Clare Bailey
South Belfast · Green Party · Northern Ireland
“It is a great relief to finally be able to move my Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Bill at Final Stage. When I was first elected, I pledged to the people of South Belfast that I would work hard on equality issues, for human rights-compliant legislation and, particularly, for women. Today is the last sitting day of the mandate.”
“Yet, despite "Stay at home" messaging and regulations to prevent public gatherings, the concerted campaign of harassment and intimidation against women and staff continued unabated, and all authorities — the Health Department, the Department of Justice, the PSNI — claimed that they could do nothing to stop it.”
“The efficacy of the Bill is achieved without being unnecessarily heavy-handed or putting significant additional pressures on any criminal justice system. I hope that we can move on from those debates. <BR /> <BR />This is absolutely a landmark moment for the Assembly. I have seen many Bills passed today that I am incredibly proud of.”
“I thank the Member for that. It is worth noting that, comparatively, this Bill takes a light touch in respect of offences being committed, because the punishment for breaching safe access zones around the world, in almost all cases where they are operational, can result in imprisonment and wildly higher fines than what is being proposed i…”
“I am also aware that the Minister, who, Mr Butler, is your party colleague, has also confirmed that he will produce a policy paper setting out how his Department intends to implement the requirements for safe access zones, including guidance to operators of health and social care premises.”
“None of that is what I have experienced with abortion services. <BR /> <BR />I went out to consultation on the Bill in 2017, just as the Executive was collapsing yet again, and the three-year hiatus meant that I could not progress the Bill any further.”
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“The Women's Caucus's action plan lays out a clear guide for how we can fulfil our end of the bargain so that we can improve the overall quality and legitimacy of this institution in order to be recognised on the world stage as an example of best practice. This is an unparalleled opportunity to be outward-looking rather than insular and to keep pace with international standards so that we do not continue to procrastinate, stagnate or row back on our hard-won gains on gender equality. <BR /> <BR />The gender-sensitive Assembly action plan addresses how to do that by setting out priorities and strategies, and targeted interventions that are achievable and essential.”
“It results in Parliaments that deliver better to constituents, fulfil the democratic mandate and are more legitimate overall. All member states of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, which includes the UK, adopted a plan of action for gender-sensitive Parliaments in 2012. Westminster has taken significant steps to work towards that, but our devolved Assembly is lagging far behind.”
“Our gender-sensitive Assembly action plan looks at the Assembly carefully. It acknowledges the unseen but undeniably felt barriers that deter the presence of women and limit their participation and retention, and it brings forward strong and actionable solutions. <BR /> <BR />A gender-sensitive Assembly is one that meets the requirements of all the people in its structures, one that does not enforce direct or indirect discriminatory practices, is one that is family-friendly, one where women and men's needs to live and work are enabled and one where sexist language and behaviour are not tolerated. That directly results in legislation-making processes that are gender-sensitive and more effective.”
“At 35%, we are on the way out of marginalisation, but considerable steps need to be taken in order to get the Assembly to where it needs to be. It will be only as the number of women MLAs increases that we will be able to work more effectively together in order to promote substantive gender-sensitive and institutional change. It is crucial to do that, and everyone should be brought along on that journey. <BR /> <BR />The root causes of marginalisation in the political sphere are well known universally and specifically here in Northern Ireland. Everyone must be involved in the solution to the problem. We must shift the focus of responsibility for advancing gender equality away from women MLAs and onto the Assembly as a whole, which means all its Members, institutional culture, processes and mechanisms.”
“A gender-blind or gender-neutral approach does not work because society is neither gender-blind nor gender-neutral. Systemic, institutional and structural inequalities have seen to that. <BR /> <BR />We know the barriers. They are very well-understood by most, and they permeate across all sectors of women's lives. Many women have overcome those obstacles, which should be recognised and celebrated, but that is not enough. The playing field needs to be levelled for all women. Equal access to opportunities needs to be universal. That equality needs to be substantive. <BR /> <BR />Every woman MLA does an exceptional job because they carry extra burdens. We are at 35% of representation, and we need to be at 50%. A gender-sensitive approach is paramount if we are to meaningfully achieve that. The aims of the Women's Caucus are set at that.”
