Oliver McMullan
East Antrim · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“I thank the junior Minister for his answers so far. I draw his attention to paragraph 11 on the threats to ecosystems from invasive non-native species. I will bring the question of Lough Foyle into this and the unregulated fishing practices of fishermen bringing in seed mussels.”
“I am pleased to see that there was a discussion about farm safety at the meeting. Did Ministers give consideration to making IT packages more available to the farming community? I am looking at the farm business scheme that has just been launched here.”
“I thank the Minister for his answers so far. Can you, Minister, give me your Department's assessment of the harm that the culture of paramilitary activity and domination in parts of Carrick and Larne is having on the educational attainment of young people and children?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. The Member made a good point when he mentioned the Wild Atlantic Way. I ask the Minister to look at that. We need to bring it up here. The Atlantic does not stop at the border; the Wild Atlantic Way should not stop at the border either.”
“I thank the Minister for his answers so far. Minister, you are aware that, increasingly, there is a two-tier system in farming, with hill farming and lowland farming. Can you guarantee to the House that any strategy that is brought out will not affect the hill farmer and his unique way of farming?”
“Were there any talks at your meeting regarding the territorial powers of the Loughs Agency, with regard to the British Government and Irish Government giving it powers to license aquaculture on the Lough?”
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“If that manager says no to houses being built, no houses will be built. That safety is in there in the legislation.”
“It is some 17 years, in fact, since the spillway failed at Tildarg dam and caused the flooding of houses. However, the truth is that many of these reservoirs date from the 19th century and were built to provide a source of water to the linen mills and corn mills that served our farming community. Also, for many, particularly those in private ownership, the water is held back by clay core dams. These are not concrete structures like Spelga or the Silent Valley. Therefore, if nothing is done, it could only be a matter of time before we get another dam failure. <BR /> <BR />I fully appreciate that, for many reservoirs owners, the terms of this Bill raise all sorts of concerns. Planning is one, and Mr Clarke did raise that. Under this Bill, if anybody wants to build below a dam, they now have to talk to the manager of the dam.”
“In fact, it also considered a threshold of 15,000 cubic metres. However, based on the information provided to us by the Department, we decided that there was little or no benefit in making either of these changes. Therefore, we did not seek an amendment on this issue. <BR /> <BR />Scotland has legislation on the books to reduce the threshold from 25,000 cubic metres to 10,000 cubic metres. Similarly, England and Wales, which have not been mentioned here, have the same legislation to reduce it down to 10,000 cubic metres. However, this should not be about the numbers of reservoirs that can escape being regulated by the Bill. It is about keeping people safe and reducing the chances that dam failure will occur. <BR /> <BR />I appreciate that it is a long time since significant reservoir failure.”
“<BR /> <BR />The same applies to fishing clubs, many of which have assumed responsibility for what they thought was a lake or a pond only to find out that it is a reservoir, with all that goes with it. Therefore, I fully understand the intention of the proposed amendment. It is to ensure that only reservoirs that are capable of holding 25,000 cubic metres or more would be regulated, thereby removing such reservoirs from the scope of the Bill and associated management regime. <BR /> <BR />It has to be said that the Committee devoted a significant amount of time looking at the threshold of 10,000 cubic metres. In fact, this was a major concern for Mr Irwin, who now chairs the Committee, and the rest of the Committee at the time. The Committee considered changing the threshold to 25,000 cubic metres, as the amendment proposes.”
“It is fair to say that this presented the Committee with a challenge, given the very technical nature of the primary legislation. It is also fair to say that it was not the most popular piece of legislation that the Committee has been asked to consider. For many members, including me, it is perhaps an engineers' charter. The only people who appear not to benefit are the people who own or manage reservoirs, particularly those in the rural community, many of whom have inherited reservoirs from families. Indeed, many of these people did not until recently even know that they possessed a reservoir and had no idea of the responsibility for managing such structures.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I am a member of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, which devoted a significant amount of time from February to June last year to scrutinising the Bill. On behalf of my party, I thank the Committee and its other members for working closely together, the Department for giving advice and Stella and her department for their work.”
