Maolíosa McHugh
West Tyrone · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“At present, they are largely dependent on borrowing through the Department's capital arrangements, which can limit their flexibility and their capacity to compete with ports elsewhere across these islands. The Bill represents an opportunity to address those issues.”
“Importantly, there will continue to be accountability and oversight through board structures, including representation from locally elected council members, as is already the case at Belfast harbour. That public connection and democratic input is an important safeguard, and one that should provide reassurance.”
“Tá céimeanna beaga ann is féidir linn uilig a ghlacadh lenár sláinte a fheabhsú: scrúdú sláinte a chur in áirithe leis an dochtúir; bheith ag labhairt go hoscailte faoin mheabhairshláinte; páirt a ghlacadh i mbothán na bhfear nó i ngrúpa siúlóide; nó bheith páirteach in aclaíocht eile. Cuireann siad uilig feabhas ar an tsláinte.”
“I welcome the introduction of the Harbours Bill, and I commend Minister Liz Kimmins for introducing legislation that seeks to modernise the framework within which ports operate. <BR /> <BR />Our ports are critical pieces of economic infrastructure.”
“Tháinig deireadh le Seachtain Shláinte na bhFear ag deireadh na seachtaine seo a chuaigh thart, ar Lá na nAithreacha. Is cuí gur le linn Sheachtain Shláinte na bhFear a thit Lá na nAithreacha, nó is minic a shíleann na fir nach bhfuil an dara rogha acu ach saighdiúireacht a dhéanamh.”
“They support employment, facilitate trade, enhance connectivity and contribute significantly to our local and regional economies. My party therefore welcomes the introduction of the Harbours Bill and looks forward to engaging constructively as it is progressed through the Assembly to ensure that it delivers for our ports, our economy and…”
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“What contingency has the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) proposed for the delivery of examinations next year, given the fact that many people's education experience will be vastly different, owing to the sheer level of disruption and the unevenly distributed nature of that disruption? Surely we cannot expect students to be examined in the usual way.”
“I ask the Minister to ensure that the facility is at the top of his agenda in the time ahead. Other priorities are there at present that none of us expected. In that context, however, we still hope that, when it comes to the provision of mental health services, the western area will be seriously considered and that we will have the development in Omagh.”
“<BR /> <BR />I reinforce the point that we want that development to take place now. It is needed in our area, and in West Tyrone in particular. When it comes to provision of services, the answer that we often get is, "We provide for the greater number of people". That is why, in more rural areas — Castlederg, Aghyaran, Carrickmore, Loughmacrory and so on — we often find ourselves deprived in that respect. In this case, however, we are the people coming forward with a greater number of people in many ways, because of our isolation in the first instance. Mr Buchanan referred to the isolation that many farmworkers in the community experience. <BR /> <BR />This is a service that is required in our area. Mental health services are there, but they need to be developed and improved.”
“I endorse more or less all that has been said by Members who have spoken previously, with one exception. A person politicises an issue when he starts throwing about allegations, such as the claim that none of three DUP Ministers and one Sinn Féin Minister acted on this. That is not true. On every occasion, Ministers acted and took things as far as they could at the time. They are to be credited with having stepped up to the plate and taken on the job in the first instance, when some other parties have shied away from it. <BR /> <BR />I commend our current Minister of Health, who has an arduous task in every respect, but he stepped up to the plate prior to the outbreak of COVID and, since then, has been dealing admirably with the situation. He is to be congratulated for that.”
“Therefore, in addition to jointly agreeing the terms of reference for the review, the Committee and the Commission will also need to consider the approach to identifying and appointing an appropriate independent person as envisaged in the NDNA recommendations. <BR /> <BR />In conclusion, subject to the motion being agreed by the House, I look forward to the Committee commencing its work. The outcome of the review will, of course, be debated at a later date when the AERC reports back to the Assembly.”
“<BR /> <BR />The motion from the Commission will give the AERC the ability to ensure that the review outlined in NDNA is taken forward. In that regard, paragraph 3.7 of annex C of NDNA refers to the "relevant Assembly authorities" commissioning the review. The AERC remit on the functioning of the Assembly and its experience in progressing relevant topics in previous mandates, including the Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act 2016, mean that the Committee is well placed to assist in facilitating the review. Therefore, given that the respective functions of the Committee and the Commission are relevant to the work in question, it is appropriate that the work should be taken forward jointly. <BR /> <BR />I note that NDNA also states:”
“When the Committee last met on 24 June 2020, it received advice on the procedural options for undertaking new pieces of work, and it was noted that the referral mechanism in Standing Order 59(3)(b) is an appropriate route in that regard. Also at its meeting of 24 June, the AERC considered correspondence from the Assembly Commission, which proposed that the bodies should work jointly to facilitate the implementation of the recommendation in New Decade, New Approach regarding a review of the adequacy and effectiveness of the statement of entitlements for an official Opposition, as set out in the Fresh Start Agreement. The Committee agreed in principle to undertake that work jointly with the Commission, subject to the necessary procedural arrangements being followed.”
