Colin McGrath
South Down · Social Democratic and Labour Party · Northern Ireland
“Minister, regardless of where people stand on the exact figure, surely we can all agree that a health service cannot function without the doctors whom it trains.”
“Minister, climate change is happening, and extreme weather events are taking place. We saw that in Downpatrick a number of years ago when the town centre was ravaged by flooding, and it has taken the businesses affected many years to try to get over that flooding.”
“Minister, given that capital funding is, generally, being decimated, the extent of which may increase as a result of the Executive's not agreeing a Budget, what impact will that have on any final road maintenance strategy, and are any contingencies being put in place to manage that?”
“<BR /> <BR />Since March 2025, the parliamentary excellence programme has delivered dedicated sessions with the Executive Office on the strategic framework and its delivery plan, enhancing Members’ understanding of the cross-government approach and their role in scrutiny, legislation and constituency engagement.”
“<BR /> <BR />More broadly, the Assembly Commission supports Members and Committees in carrying out their scrutiny functions, including in relation to the Executive Office’s work on that framework.”
“As the Member mentioned, one example is the Assembly's Women's Caucus, which has a particular focus on supporting women in public life and highlighting the increasing challenges that women face in the digital sphere, including online abuse.”
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“<BR /> <BR />In 2026, the fact that we have to distil the conversation down to whether we should or should not feed hungry children makes me think, "Are we in a Dickensian society?". It is like being back in the 1700s or 1800s. I hope that we can lift the game above that and find a solution. If the problem is identified as the money, let us find a solution to that, because if we do, we end up feeding hungry children, and then we have a success. <BR /> <BR />I wish the Bill sponsor well with the Bill. I hope that it proceeds. I think that it would be really interesting to be on the Education Committee to be part of it; unfortunately, I am not. I wish the Bill well, and I am sure that it will pass Second Stage this evening and progress to being analysed and, hopefully, passed.”
“I welcome what the Member said. I understand it. I am not saying that I disagree. I know that the Minister, who is sitting in front of him, has a finite budget and that, if he is asked for extra money to come out of it, he will have to go off and assess that budget to work out where it will come from. I get that, but let us not turn it into a fight in this place about how that is done. There could be extra money from the whole Executive that goes to the Department. It could be suggested that every Department chips in a little bit. One thing is certain: if the Bill goes through, the young people who will be fed and nourished and who will be able to develop will not give a damn where the money came from. They will just be interested in the fact that there is food in their mouths.”
“Rather, we can take it as read that it is and that there are young people in our community who are not getting fed at the weekend or during the holidays. The Bill would go some way to addressing that. I will make one plea that I hope is not taken from an Opposition perspective: let us not politicise the issue. This is about feeding hungry children. Let us not start saying, "No, you've got to pay for it", "No, you've got to give us money" and, "No, you've got to decide whether it is enough". Let us instead thrash out some of the details in Committee and not let the public display of the debate be about scoring points against other parties. The Bill is about feeding children and recognising that if we feed them, we know how much better their lives and opportunities will be.”
“They recognised what happened to their peers when they were not being fed and were coming into school hungry, and they recognised when that was happening, which was at weekends and at holiday time. <BR /> <BR />The youth centre that I am associated with, the Patrician Youth Centre in Downpatrick, has a group that contributes to that programme. I was lucky to be able to join the group and hear about some of its work with experts from other places whom it has met on Zoom meetings and from whom it gets some guidance and support. I know that, because there is that recognised need, many businesses and companies out there support youth organisations and give them money to provide food inside centres. <BR /> <BR />We do not need to discuss whether the issue is important.”
“Absolutely. I have experienced children and young people being very hungry at the weekend and at holiday time. I commend the work that Children in NI has done through its Gets Active programme. I know that it has met the Bill sponsor. It has brought groups of young people together to examine the issue. Sometimes, young people can inform us a lot better about issues that relate to them. Rather than all of us sitting in here thinking that we know better, we should ask young people to tell us their thoughts and views and about their experiences. Those young people were bang on the money. They knew exactly what the issues were. They understood their importance.”