“I will intervene on a different matter, but I am sure the Minister will answer that for you. You talked about the floodplains being so close to houses etc. That is a planning issue for the Department of the Environment. As you know, PPS 15 is out for consultation. Do you not agree that you are straying into planning law and FLD 5? Where does that sit with what you are saying?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Do you agree that there is a safety net within the Bill for those who may have problems with paying, as you mentioned, or with the costs? Do you agree that provision is built in to the Bill to take care of that for anybody who will have difficulty paying?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank the junior Minister for his answer so far. Given recent events, will the junior Minister confirm that we need a sexual orientation strategy urgently, and will he distance himself from the views expressed by his party colleague Jim Wells?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Following the review of public administration, what role does Arc21 now have in addressing waste management?”
“Indeed, we are quite proud of having it included in the Programme for Government, but the mid-glens from Glenarm and Carnlough right down into the mid-glens is sadly lacking and has been for a number of years, and we only have to look at the promenade in Carnlough to see that. Can you assure me that the mid-glens will get the share of promotion that it desires on the back of the Giro d'Italia when we had the iconic photographs and pictures of the horses on the beaches at Carnlough? We have not capitalised on those worldwide pictures.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for her responses so far. What is the Creative Centenaries initiative, and how much funding has your Department allocated to it?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for her statement. Has the industry here reached the conditions yet to allow her to introduce compulsory bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) testing?”
“I agree with the Minister in all that she has said so far — even with the rest of the people, the poets and all. We are talking here about the whole of the coast road from the mid glens right up into Carrickfergus, not just down to Steensons or Ballygally Castle. You have the mid glens, and you have Glenariff Forest Park. We need employment. What I said tonight is what came out of talking to people at a public meeting that Margaret Anne McKillop was not at. Minister, what I am bringing to you came from a public meeting. I know exactly what you are talking about with regard to Invest NI. Tomorrow, I am meeting Invest NI, but we need jobs on the ground for young people to come back to work in the area. We have no ground for a small business park, for example, and that is really lost, as it would attract SMEs into the area.”
“Can the Member tell me where the tourist office is in Larne?”
“We need those young people to come back in the future, and we need the regeneration of rural areas. We have an opportunity now with the new councils, both of which are drawing up community plans. The Ministers now have the opportunity to sit down with the councils and draw up plans for rural areas. I ask the Minister to look at that.”
“That whole area of the glens now depends on these programmes. It is all right stating that they can go to a programme in Ballymena or Coleraine, but the transport to take them to those places is not there. They are in a catch-22 situation and fall between two stools. I ask the Minister to look at this. She has been looking at doing programmes, but this really has to be looked at. Perhaps she can get talking to the new councils so that they can put programmes in. <BR /> <BR />When the programme was running, it was a success in Larne, Carrick, Moyle and Newtownabbey, with a total enrolment over two years of 2,620. DEL's actions have left little or no provision for supported community further education. This is further evidence of rural isolation. Where will all those young people go?”
“If they leave, as we all know, a good percentage of them do not come back. We will lose that entrepreneurship and their craft and skills. <BR /> <BR />Recently, the Minister for Employment and Learning cut the funding for the learner access and engagement programme, which has been successfully tended by the Larne Enterprise Development Company (Ledcom) since 2013 for three years with an option of a further two years. The programme was a lifeline for those who are aged 16 and over and are hard to reach, not in work, hold no more than one qualification at level 2 or above, may have barriers to learning and will declare an intention to become economically active at a future date. These young people, without the programme that has now been taken away, have no other choice or venue to be economically active.”