“In particular, under Standing Order 59(3)(b), the AERC has the power to consider:”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak as the Deputy Chair of the Assembly and Executive Review Committee and to briefly outline the Committee's consideration of the issue to date. I will start by reminding the House of the remit of the Committee and how it relates to the subject matter of the motion.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle agus ba mhaith liom buíochas a thabhairt don Aire as a ráiteas fosta. I thank the Minister for his statement. It is important that the Executive can plan their Budget over a number of years. Is it the Minister's understanding that the Treasury still intends to set a multi-annual Budget of three years for resource and four years for capital?”
“Minister, I live in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area. I am only too aware of businesses that closed down last week in anticipation of restrictions coming in today. I am also well aware of employees on reduced income as a result of self-isolating, an anomaly that exists between those who work in private care homes and those who work for the Western Trust. <BR /> <BR />Given that your economic recovery strategy outlines the need to address regional imbalances, will you consider calling in Invest NI to prioritise areas of low employment, so that, hopefully, there would be greater input from Invest NI in job creation and financial assistance for job creation in the north-west?”
“I know that you have already been involved in lobbying the Chancellor on furlough and so on. Will you continue lobbying for much-needed resources and a financial package, particularly for the north-west, given the situation that that region finds itself in?”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Aire as do fhreagra. Minister, thank you for your reply. In addition to cost-effectiveness, I am sure that you will agree with me that it is important that those who are awarded those contracts and so on give priority to the protection of the environment, pay a living wage and improve social outcomes for all.”
“I am sure that all Members are only too aware that it is those at the grassroots level who are really suffering throughout the whole of the COVID crisis, particularly in terms of loss of earnings and so on. How can the Minister ensure that that support to the grassroots within arts and culture is delivered?”
“I thank the First Minister for her answer. Will she give an assurance that she will work with the Dublin Government to deliver the NDNA commitments to provide further financial support to the fund?”
“I will ask the same question again. Have you received bids from any of the groups — many are from my constituency — that have been excluded from previous schemes? What arrangements are being made to accommodate those people?”
“Minister, have you received bids from any of the groups — some are from my constituency — that have been excluded from previous schemes —?”
“On testing, we have seen increased problems and growing public frustration in accessing COVID-19 test centres, with people being directed in some cases to Scotland and even to Wales. Does the Minister accept that we need a locally based, accessible testing programme?”
“It is a departure from basic law and from respect for law within nations and between nations. We must be much more principled in every respect in how we deal with our affairs.”
“When that is totally ignored, it seeps down and corrupts even our domestic law as well. Johnson is incapable of identifying with the age-old proverb of Na Fianna, "De réir mo bhriathair" , which means "According to my word". A more direct English translation into a cornerstone of the business community is, "My word is my bond". We must be seen to oppose this departure in every way through the motion proposed by Ms Anderson.”
“— and many of our politicians from all parties in the North of Ireland and throughout the Republic of Ireland. Whom do you trust when it comes to defending our interests and our rights? Do you trust Boris Johnson, who shows no respect for this agreement and no respect for international treaties? Some Members were shouting "No", but the Lord Chief Justice, Declan Morgan, stated:”
“Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives —”
“Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission —”
“It is ironic that a representative of the class and party who oversaw the starvation of millions of our people in the 19th century whilst exporting food from Ireland is telling us that the European Union will do the same because of limitations on the importation of food to this island. How ironic. I ask you: whom do you trust? Michel Barnier, chief negotiator for the European Union —”
“It also gives the Tory Government the power to impose rules and regulations on the Assembly that can undermine our agriculture industry, particularly by compelling the Assembly to accept lower environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards. Boris Johnson, to whom we all listened recently, hides behind the defence of the Good Friday Agreement. He did not mention it when signing up to the protocol, but the European Union negotiators always had the Good Friday Agreement uppermost in their sights and its defence as the central plank from day one. Johnson went so far as to suggest — some people here have nearly touched on the same issue — that we in the North of Ireland might even be starved by the European Union, which would limit the import of food products to this island.”