“We know that it allows for greater responsiveness to people's needs. We also know that it increases cooperation among political parties towards having a more sustainable future. We know that having more women in positions of leadership and decision-making will reflect women's lived reality and will directly influence legislation and policymaking so that they meet the needs of women. Our Women's Caucus is an example of that. Today we bring forward the motion, united across party lines. The potential in that is transformative for the Assembly and Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />The engagement of women is crucial, but women are not a homogenous group. Women lead intersectional lives with different lived experiences that inform different priorities and needs. Political representation must reflect that.”
“Where is the parity of esteem for women? Where is the parity of esteem for those with mutlisectionalities? Representation is not true or effective unless there is adequate representation for all the people who we are here to legislate for. There is no shortage of potential leadership outside the Chamber, and it is up to the Assembly to endorse actions to counter the marginalisation that stops those potential leaders stepping forward. It is up to us. The Women's Caucus sees that as imperative, but we cannot affect that change unless we are supported by the Assembly. <BR /> <BR />We know that women's meaningful participation in politics helps to advance gender equality for society as a whole. We know that it affects the scope of the policy issues that are debated for legislation and the types of solutions that are brought forward.”
“<BR /> <BR />We have come a long way with the representation of women in political life in Northern Ireland, but we have not come far enough. The Good Friday/Belfast Agreement committed to increasing women's participation, but women remain under-represented. Time and time again, Northern Ireland has been called out on that. <BR /> <BR />The Assembly and Executive Review Committee's report stated that it is a serious matter to be addressed urgently. But where is that urgency? Only 35% of our MLAs are women. It is time to get a little bit more urgent. To say that that is overdue structurally and institutionally is a gross understatement. <BR /> <BR />Our narrative in Northern Ireland for the past 20 or so years has been underpinned by parity of esteem, but that has not been extended to all of the people that the Assembly aims to represent.”
“Happy International Women's Day to everyone in the Chamber. This is the first time that there have been predominantly females in the Chamber, and that is good to see. Thanks to Trevor and Mike — yes, you get a special mention. <BR /> <BR />I move the motion as the current chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly Women's Caucus. Members will be aware that the 2015 'Report on Women in Politics and the Northern Ireland Assembly' set out to analyse the key challenges and barriers facing women when entering politics in Northern Ireland and the Assembly. It also made recommendations to enhance the role of women already active in the political arena. One of those recommendations was the creation of the Women's Caucus and another was the establishment of a gender-sensitive Northern Ireland Assembly.”
“I thank the Minister for her answer. I asked a question about the PSNI response in the Holylands area last week, where £11,000 of COVID fines were handed out. There is a hamster wheel that goes on every year; I was dealing with that issue long before I was elected. The problems in the Holylands extend beyond the COVID pandemic. I am aware that the Executive set up a task force to deal with that back in August or September, when we saw the influx of freshers. Will the Minister give us an update on what has taken place with the Executive's Holylands task force?”
“We need to acknowledge that there is no good outcome for Northern Ireland and that, in mitigating what we have and what we will continue to see, it needs to be firmly put to the Joint Committee, and the EU and the UK Government need to step up and start looking after the interests of Northern Ireland rather than their own agendas.”
“Should we need to be reminded, Boris Johnson even told Donald Tusk in a letter that the UK supports a backstop that applies "unless and until" something better is found. Those opposing Brexit, those opposing the protocol, those opposing where we are today and those bringing judicial reviews to our courts need to step up and start telling us what is better because I want to hear it, businesses want to hear it and people want to hear it. <BR /> <BR />My colleague from South Belfast Christopher Stalford, who has left the Chamber unfortunately, said that we need to step up and represent businesses and people. Does he need to be reminded that over 70% of people in South Belfast unanimously rejected Brexit? Where was his representation then? <BR /> <BR />The issue needs to be solved in the Joint Committee.”
“No, I will not. <BR /> <BR />Any solution for issues arising because of the protocol need to be sorted out with the Joint Committee. Nobody in the House should be fooled that the EU or the United Kingdom Government are looking for the best outcome for Northern Ireland when they are rolling out the programme for Brexit. That is not the reality, because, every which way, Northern Ireland is set to be harmed.”