“I speak from experience from my years as a youth worker, because I tended to work with young people outside of school time. I worked with them in the evenings, at weekends and at holiday time. One thing that they always said that they loved when I took them away for a period, especially on residentials and exchanges, was that they were so well fed. I certainly always retained that as a really important part of the programme, not least because if they were fed, the kids went to bed and slept that night. If they were not, they were on edge, unhappy and unsettled. I therefore know the importance of feeding young people well so that they were satisfied and nourished.”
“I will speak for only a moment or two, or perhaps for even less time than some of the interventions took. In some instances, that would give me the latitude to speak for around 10 minutes. It is said that every day is a school day. I have to say that one line from the debate is burned into my mind, and it is that it is really important that we feed kids. That is so obvious. It speaks volumes that that has had to be said in a debate. We have got ourselves to the point at which we are discussing whether we should feed children. We should take some time to reflect on that. <BR /> <BR />Mr Sheehan made the point earlier, and it was well made, that we cannot identify children as being hungry during term time but not during the rest of the year.”
“What that tells us is this: the system can work but, too often, it works only when it is forced to do so, and that is not good enough.”
“Suddenly, there was a solution and progress could be made. While that is welcome, of course, it raises a deeply uncomfortable truth: if a solution could be found on Friday, why was it not found months ago? What is the solution? What nursing cover will be provided? How will it differ from previous years? Will it be a permanent solution, or will the decision be just for this summer? <BR /> <BR />Once again, we have a dysfunctional Executive presiding over dysfunction, a solution but no detail — more uncertainty. One wonders why families had to go through days of fear and uncertainty. Why did children have to become the centre of a political storm before Departments did what they should have done in the first place, which was sit down and fix the problem?”
“For many of those families, those few weeks in the summer are the difference between coping and not coping. That is not political rhetoric; it is a reality that is reflected not just in what we hear in our constituencies but in the wider coverage over the past week by news outlets that have highlighted the deep anxiety, anger and distress caused by this decision. Parents described themselves as "abandoned", and families said that they were being "pushed to breaking point". <BR /> <BR />Another point that cannot simply be ignored is that it took public pressure, headlines and families speaking out for action to finally happen. We know that ,on Friday, after the issue had been dragged into the public domain, the Department of Health and the Department of Education suddenly found a way forward.”
“I thank my colleague for raising another important issue that shows the same lack of connection, in that the MO is the same. We should probably have a "Ministry of Problems" for the Executive, but I think that that is just how the Executive are: we never see them address problems. We just see the problems being thrown about in public and people out there being left to deal with the ramifications. <BR /> <BR />Let me bring us back to where this story belongs. It belongs to the children and their families, including the parents who rely on these summer schemes not as a luxury but as a lifeline that provides structure, care, development and respite. Caring for a child with complex needs is relentless: it is 24/7. It is physically exhausting, emotionally draining and often done with far too little support.”
“Were their needs taken into consideration, or was this just a chance to score a political point off a different Minister? <BR /> <BR />What of the Executive? Why were they not recalled to address this? The Executive have power. Ministers could have got round the table, thrashed the problem out and brought solutions. Instead, we saw an amplification of the problem. That is not what people want. They want action, they want solutions, and they want matters to be resolved. They do not want to see grandstanding.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. That just speaks to the dysfunction. The public may have representatives who raise matters, but, if they do not get resolved, that is cold comfort to people out there. We cannot pretend that this is a surprise. It is not; it is a failure of oversight, a failure of grip and, ultimately, a failure of the collective responsibility that there should be in the Executive. That is why our amendment points out an uncomfortable reality, but it is also a truth. The blame shifting and the press releases were poor form. Children with some of the most complex needs were used as leverage in a political row. <BR /> <BR />Where was the equality impact assessment on this decision from the EA? Some of the most vulnerable were impacted on by its decision.”