“I grew up in rural east Antrim and went to school there. At 15, I had to leave home to serve my apprenticeship. When we look at what we have today, we see that we really have not moved forward that much. Public transport has not improved, and more and more we see the centralisation of services that leaves rural dwellers more and more isolated. Community plans, which councils have to put in place, must have these issues embedded in them. In the entire rural area between Larne and Ballycastle, for example, we do not have one business park. How are we expected to encourage inward investment when we do not have the benefits of a park for new small and medium-sized enterprises to start up in? Any young entrepreneurs will have to leave the rural setting to avail themselves of any business space in an urban environment.”
“That disadvantage can be addressed through the innovative use of existing services, such as community halls and schools for use in outreach and mobile services and for the benefit of new developments. The coastal corridor and rural areas of east Antrim must be connected to all aspects of the urban economic base. We cannot have urban and rural communities working independently.”
“For rural businesses to survive or expand, they must have modern broadband. Otherwise, they will be at a severe disadvantage when competing for contracts. Today's farmer relies on the single farm payment for income. More and more, Europe insists on online applications for nearly all farming businesses. <BR /> <BR />Development and investment in the rural areas of East Antrim and its coastal corridor is vital if we are to sustain our rural way of life. At present, those communities are disadvantaged by virtue of their remote location from essential facilities and services such as natural gas. The providers have stated that providing gas to rural east Antrim would not be profitable.”
“That is why the RDP will be vital for farm diversification and farm incomes. In the last programme, we saw the benefit of diversification into light engineering, renewable energy and tourism. Councils must make the RDP one of their prime objectives. <BR /> <BR />Another element that must be prime in the new councils is the European funding structure. Up to now, the only councils with dedicated European officers were Derry and Belfast. From an initial talk to the chief executives of the Mid and East Antrim and the Causeway Coast and Glens councils, I think that that will be something that they will put in place, but they must have dedicated European officers to look at pulling down funding. <BR /> <BR />Another element for improvement is more high-speed broadband. The Minister answered some of that for me.”
“The new councils will have transferred to them from central government powers such as urban regeneration and community development, powers to provide businesses with support and start-up advice, planning powers and neighbourhood renewal. Those new powers will be important for the existing small and medium-sized businesses already operating. In rural areas, they are the backbone of employment and community regeneration. It is also vital that the new councils secure the maximum funding from the rural development programme (RDP). That funding can be used to start up rural businesses and for the sustainability and growth of existing rural businesses. The fund will also be important for our farming industry and their businesses. At present, the sector is under severe pressure.”
“You also have the rail link from Larne to Belfast, with links to the rest of the island of Ireland. You can now leave Larne and stay on the motorway to Cork. <BR /> <BR />At Executive level, the Northern Ireland economic strategy is focused on five rebalancing themes. Under the heading of "promoting enterprise", it clearly states that DETI and Invest NI will:”
“<BR /> <BR />The new Tourism Northern Ireland must come up with a plan that will promote the coast to the visitor. If that can be delivered successfully, it will increase the visitor spend and help the tourist industry to be confident enough to expand and create much-needed jobs. There will be help from the Executive, as the Causeway Coast and Glens is one of the nine key destinations in the tourism Minister's programme for government. <BR /> <BR />For the business sector to thrive, we must look at what we have and be honest enough to answer the question about whether we are doing enough. The A8 is nearing completion, and with that comes a great opportunity to have a business corridor from Larne. You will be able to connect with Belfast in less than 30 minutes and with Ballymena and Antrim in less than 20 minutes.”