“Here we go, yet again, discussing the impact of Brexit when many of us knew — all of us knew — that it would bring no benefits and certainly no settlement for Northern Ireland. When we hear that businesses are adversely impacted by the protocol, the question needs to be asked. Businesses were going to be impacted no matter what the arrangement. This is not about where the border is if you want to stand up for businesses, because if it was a land or a sea border, businesses will still be affected. We need to acknowledge that that argument is a party political one and not one that is set up for helping any businesses. Brexit is bad for Northern Ireland, and the protocol is the minimum standard of protection for us against the harshest outcome of the hard Brexit that Boris Johnson sought.”
“Thank you for giving way. Minister, I made points about where money could be reallocated and saved in order to spend on priority needs. Continuing with the current system of duplication of services and silo working is not effective and is not fiscally responsible, and I was using those examples to try to encourage Executive Ministers to work better together to prioritise and reallocate our money in more effective ways. I think that I was giving those examples. Apologies if it did not come across very well.”
“This Budget really falls so far short on both measures.”
“As your parties' Ministers oversee the spending year ahead, I challenge each of you to step up, be brave and begin the radical change needed towards fiscal sustainability and a green recovery built around a just transition so that we can build back better. This Budget has none of that in it, in spite of the talk around all those concepts. Words, it seems, are cheap. <BR /> <BR />The Green Party knows how far-reaching and front-loaded the change has to be, and we will stand in support of any Minister brave enough to acknowledge that and move towards it. Time is running out. We are living through the beginning of a drastic change. The only question remaining is do we survive or thrive? There is no thriving in this Budget, and it is debatable whether we can survive without the urgent change that we need.”
“We are in multiple crises with the pandemic, and its economic consequences and the climate and biodiversity emergencies, which most here are only beginning to engage with as concepts, yet we are nowhere close to planning a strategy to deal with them. <BR /> <BR />Whilst delivering this Budget is the responsibility of the Finance Minister, do we really need reminding that it comes from a five-party power-sharing Executive? Much of the discourse today has, again, been pretending that the Executive parties are in opposition to each other, but you are not. You share power, therefore you share responsibility, and this Budget lies at the feet of the DUP, Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the UUP and Alliance.”
“There has been no apparent progress on the implementation of the racial equality strategy or even the creation of a childcare strategy. We have even failed to get COVID mitigation payments to businesses that were instructed to close their doors and suffered devastating economic impacts. We failed to get payments to people that would allow them to stay home and isolate, so it should be no great surprise that this Budget is much like every other Budget in style and substance. <BR /> <BR />New thinking will take brave leadership. Whether that leadership comes from civil servants or Ministers may be a moot point, but, preferably, that, too, could be joined up and come from both levels, for it is urgently needed.”
“Progress has been made through expert-led advisory groups and co-design working groups to develop a gender equality strategy, a disability strategy, an LGBTQI+ strategy and an anti-poverty strategy. However, without the specific adoption of those crucial social inclusion strategies in the PFG, the work of the expert-led community groups and the development of those strategies are at a real risk of being blocked by individual Ministers.”
“We could actually build back better rather than just talk about it. <BR /> <BR />There has been a lack of time to respond to the draft Budget or conduct equality and human rights screenings. There is still no Programme for Government. The draft PFG that was established through NDNA included commitments on:”
“The list is extensive, and many examples have been outlined by Members today. <BR /> <BR />One thing above all highlights the failure of delivery of this budgetary system: before COVID, one in four children in Northern Ireland was living in poverty. One quarter of our children were living in poverty. How can that be in a region with, supposedly, the sixth highest GDP in the world? Is it because the macroeconomic indicators do not paint the whole picture? If so, let us paint a new picture. If we moved to joined-up working and ended departmental and ministerial silo working, we could move to a focused, shared and joined-up system of delivery from this five-party Executive. We could make our Budget work better for people, we could achieve quick results, and we could build a more resilient and sustainable economy.”