“The Education Authority's published papers and Education Committee minutes have repeatedly highlighted workforce pressures, challenges in securing healthcare support and risks to service delivery.”
“The pressures around nursing in special schools have been known about for years. They did not arrive overnight; they did not suddenly emerge in March 2026. That raises a very serious question: where has everybody been? <BR /> <BR />Every single party involved in the Executive is also represented on the Education Authority board. All four Executive parties sit around the Executive table and have reps on the Education Authority board. The minutes of Education Authority board meetings have highlighted that problems were brewing, and all four parties in the Executive and the Education Authority should have known that. All four parties have access to its corporate reporting, governance structures and minutes, and all four should have seen the warning signs.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. This entire situation has been a stain on the Executive and how they do business. We had Ministers blaming each other and arm's-length bodies taking decisions that impact badly on people. We even had officials not knowing what qualifications their staff have. All the while, no one here was prepared to fess up and take responsibility until the people united and sent a clear message that what was happening was wrong. <BR /> <BR />We saw two Ministers doing their negotiations on the airwaves, and they had to bow to public pressure — sheer dysfunction. For all the noise, meetings and accusations, who stood up for the children? The cancellation of summer schemes and, indeed, the problems with the provision for children with special educational needs is not new.”
“That is us being mature, open, honest and transparent. I use the term "us", because, as I said, we all have to own the consequences of passing the Act. It was passed in a very unedifying way. As my colleague the leader of the Opposition has said, it was the last thing that we did before going out to an election, and the first thing that we did when we came back was overturn it. That is not a good look to the public. This is a method by which to try to address that and be more open and honest. I know that, underneath the chipping back and forward, we all agree with that. Hopefully, now, in a few seconds, the amendment can be made.”
“It is an amendment to a Bill that is overturning a previous Act that overturned an original Act. Sometimes, when we get into the conversation on that, it can be confusing. I did say in my remarks — I will read them again — that all parties supported the Act four years ago, and we have to own the consequences of that, which are that it was then found that the Executive could not deliver it because they could not afford it. Now they are saying that there could be a set of costs. I stand to be corrected, but I think that we are talking about £5 million of implementation costs to deliver something that is then being delayed. What we are saying here is let us have that annual openness, honesty and transparency to say, "Here are any costs that have been accrued in the past year in the non-delivery of this Act".”
“Therefore, by taking responsibility and saying that we have nothing to hide from that process and that we will detail where the costs are, what costs have been involved and what the delay is, and that we will produce that annually, we will hopefully move towards a scenario where, in better financial circumstances, as we move towards 2029, there might be an opportunity for us to be able to implement that full law.”
“It is the Assembly's stepping up to the mark and saying, "Where we did not deliver what we promised, we will be open about how we go forward to be able to fix that". I appreciate that the Minister has said that he cannot detail whether there was any dissent. I heard that earlier in the debate on minimum unit pricing, and then we ended up pointing out exactly who it was who did and did not vote for it. However, I understand that that could be found out through the FOI process. <BR /> <BR />Another important thing is that the Bill to which this amendment is tabled, which is overturning a previous Act, has been heavily commented upon in the papers by journalists who have looked at it and said that it was not the best shining example of what we can do here.”
“Thank you very much. I appreciate everybody's participation in the debate. I do not intend to take very long. We actually almost brought some harmony to the Chamber with the Minister's giving way to Diane Dodds and taking those points, and the leader of the Opposition's getting some exceptional powers as well in the middle of that. It has not been the worst debate. <BR /> <BR />Whilst I accept the points that people have made about this not being the biggest amount of money and the report's being very short, those are not the issues: the issue is that what was presented in the Bill originally was a bit of a disaster, and that what we are actually saying here, with the amendment, is that there should be full openness and transparency to the public in the face of that. That is taking responsibility.”
“I hope, therefore, that all Members will support my amendment to ensure that this place operates with honesty, openness and transparency at its core.”