“However, by introducing his Internal Market Bill, Johnson is totally undermining the protocol. The protocol defends not only the interests of the people of the Six Counties but the Good Friday Agreement. It has been stoutly defended by member states of the EU and, more significantly, by the United States of America, guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement. <BR /> <BR />Let us not kid ourselves: the Internal Market Bill is about Boris Johnson and England and what is best for them. If truth be told, it is about fisheries to a lesser degree but, more significantly, about state aid, as the leader of the unionist party said, and the rules governing state aid to industry.”
“At the outset, I have to say that, if self-interest requires a U-turn, Boris Johnson is capable of that. We all know that, and Members on the other Benches know that only too well. He has U-turned on them many times, and, yet and all, like the obedient lapdog, they still lick his toes and wait for the crumbs off his table. <BR /> <BR />The EU withdrawal agreement protocol was a compromise, and built within that compromise is an arbitration system to allow the parties to deal with any disputes that may arise over certain issues. Many Members have touched on that but have not explained that, through that arbitration system, in the event of there being disputes on particular products or the likes of it, it could have been worked out between the parties that signed up to the agreement.”
“Minister, do you agree that this will provide an opportunity for good governance, increased accountability and democracy and improved service delivery that will reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in arm's-length bodies?”
“It is of utmost importance that you take into consideration the emotional health and well-being of students now that they are back in the classroom, so how will CCEA's consultation on the curriculum and exams take into consideration the mental health and well-being of students? In a sense, too, that very much relates to the previous question about the 11-plus. I come from a community where people have long memories. They remember how children did in the 11-plus, but they do not remember how they graduated after it.”
“Go raibh maith agat, ceist uimhir a cúig anois.”
“Will the Minister provide some clarity on what further details he is seeking, so that, as has already been stated in the Chamber, that type of public inquiry, which is so necessary — we can all identify with that — does not interfere with a police investigation running concurrently. Who has the Minister asked for those details, and when does he expect some answers? <BR /> <BR />Finally, I make the point that it is so important, in the event of the inquiry happening, that all the people — the families, the residents and the staff, because we all know that there are many good members of staff at Muckamore — are given their opportunity to be open, transparent and honest about what has happened in that provision.”
“That in itself is a very damning statement in every respect. As a result of that, I come back to a point made by my fellow party member Pat Sheehan in a question to the Health Minister. The Minister stated:”
“An article today in 'The Irish News' quoted a comment made as a result of an independent review that found that Muckamore was "a place apart" managed by”
“<BR /> <BR />It is also worth noting that Muckamore Abbey Hospital is a regional facility and is part of a regional pathway of care for the assessment, treatment and support of those with learning difficulties. Yet, such abuses occurred. Some of my colleagues have spent considerable time engaging with the relevant bodies and agencies to try to get to the centre of this, and, indeed, my colleague Colm Gildernew has named a few of the organisations. That highlights the need for an inquiry. It is necessary and important and will help to identify not only the individual failings but the wider systemic failings and the culture that existed in that provision. <BR /> <BR />The motion refers to the leadership and governance review.”
“I am privileged today to speak in support of the motion in every respect. Like other Members, I am totally outraged by what has happened in Muckamore. That outrage is a result not just of all the incidents that have happened in Muckamore but particularly of the experiences of families. When what was happening in Muckamore was revealed and they attempted to raise questions and issues about that, they experienced inherent resistance, not only in the Belfast Trust but in the wider health and social care system, to being open and transparent and answering some of the basic questions of families about the quality of care. The previous speaker also referred to the same issue.”
“That, in itself, is despicable but it is all the more reason why the situation has to be looked at very carefully in order to ensure that we get the best possible results for all of our people and for all elements of industry.”
“<BR /> <BR />When we look at the furlough scheme as an instrument that can influence many elements of our economy and our industries, that is all the more reason to ensure that we give total and absolute support to the Executive, the Economy Minister and the Finance Minister in making their appeals to the British authorities to continue to support the furlough scheme and extend it well beyond the month of October and, if anything, for the next two years. <BR /> <BR />Another critical and essential point, which has been mentioned by a number of Members, is that there are people who are only now coming to the point where they will require the same type of support but have been excluded by a time frame.”
“Let us not forget one other element of this when we talk about workers who have not been laid off but have been furloughed and are receiving the greater part of their income. They are the same people who, if anything, sustain and maintain our domestic economy. It is in that other area of the demand for goods and services domestically that they still have the resources in order to be able to sustain and maintain that.”