“<BR /> <BR />The purpose of my Adjournment debate is to look at how development and investment in the coastal corridor can be maintained and improved. The Port of Larne is the second largest port and a vital outlet for industry and inward investment, but we are not using its potential. For example, the tourist industry is one of our biggest assets. We do very little other than put up signs, in most cases in the wrong place. The Port of Larne does not have a tourist office. When you leave the ferry, you find that it is a straight run to Belfast. There is no mention of the coastal route. Those are just some of the minor points for the new council and P&O. Last week, I met the new manager of P&O in Larne, and they agreed that there was a lot to do to promote the coastal corridor, as we both called it.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. Before I start, I thank the Minister for attending the debate this evening. <BR /> <BR />In April this year, Members will see the new councils come in and a new era of local government begin. The new councils of Mid and East Antrim and Causeway Coast and Glens will have responsibility for the coastal corridor and economic development along and within that route. To put both councils in perspective, together they have 21% of the Northern Ireland land mass and 15% of the total population. In 2013, they showed an average upward trend in population of 7%. In the same period, the Northern Ireland average was 8%. In both councils, the average working population is at 63%. That is a very small snapshot of the main parts of the two councils.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Does he agree that the Noble indices have as much to do with childcare and the lack of childcare in certain areas because of deprivation levels and how they look at them, and that that is out of the hands of everybody? The Noble indices now need to look at the rural dweller and give the mothers in the countryside better access to childcare.”
“— very few councils had a committee dealing with rural affairs. I commend this.”
“<BR /> <BR />Now that the councils have been set up, they must act on that information and make it a priority that goes into the community plans. Perhaps, the message will go out today that councils should go one step further and set up dedicated committees in their council structures that will deal with rural affairs, because, as those Members who come from a council background will know —”
“<BR /> <BR />MARA has amassed a large volume of information for the main Departments on health, education, community development and welfare benefits. Rural living must be made more attractive. That is the point: we are now sitting with all this information. The Minister has opened the door for other agencies to come in, and they must come in and deliver on this. <BR /> <BR />I will give you some numbers from my area, to give you an idea. The north Antrim network has been delivering MARA projects since 2012. It has visited 1,600 households for a first visit. That has involved a total of nearly 1,900 individual assessments, with a follow-up of nearly 1,400 second visits to ensure referrals have been acted on. The outcome of the nearly 1,700 household visits is some 4,000 referrals.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. No, I do not think so, because you will have a range of agencies coming in to deliver the programme. There will be enough to bring that round, considering the small number that was dealing with it at the start. However, I can see where you are coming from, and I appreciate your question. <BR /> <BR />The programme has proved to be a lifeline for farmers. Another great outcome has been the benefits check. For long enough, farmers have thought that, because they own land, they are not entitled to any benefits. The reverse has now been proven. It is important that vulnerable rural dwellers can access benefits, which are a great help to family incomes. In turn, they help address the extra costs of living in the countryside, such as fuel, transport etc. Farmers need that extra income for their families.”
“The programme has proved to be a lifeline for farmers, as their work does not leave them time to visit GP clinics and, indeed, the location of their work means that they are isolated from the rest of the community.”
“Those visits have generated a further 36,500 individual referrals to other Departments and agencies for a variety of grants, benefits and services. With partnerships in the area of public health, the MARA project will continue into 2015-16, with a further estimated 3,000 home visits planned. <BR /> <BR />One of the many successes of the MARA project is the farm families health checks programme. Since the programme started in July 2012, 6,826 clients have presented themselves for a health check at 325 venues. Of those venues, 213 were at markets and 112 were at community events. Some 52% of the clients were subsequently advised to see their GP. Over half — over 3,000 people — were referred to their GP for a medical reason.”
“The Agriculture Minister, who has to be commended for leading on all of this and, indeed, for her innovative thinking on it, secured £16 million in the 2011-15 Budget period to tackle rural isolation and poverty in rural areas under the programme and has secured £5·5 million for the 2014-15 financial year. That money and the work with other Departments, such as the Health Department, have enabled us to lever down a further £11 million in match funding. That is significant investment across a range of issues such as fuel poverty, disability, the elderly and young people, to name but a few. <BR /> <BR />MARA is delivered through 13 lead community-based organisations. In the past three years, the organisations have arranged and delivered 13,700 home visits.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. The revised tackling rural poverty and social isolation framework was launched on 22 February 2012 as a DARD initiative aimed at facilitating a cross-departmental coordinated service. The purpose of the initiative is to maximise access to benefits, grants and local and regional services that will help to support vulnerable rural dwellers who are already in or are at risk of poverty and social isolation. <BR /> <BR />The framework outlines three priority areas for government to target and take action against. Those are access poverty, financial poverty and social isolation.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. Minister, would you agree with me that all the new trade opportunities for the pork industry that you have mentioned represent the best way forward not only for prices in the market but in installing confidence within the pork industry?”
“Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Minister for that partial answer, but he has still not answered the question. When will rural dwellers see the investment in community and palliative care that the all-singing and all-dancing Transforming Your Care promised when it came out and all its plans were announced to the public? Will the Minister guarantee the House and the wider public today that any decision that he takes through Transforming Your Care for the rural community will first be rural-proofed?”
“Thank you for that answer. I tabled a question to you on the spend in your Budget, but I can maybe get an answer more quickly today. Where do you see the money for the spend in the Ambulance Service going? Will you hand it to the Minister of Health? How is that money distributed to all ambulance stations?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. First, on behalf of the local fishing industry, I congratulate the Minister on her hard work during the recent negotiations in Brussels. Today's statement highlights the work that was done there for the fleet. Will she now provide us with an update on the European Fisheries Fund (EFF)?”
“I thank the Minister for her response. Can the Minister further advise what her plans are for bringing forward an Irish language Act?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I congratulate you on your historic elevation. <BR /> <BR />Minister, I thank you for your presentation. Will the Minister tell us the current status of the proposed fisheries Bill?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Does he not agree that that has already been done and that we are looking at ways of collaborative working and streamlining the Department?”
“Why is that permit or licence so dear? It is £842. There is no rationale for it whatsoever. Consider how much the countryside is blighted by bonfires every year. Nobody responsible for bonfires is being brought to book. Why is the farming community being singled out? Why is the farmer having to pay £842 for a permit to bring tyres onto his farm? Go raibh maith agat.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. The community will be heartened by the fact that you are conducting a root-and-branch review of the agency's dealings. When a farmer applies to the agency to bring tyres on to his farm, why does he have to pay £842 for a licence to cover him for a three-year period?”
“Does the Member not think that the glens of Antrim should be included in his list of places to see?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-LeasCheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for her answers so far. I also join in the congratulations for LEDCOM and the wonderful work it does. <BR /> <BR />Minister, I ask you to look at the dispersed rural areas in east Antrim, such as Glenarm, Carnlough and the glens area, where young people find it difficult to get to work in small businesses because of the lack of transport. What help is there for small businesses in those areas?”
“If nothing else, it should be closed or somebody put in to run it. As we have seen tonight, what is going on there is nothing short of criminal.”
“I have been told of different types of assault and abuse of patients and of staff being shouted at and demeaned in front of patients and other people. Indeed, one person told me that patients were really only a means of making money. I really cannot say any more about this. <BR /> <BR />As Mr Dickson said, in the period 2013-14, £653,000 was put into this home for patient care. Earlier today, we debated for an hour and a half the MS centre in Ballycastle, which the Minister will close because of a budget of £500,000. We have a facility here that looks after the most vulnerable in society — elderly people who have worked all their life and expect to spend the twilight of their life in safety — and here they are in a place of fear. I call on the Minister now to put in place a full investigation of this home.”
“When I first heard about Cherry Tree House, I thought that there must be something wrong, because there would be no way that a home could get away with some of the things of which it was accused, and, as we all know, there are always two sides to a coin. However, the more this went on, the more I started to believe. <BR /> <BR />I received the report only today, and it really compounds what people have been saying. Questions have to be asked about the inspections and the follow-up inspections of these reports. Who is looking at the reports or going into the homes? I have had reports of management harassing families outside for payment for their loved ones' care. This was in front of the public, with other people knowing their business. I have been told of poor record keeping and that the bookkeeping is a mess.”