“We cannot continue with a situation in which infrastructure is installed and then sits unused and in which the costs of delay simply accumulate without scrutiny. That is not good governance; it is not accountability; and it is certainly not fair on all the people who were told that help was on the way. <BR /> <BR />The amendment does not fix every flaw in the Bill, but it does something essential, which is to shine a light. It means that, if we delay, we must explain why; if we spend, we must account for that spending; and, if we ask people to wait, we must be honest about why and for how long. Without transparency, there can be no trust, and, without trust, legislation such as this becomes exactly what I said it was: a farce.”
“It is not to be hidden away or buried in departmental papers or briefings but laid clearly before the Assembly and the public. If we are going to delay delivery, the very least we owe is honesty about the consequences. <BR /> <BR />All parties supported the Bill four years ago, and we have to own the consequences of that. My amendment is about ensuring that decisions taken in the Chamber are matched by our responsibility to the people outside the Chamber who elected us. It is about ensuring that, when legislation is passed with promises attached, those promises are not eroded quietly and without explanation. It is about ensuring that the public, particularly our health workers, are not left in the dark.”
“<BR /> <BR />In 2022, following the passage of the private Member's Bill, staff were told that free parking would be delivered, that that would not impact on front-line services and that money would be found; yet, here we are, four years on, still waiting. We are now told that many millions have been spent; we are told that money may have to come from front-line care if we do not carry out this delay; and we are told that implementation must be delayed again. However, what we are not told clearly or consistently is how much has been spent; how much has been lost through the delay; and how much, ultimately, this will cost the public purse. <BR /> <BR />My amendment is straightforward. It requires the Department to publish within six months a full report on the costs arising from the delay and to continue to report annually thereafter.”
“When I last spoke on the Bill, I described the entire process as "a farce". Today, I stand not just to repeat that but to fix one part of it, because that is what a constructive Opposition do. <BR /> <BR />We have in front of us legislation that does one simple thing: delay. It delays a promise that was made to all staff; it delays delivery; and it delays accountability. The Bill pushes the implementation of free hospital car parking to a date that may, at the discretion of the Department, be as late as May 2029; yet, despite that delay, the years that have already passed and the millions that have already been spent, as has been discussed, we still do not have a clear and transparent account of the true cost of the policy. My amendment would close that gap, because trust is at the heart of the issue.”
“Minister, I appreciate that you were busy in America. Lagan Valley Hospital and the Ulster Hospital were able to maintain their urgent care centres on the day, but it was the people of Downpatrick, on its busiest day of the year, who were left short at Downe Hospital. If you were not aware of that and you were not aware of ambulance response times in South Down when I asked you previously, I wonder whether you are aware that, over the past five years, £1·8 billion has been spent by health trusts on agency and locum staff. Is it the case, Minister, that your advisers are not telling you what is happening, or are you just not interested in the realities of the health service?”
“Community pharmacy provides a service that your Department has to provide, but it cannot do so with the funding that you are giving it. It is going to collapse. The Minister suggests that the £20 million clawback needs to be connected to new services. It was put to me recently that that is like giving nurses a pay rise but asking them to work a Saturday and a Sunday; it does not make sense. Will the Minister undertake to sit down with representatives of the community pharmacy sector and hear exactly what the situation is in the community? I am not even entirely sure about some of the figures that he has quoted today, because the Committee was told that it had been given misinformation that had to be corrected. I do not know whether the Minister's pack has been corrected for Question Time.”
“Minister, it is highly regrettable that you are having to make this statement today despite the scientific evidence that supports minimum unit pricing and the moral argument that will undoubtedly be made by not introducing the legislation. You have said that you were unable to get Executive support for the legislation. Can you set out for us who it is who is opposing this at the Executive table, what scientific evidence they are bringing to the table to justify that, what moral evidence they are bringing for that cause and whether they have any suggested message for the dozens of families that will be impacted on by the death of a loved one because we are not introducing this now?”