“We do not want to see those skills lost, and that is what furloughing provides for. It ensures that you still hold onto and secure those skills. <BR /> <BR />As I said, this is a system that was tested and tried a long time ago, initially in Germany in the 1920s, a time of hyperinflation, and more lately, in 2008, at the time of the world recession. Once again, the Germans were the people who came to the fore and provided the world with a system that ensured that they could at least absorb gently, if anything, the more negative aspects of that recession at that time. It is not by accident that they are the same people who now wish to extend their scheme by another two years, because they know exactly the impact that that sudden rise in unemployment will have on their economy.”
“In fact, if anything, it is there initially to help the system to cope with unemployment. We have, in a sense, suppressed that to date. Now, with the suggestion that, in October, it is going to be removed, we can expect that same surge in unemployment within this economy. <BR /> <BR />In itself, our economy has much fewer businesses per head of the population than Scotland, Wales or England. All the more reason why we should be there ensuring that we protect those jobs in every respect — and not just the jobs per se, but the skills. The skills that have been acquired over a long period of time in the whole area of manufacturing and the like. Mid Ulster, an area very near to my own constituency, is now, if anything, the manufacturing base here in the North of Ireland.”
“I, too, welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. Since the inception of COVID and its like, we have all become familiar with a new vocabulary in many respects, and we are starting to come to terms with the meaning as well. When we talked about suppressing the curve and furloughing and so on, many people did not really understand what the concepts were. This is not to say for one minute that it is completely and absolutely new. Furloughing is an instrument that has been tried and tested for over 100 years. Just as we talked about suppressing the curve in order for the health system to be in a position to cope with what we knew was coming down the line in the amount of people who would require hospitalisation, it is also the case with furloughing.”
“There has been a disadvantage of spirit as a result of the transfer test.”
“Even Protestant schools would tell me that, rather than being a hobby horse, the transfer test was the elephant in the room. I would hope that when the report comes back, the Minister says to himself that the answer is easy: it is about having the courage to actually grasp that easy answer. In fact, if it happens to reflect, too, that the transfer test has contributed, in many respects, to disadvantage for many of those people —.”
“Whilst the Minister has described it as a "hobby horse", I know from all the feedback that I got as a member of the Western Education and Library Board —.”
“Fadhb ar bith. Like others, I come from a social-security class, Catholic background in west Tyrone. We never realised that we had nothing until, as someone said before, we had something. Many of the people who lived in my community were of the same background. Whilst we would have rung all the bells with regard to socio-economic deprivation, our spirit did not match that in the slightest. Having attended grammar school in Omagh, I then, in later years, had the opportunity to deal with people who had gone through the education system and were branded as failures in every respect. I am only too well aware of many of the difficulties and problems that they faced. In later years, I also dealt with adult numeracy and literacy.”
“and to the Minister as well for his statement. Like others —.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle, agus gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire fosta. I thank”
“It will be a welcome development if rate relief is once again given to the business community. They are the people who have been providing for their communities since they were abandoned by the banks. I very much welcome the Minister's proposal. <BR /> <BR />Let us not forget that in having an ATM on your premises, you are putting yourself and your premises at risk. Rate relief is something that is not just required now at the time of COVID-19 when people are probably not travelling as far, even to other towns and the like in order to do their shopping or whatever. However, it is a requirement that needs to be there in the future, too, for the more rural of the rural communities, in every respect. Go raibh míle maith agat arís, a Aire as an ráiteas seo. Thank you, Minister, for the legislation.”
“Little did I think that, five years later, the three local banks in my own town of Castlederg would all close. When banking abandoned the rural towns, it had such an impact on our communities in every respect. The facility where one could acquire cash as needed was completely gone. That exposed rural communities in so many ways as well. We had an increase in robberies in the more rural areas, as there was an expectation that people would be keeping money at home. Those robberies then extended to ATMs themselves, and we all know the history of that over the last number of years. <BR /> <BR />ATMs are undoubtedly a necessity not only in providing for the local community but for the local business community, which was finding itself exposed and at risk in providing that facility to locals.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghlacadh leis an Aire fosta as an mholadh sin. I thank our Minister for taking forward the legislation, which is so important to rural communities. The scheme was first introduced in 2007. At that time, it was identified that 60% of the cash that people accessed through local ATMs was spent locally as well. It was introduced to facilitate what I would describe as the "rural, rural" communities and the likes of a petrol station or grocery shop in a very isolated area. However, it has taken on a very different dimension since then. <BR /> <BR />In 2013, I supported the people of Newtownstewart when they were faced with the closure of the last bank in that town.”