scarcely concealed assault on the existing educational establishment for the purpose of peddling and promoting the comprehensive agenda — which, of course, other parts of the United Kingdom are retreating from at a great rate of knots. That is exactly what is afoot here, and I identify and empathise with that point.”
“has now, suddenly, become a prioritised, funded objective of shared education. It is an ill-disguised attack on what, in the Minister's definition, grammar school education and selection represent. It is an ill-disguised attack on those concepts. So I have no difficulty in identifying what I perceive to be the political agenda driving this. <BR /> <BR />I make the point again: you do not need this sort of legislation to enable the pragmatic, practical, sensible cooperation that you might see in any one town. You only need this gloss and this element of definition if, in fact, your motivation is to build a Trojan Horse in support of an anti-selection, anti-grammar school agenda. <BR /> <BR />I think that I was due to give way first to Mr McCrea.”
“There is nothing wrong with that, but it is absolute folly to think that all kids are equal in their academic or non-academic abilities. This idea of the second part of the definition:”
“In a moment. <BR /> <BR />Those who are signing up for this seem to include people who have painted themselves as the saviours of grammar schools and selection. This is almost going to create a new elitism, the triumph of Marxist philosophy. That is really what is being ensconced in clause 1 of the Bill, in the definition. This is the Minister's prime argument, as I understand it, for he is anti-selection and he takes an anti-grammar school stance. For all the reasons of political correctness, we are going to tick the sectarian box and then tick the box so that all, from whatever background, might have, enjoy and attain — irrespective of the fact that it is a conglomeration of different talents — the same opportunities and achievements.”
“That which was promised to the school is, in fact, being repressed. So, I think there is, within the Bill, an element of social engineering and politicising of education, even more than it already is. I detect within the Bill the very distinct anti-grammar school and anti-selection agenda of the Minister.”
“Of course, it does this in respect of integrated education, and we know what that means: preferential funding. It does it in respect of the Irish-medium sector, and we know what that means: preferential funding. Now, it is to do that in respect of what is termed "shared education", so we know what that will mean: preferential funding. Preferential funding, as experienced, as applied to the integrated and the Irish-medium sectors, has meant a dearth of funding for the controlled sector and, at times, the maintained sector. So, we can see where this is going. <BR /> <BR />I think that the experience of large campuses is not perhaps working out as all the promise packaged in them said it would. I hear rumblings from Omagh Academy about how it feels it is being squeezed and its identity lost.”
“I think that, under the aegis of this Bill, we are not going to escape from that. The Bill requires the Education Authority, by virtue of the definition it gives, to activate the statutory obligation on it under section 2 of the 2014 Act:”
“There is no sensible or practical objection to that.”
“We are interested in achievement for our kids." <BR /> <BR />I must say that I fear that some of what should be the foundational and overarching objective in education of that nature is being lost. I also detect in the context of this proposal the hand of those who, of course, are determined to rewrite the educational charter in Northern Ireland. We had another exposition of it from the Minister last week. He is determined, if he can, to write grammar schools out of it and to write selection out of it. This seems to dovetail with that, almost to the point of being a Trojan facilitator of it. <BR /> <BR />Let me say that I have no difficulties whatsoever, where it is pragmatic and sensible, with two, three or more schools sharing a new science lab or whatever to better all in that school community.”
“My experience of my constituents is that their aspiration and primary interest in respect of their children is that they can obtain for them the best available education. Many do not nuance it much beyond that reality. I do not find that that is trumped by any aspiration towards social engineering, yet much that the Department brings forth seems to fit within the category of social engineering. Last night, I again chaired my local primary school's board of governors. The message that was coming through to me on a multiplicity of educational issues from parents, representatives and others was simply, "We want the best for our kids. We want a school that delivers. We want a school that passes them into a post-primary system that maximises their talents. We are not particularly interested in ticking social-engineering boxes.”
“The sparsity and the lack of investigation on that side of things and the repeated demand for investigation at whatever cost in respect of this matter speaks so loudly to some of us that that proportionality and imbalance is something that we cannot endorse.”