“<BR /> <BR />In last year's Budget, £2·2 million was allocated to deliver new climate change legislation, as well as a scoping study for an independent environmental protection agency. Yet here we are, one year on, and climate change legislation from the Department has not materialised, and the creation of an independent EPA seems to have fallen off the radar. There are so many examples from each Department where joined-up, future-proofed thinking, if applied, could prove to be economically beneficial and create healthier and happier communities and people. That can be applied to housing; welfare; advice and support services; legacy; dealing with our past; and victims and survivors, including victims of institutional abuse. Many of those issues have already been raised today.”
“In the period 2017-2025, the total cost to the HSC from air pollution in Northern Ireland is likely to be between £55 million and £190 million. The sector that will bear the brunt of that cost will be secondary caregivers, which is historically known to be a low-wage and female-dominated workforce. However, the cost in all other sectors combined is likely to exceed that spend and is more likely to be between £182 million and £635 million. When all diseases are included, air pollution alone is expected to cause 84,000 new cases of disease in Northern Ireland between 2017 and 2035. That will result in the shift of an economic burden of inaction from DAERA to create and uphold an air pollution strategy on to the cost to the health service and human lives.”
“The Mobuoy dump on the banks of the River Faughan is described as a "super dump". We are all aware of it; it is one of the biggest illegal dumps in western Europe. It is estimated that it will cost £50 million to engage contractors to clean up the dump site. However, there is no sign of that happening either, and communities are still forced to live with it. Despite the NDNA commitments, there has been no progress on an independent environmental protection agency (EPA) for Northern Ireland to prevent and deal with environmental crime, such as operating an illegal dump. <BR /> <BR />The lack of a clean air strategy means that, due to particulate matter poisons, there are an estimated 500-plus premature deaths in Northern Ireland.”
“There is also the lack of a road maintenance strategy, yet the Executive response is to build more roads. Costs for the A5, for example, will exceed the outline business case costs by 38%, and delivery will be 10 years later than expected. <BR /> <BR />The sand beds of Lough Neagh are being dredged to provide concrete that is needed for development projects, and the Minister tells us that there are no detrimental environmental impacts.”
“<BR /> <BR />We know that the Infrastructure Minister has identified that there is insufficient network capacity for waste water treatment works in all of Northern Ireland's local authority areas, except for Warrenpoint — I do not know why, but Warrenpoint is the exception — yet we keep building private development projects. Our spend on transport is the lowest. Our public transport service is not fit for purpose. When it is cheaper for an average family to own a private vehicle than it is to travel on public services, we are in a no-win scenario. Only 3 kilometres of a promised 27-kilometre Belfast cycle network, for example, was delivered. Annual funding to maintain roads is £50 million less than what is needed each year. Required maintenance of £1·2 billion is required just to keep the network safe.”
“<BR /> <BR />Although in Northern Ireland the health spend is equal to that in other regions, there is very little accountability and transparency to the spending. The Green Party therefore calls for reform of and reporting on our health services. It supports the full implementation of Bengoa and the 'Delivering Together' and 'Power to People' healthcare transformation reports and the delivery of more care in the community. It is really serious when we hear a GP say to the media, "It feels as though the whole service is crumbling around us. It does not feel safe". That is really serious, but that wrong can be put right if there is the political will and the bravery to implement what is needed, and if what needs to be done is done.”
“<BR /> <BR />For example, in education, we know that there are close to 50,000 empty desks across the school estate and that upwards of £95 million a year is wasted on the duplication of services. An estimation given by the Integrated Education Fund (IEF) is that as much as £1 billion-plus has been spent over the past decade alone on bringing our young people into contact with each other in various cross-community initiatives to correct the negative consequences and prejudice resulting from their initial segregation. Add to that the cost of school transport, which is approximately £81 million a year, with children being bussed past their nearest school to attend a school with a different management type. That demonstrates the staggering economic costs of a segregated system.”
“There are aspects of the green new deal that, because of the inherently new challenges posed by climate change and the need for imaginative solutions, will not be captured by the green book model. We need to include those benefits in our economic appraisals and better capture their value. <BR /> <BR />Let us end the narrative from some that there is no magic money tree. Indeed, for much reform, a magic money tree may not even be needed. I have already mentioned the areas in which Northern Ireland's spend per head is higher or lower than that in other regions, but we can no longer financially afford to uphold our fractured, segregated and divided society. If we work to end that, finance can be redirected to a better and more sustainable outcome.”