“I find it rather surprising that the motion calls on the two Governments, as they are referred to, to jointly fund any investigation. What happened at Ballymurphy, whatever the details, happened in the United Kingdom. If there are matters to be investigated, and if that were thought to be the appropriate course, it is a matter for the United Kingdom authorities, not for some third party to be involved in the funding of any investigation. I quibble over that part of the proposal. <BR /> <BR />My fundamental message is this: consider the imbalance, disproportionality and lack of investigation into a litany of terrorist episodes as horrendous as any by an organisation that some have recently suggested has its own malevolent influence in government.”
“It is the proportionality of the demand that creates difficulty for some of us.”
“Yet, for many who were the victims of terrorists, there have been no such investigations and no such inquiries. <BR /> <BR />Of course, what happened in Ballymurphy transpired in an operation just a few days after the notorious Bloody Friday events. Of those, we are yet to hear the truth. We have yet to hear who and from what part of the city masterminded Bloody Friday. We have yet to hear the truth from those who know the truth and, with great calculated determination, conspire to conceal the truth. The demands that come selectively for inquiries such as this would be so much stronger if in all cases — this is not a generalisation at all of the Ballymurphy families — some of those who advocate them were themselves not victim makers and were, instead, truth tellers. Therein is part of the problem.”
“It is no part of my purpose or intent to diminish or demean suffering by any family, be they connected with this Ballymurphy matter or anything else. Let me be very clear: anyone who was not involved in criminality and died as a result of a criminal act against them is an innocent victim, as are their families, and they are entitled to be regarded as such. <BR /> <BR />I suppose that the biggest difficulty with the selectivity of the motion is that many in the community that I know best will say, "Where's the inquiry into La Mon? Where's the inquiry into Kingsmills? Where are the inquiries into a litany of such incidents?". We have already had over £200 million spent on the Bloody Sunday inquiry, and the Ballymurphy incidents are to be investigated through an inquest process.”
“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. As I understand Standing Orders, they require notice of such a question to be given by 10.30 am to allow the Minister a four-hour window to arrange to be here. This is a Minister who has been in this Building today and who I wanted to question as to the contempt that he showed for the House in making a key policy announcement outside the House and avoiding the questioning of it within the House. Then, we are told that he compounds that contempt by simply saying, it seems, that he is too busy to be here. Is that not a serious challenge to the authority of the House?”
“Why did the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety choose to outline his policies on an issue as important as the outcome of the Donaldson report at a conference in Ballymena rather than making an oral statement in the House.?”
“Whatever the arrangements for his colleagues, when it comes to the deputy First Minister, is it simply a matter of looking in the mirror when he is taking directions from the IRA army council?”
“It seems to me that it would take us some way down the road to ensuring that the sharing of information would ultimately not simply be done within the public sector and the housing association sector but cover the ambit of the rental sector, including private housing. I trust that the Minister will take and consider that idea and see whether it is a viable way forward for clause 2. I respectfully suggest that it is.”
“Therefore, my suggestion — I hope that the Minister will think that this is a positive suggestion — is that he should reserve to himself in the Bill an enabling clause, whereby, at the point at which the private sector is adequately regulated, he can apply, by secondary legislation, the information-exchanging provisions about antisocial behaviour to that regulated sector rather than have to start from scratch with fresh legislation to plug the gap. I therefore suggest to him that all that he needs to do at this stage is to encompass in the Bill an enabling clause, whereby, as and when the private rented sector is adequately regulated, he can apply the essence of clause 2 to it. <BR /> <BR />I will listen with interest to hear whether there is a sound argument against that.”
“We had the Minister say today that the reason for that gap, and the reason why it cannot be plugged, is that there are data protection and human rights issues involved. I have to say that that is a slightly different emphasis from what I understood the officials to have said to us in Committee. The emphasis of what the Committee was told was that it is not really possible to extend the exchange of information to the private rented sector, because it is not adequately regulated. The adequate regulation of the private rented sector could equally embrace how it complies etc with data protection, and that could be a spin-off from that.”
“Therefore, the situation that we would arrive at with the implementation of the legislation would be that, between a housing association and the Housing Executive, there would be an interchange and interplay of information about the tenancy record etc of that individual, and that is right and that is good. However, more often than not, the individual who gets into trouble because of his antisocial behaviour can walk around the corner to the private sector, and do so with immunity, because his deeds and the information on him do not follow him. If he were to walk around the corner to a housing association or Housing Executive property, the exchange of information would follow him, but not with the private rented sector. That leaves a gap in what is being attempted here.”