“We can, however, do things differently if there is the will to do so. <BR /> <BR />The very way in which we carry out economic appraisals needs to be improved if we are to justify the very necessary cost of investing in our environment, social infrastructure and a green new deal. We need to think about how we appraise future investments. Benefits far into the future cannot continue to be seen as having a lesser value. There are issues around economically valuing non-economic goods such as nature, biodiversity and human health, and that can always be done better to make the argument for investing in our future. We must also consider non-economic costs and what will happen without a green new deal. The impacts of not having one would be catastrophic, and we know that.”
“The Green Party in Northern Ireland fully accepts that there will always be a finite budget, but doing the same thing with it over and over again will never bring a different outcome.”
“As we in the Green Party have stated many times in the Chamber, a green recovery presents us with a short- and long-term vision of sustainable jobs for life with simultaneous improvements socially, environmentally and economically. It is not about getting us back to business as usual, to a world where many struggle to get by, a world endangered by escalating pollution and waste. It is a vision that aims to reduce waste, to cut bills for participating households, to sustain employment through recession and to modernise our housing stock. I remind Members that the Executive parties committed and agreed to this back in 2011. Last year, in response to Rachel Woods MLA's call for a green and just recovery, Minister Murphy said:”
“The Green Party has said before — I want to repeat it today — that we must have a sustainable, fair and just recovery to get out of this. We need a plan that we can fund, especially as we face economic recession. It must not be like the one that the Governments implemented after our last social and economic disruption through the economic crash in 2008, when we bailed out the banks; rather, we must look to provide stimulus through components of the green new deal and to bail out our people. There will not be quick fixes. We need long-term plans that do not penalise people by entering into austerity policies on the long road that we have ahead. <BR /> <BR />I reiterate that our Green colleagues in the European Parliament have already articulated that:”
“Following on from that, in a written response to the RSPB's written request to the Minister to establish a green recovery fund just last week, the budget director in the Department said that Ministers should reprioritise their departmental budgets to fund green initiatives. That suggests to me that the Minister and his officials really have no regard to their role in a green recovery. Now is the time for a green COVID recovery strategy. Now is the time to deliver that and to put the mechanisms in place. If we could not discuss it when dealing with the money for COVID allocations and it is not included in this Budget, when are we supposed to get it?”
“It has been mentioned, of course, that we urgently need a green recovery. In response to questions from Rachel Woods MLA during last year's COVID budget debate on funding a green recovery, the Minister said:”
“What is not to welcome about that? I am curious to know why this five-party power-sharing Executive seem reluctant to have such a body established.”
“Minister, it is nearly Easter. Why have an independent financial institution (IFI)? The OECD argues that IFIs:”
“We all know that the deadline of July 2020 has long gone. Almost one year on, I am not aware of anything solid being done to establish an independent fiscal council. I would be greatly encouraged if the Minister could give an update to the House today on that issue and maybe include a new deadline for an intended establishment date: July 2021, perhaps. We need a reply that goes further in commitment than the response that the Minister gave to a question for written answer a few weeks ago:”
“Previous years' spending shows that public spending per head in Northern Ireland is the highest in the UK. We have the highest spend of any region on public order and safety; economic affairs in enterprise and economic development; economic affairs in employment policies; agriculture; fisheries; forestry; health; recreation; culture and religion; and social protection. We spend more than the UK average per head in each of those categories but not on economic affairs in science and technology, transport or environmental protection. On environmental protection, we have the lowest spend of all four UK regions. <BR /> <BR />The New Decade, New Approach agreement promised us much, but, perhaps most relevant to this Bill, it promised us an independent fiscal council. The agreement states:”
“We have heard about the identified strategies yet to be implemented by the Executive: the gender equality strategy, the race equality strategy and the disability and poverty strategies. They are all still unmet. Those who can least afford it are suffering, and that is to our shame. We have all been lobbied by sectors that have set out some clear plans for how we move forward to a fairer and more just society. The feminist recovery plan, which was mentioned by Mr Nesbitt, is one example. I recommend to anyone who has yet to read it that they should take the time to do so. <BR /> <BR />We can no longer continue to distract ourselves from the fact that we urgently need to protect those most at risk in Northern Ireland. We need to urgently rethink our economic and fiscal priorities.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak today on another Budget and another accelerated passage. I will do my bit to save Mr Catney from breaking his Lent alcohol fast. I do not wish to repeat much of what has been raised by Members during the debate today, but I have to admit that, at this stage, I am really glad that I do not share your commitment, Mr Catney. <BR /> <BR />We have heard Committee responses to the Budget from the Committee Chairs today. We have heard that we are still in extraordinary times dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that it has brought with it. We also know that women and children are impacted more severely during crises. That is, of course, on top of the austerity agenda of recent years.”