“I wish to comment only on clause 2 of the Bill. It quite rightly deals with a long-running problem, or an aspect of that problem, pertaining to antisocial behaviour. It is right that, within the social sector, there should most certainly be the opportunity to exchange important information about those who have been engaged in antisocial behaviour, but the fact, of course, that it is restricted to the social housing sector in the public sense points up a gap or a lacuna in the arrangements. As we know, many people are housed in the private rented sector, and antisocial behaviour, sadly, can be as rife in the private housing sector as in the social sector.”
“I welcome the opportunity to take part in this Second Stage debate — some weeks later than one might have anticipated, but then the Minister had some political acrobatics to engage in as he flip-flopped in and out of Government because he told us, of course, that business could not be as usual because the IRA had murdered. Once the independent panel confirmed that the IRA had murdered and, more than that, it had guns, an army council and everything else, suddenly it was time to sweep murder under the carpet and it was time for business as usual. That brings us back here today. Nothing to do with principle or conviction in politics; simply to do with buying time for the expediency of clinging to office, and so we arrive here today. <BR /> <BR />I think that the Bill embraces a number of sensible and necessary steps.”
“Leaving aside the self-serving efforts made by the Minister to give the report as soft a landing as possible, it includes words such as "unsafe", "unstable" and "dangerous". It could not be any more damning. What does it take for a Minister in this House to take responsibility for systematic and catastrophic failure and resign?”
“Does the Minister believe in and support streaming in secondary schools? Streaming is a soft type of selection.”
“It is not the only test, but it is excellent in all those regards. I only wish that something of that nature and order was permitted to operate properly within the education system. We could then see the talents grow in this Province.”
“Therefore, the one-size-fits-all approach that the motion refers to is an absurdity; it is an absurdity that is being perpetuated by those decisions. <BR /> <BR />The AQE test, for example, is very well calibrated and very well tested and proofed. It is an excellent test of children's ability.”
“It refuses to recognise that, for some children, the most that can be taken out of them and the most that can be given to them is by encouraging and allowing their academic talents to flourish; and that, for others, the most that can be taken out of them and the most given to them is by encouraging their non-academic talents to flourish. To deny the opportunity to allow both to flourish by simply seeking a great conglomeration, where you settle for the lowest common denominator, seems to me to be absolute folly. <BR /> <BR />That, of course, is the philosophy that drives the Minister. He wants to bring everyone down to the same level, so that you can say that there is equality across the board in talent, instead of wanting to exploit, build and grow the talent and aptitude of whatever nature.”
“That bully-boy tactic is a very negative influence. <BR /> <BR />Of course, we require some form of selection; I am quite clear on that. Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that not all children are bestowed with the same talents, aptitudes and capabilities. Some are marvellously bestowed in mechanical matters and others are marvellously bestowed with academic talents; but we kid ourselves if we think that all children, with the right tuition, will be produced at the same level of talent in every possible discipline. It is, of itself, absolute nonsense. <BR /> <BR />The system refuses to recognise that reality.”
“How dare they try to do what parents expect and equip their children to make the transition from primary school to grammar or secondary school?”
“<BR /> <BR />To transfer kids from primary school to secondary school, we have to have a system outside the primary school structure and unregulated from within the primary school structure, whereby kids sit exams that are set by the grammar schools to see whether they are eligible to attend those schools. At the same time, every bully-boy tactic available is used by the Department to threaten the primary schools that dare to do what parents expect them to do: prepare their children for the next step in their educational journey. If that step includes undertaking an AQE test or something else, the full weight of threat and authority from the Department is brought down on the heads of those schools.”
“It certainly betokens the abject failure of devolution to handle education matters that, all these years into this experiment, the relatively straightforward and essential matter of transferring children from primary education to secondary education continues to be bogged down in dispute and be deficient in any properly controlled or regulated system. I have no difficulty in recognising that that is all part of the belligerent agenda of Sinn Féin to bring anarchy to the education system that it so abhors. That betokens the failure of devolution.”
“Were the Minister and Invest NI asleep at the wheel?”
“— and, three months later, is waiting to hear from him.”
“The Unite union says that it met the Minister in July on this very issue —”