“What has changed in those few short weeks that has lead the Minister to take such action? It is not Brexit or the protocol. Does the Minister believe that the actions and decisions that he took on Friday were cross-cutting across Executive Departments?”
“I want to go back to a quote from the First Minister, just a few weeks ago, on 'The Andrew Marr Show', when she described Brexit with the protocol in place as:”
“We will do all we can to make what some may believe to be impossible very possible. <BR /> <BR />We will support the SRs.”
“The writing has been on the wall about climate change for all of this time, and it cannot be ignored. Business as usual is not an option. We keep hearing about plans from the Minister and the Department for the new green growth strategy, which is a strategy that is based on more productivity. We have not had sight of it to date, however, so we have not seen the detail. We must move forward with a Northern Ireland agriculture Act, using the public-money-for-public-good model that puts nature and farmers at its heart. <BR /> <BR />Any future system must address farm poverty, support small farmers, and improve the status of farmers in the value chain, while mitigating the effects of climate change, improving water and air quality, and protecting and enhancing biodiversity. The Green Party does not believe that to be ridiculous or impossible.”
“On the other hand, we see our natural ecosystems in a state of collapse and government policies of agricultural intensification that have led to 98% of our special areas of conservation (SACs) exceeding their critical thresholds for ammonia pollution. We have no air pollution strategy either. Some 95% of our lakes fail water framework directive quality standards. At the same time, our agriculture sector is the sector that is the biggest contributor to our total greenhouse gas emissions. As was already mentioned, I do not think that our track record on environmental sustainability is really there. <BR /> <BR />As tricky as it is, the issue of climate change is one that must be addressed. We need to work out a transition plan for rural communities, as well as for the rest of us.”
“What we need is for the simplification payments to be part of a time-limited transition period until we can get our own legislation in place for farmers. It is essential to provide that certainty for farmers and the agri-food sector at large. <BR /> <BR />I therefore call on the Minister to make the creation of Northern Ireland's own agriculture Act a priority. There can be no doubt that the future of agriculture policy is at a crossroads. Our system is at breaking point. On the one hand, we see an industry that has become increasingly hostile to those at its heart. Rural poverty is at an all-time high, and one in four farming families lives in poverty.”
“It is using public money for a public-goods model that does not automatically extend to Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales are working on their own bespoke primary legislation for 2024. At EU level, the CAP is being reformed. Is Northern Ireland therefore being left behind? As we know, despite clear support from the AERA Committee at the time for such a provision, no sunset clause for Northern Ireland was included in the UK Agriculture Act 2020. Without the legal obligation to introduce a bespoke agriculture Bill for Northern Ireland, change will be slow in coming. We are in a situation in which no such legislation seems to be forthcoming, and there has been no indication that it will ever come. For all we know, the simplification regime will simply continue indefinitely.”
“We have been repeatedly assured that the SRs are mainly technical amendments to how direct payments were previously administered. For that reason, we will be supporting them today. The Green Party broadly welcomes the simplifications, because we welcome the ability for payments to continue into 2021, thus providing that limited certainty for farmers. <BR /> <BR />It is important that minor simplifications do not become characteristic of the change that we make to our system of agriculture payments as we leave the EU's common agricultural policy. Instead, they must form part of a transition period of continuing towards delivering better outcomes for nature and land use and for the wider farming sector through nature-friendly farming models. As it stands, England is working on its new system of direct payments.”