“I hope that we get those assurances. We are happy to support the Bill's passage to the next stage and, with those assurances, make it a reality for our rural communities.”
“I hope that we can get some comfort or assurance that this will not be a case of just promising things to a sector until we get to the other side of an election and, then, saying, "Sorry, there's no money to deliver this", and keep putting it back. Given that the Member's party has the Department that runs the money — the Finance Department — hopefully, we will get an assurance that funding will come behind this Bill to make its provisions a reality so that those small, rural farms are able to survive. That is what we want to see in constituencies such as mine, which has rural communities and upland farms that struggle to make ends meet. The payments that the Bill would deliver would greatly assist them in their work. However, if it is just a promise that gets cancelled after the next election, it is not much good.”
“If we truly believe in the future of farming, that future must be open to everyone, regardless of their needs or where they farm. I recognise the DUP's concerns that the Bill does not provide any new money and that the money must come from DAERA's budget. Let us break that down a little bit: we have a Sinn Féin Member introducing a Bill that promises no new money, despite one of his own being the Finance Minister whose draft Budget offers no new money. That is all being done just ahead of an election. Something similar happened in 2022 in respect of hospital car parking charges, and, as we all know, after that election, we were back here having to defer their abolition, and we defer it again and again.”
“We all know that farming is one of the most dangerous professions, but when there is not even enough support to enable a family to have a good enough income to help their disabled child, we know that the entire sector is in real danger.”
“We have to show that there is a future there not only for large operations but for family farms, which are the backbone of rural life. <BR /> <BR />I will raise one issue that brings everything into sharp focus for me. I was contacted by a constituent family whose 13-year-old son is a wheelchair user and passionate about farming. He wants to be in the yard. He wants to do his share of the work. He wants to be part of a life that so many people take for granted. The barriers that he faces are with access. His family asked me this simple question: what support is there to make the farm accessible for him or for their business to be viable enough to allow them to have the money to invest in making it accessible for him? At the minute, the answer is, "Very little".”
“The DUP often claims to be the farmer's friend, but, too often, its focus has been on the wider agriculture industry and on supporting big business rather than on protecting the most vulnerable farms on the margins. If the Bill restores a degree of fairness by recognising the structural challenges that those upland farmers face, it is welcome and a necessary correction. The reality is that farming in areas such as the Mournes is not the same as farming on prime lowland ground. The seasons are shorter, the costs are higher and the margins are tighter. Without targeted support, those farms are at risk. If we are serious about encouraging young people into farming and sustaining rural communities, we have to make it viable.”
“There is something deeply honest about a family farm. It is a way of life that is passed from one generation to the next. It is about early mornings in the dark and late evenings in the rain. It is about a commitment to the land, to animals and to the community, and it is a commitment that is never switched off. It is often those very farms — small, family-run upland farms — that are left behind, however. <BR /> <BR />It is worth remembering how we got here. Areas of natural constraint payments were much reduced and then ended in 2018 under the DUP, apparently the great supporter of the local farmer. The cuts did not hit everyone equally, however; they hit small family farms in disadvantaged areas hardest.”
“The adequate funding of all sectors of education is critical. The ring-fenced budget of the Youth Service is under severe threat. Does the Minister agree that the Youth Service is desperately important in our communities, that it needs to be funded and that a certain amount of protection came from that ring-fencing? Will he agree to meet me urgently to discuss some of the issues and to allow me to passionately explain the importance of youth work, having spent a career in it?”
“<BR /> <BR />The motion and the SDLP amendment recognise both sides of the situation that we face: the need to stand firmly behind international law, and the need to protect families here at home from the consequences of a crisis that they did not create. I urge Members to support the motion and our amendment.”
“The meeting descended into political exchanges between the Chair and members of the Minister's party, with more time spent on point-scoring than on solutions. For anyone watching, it will have been deeply frustrating. People who are worried about the cost of heating their home expect leadership, not arguments. What we saw this morning reflects a wider problem: an Executive who too often struggle to act collectively and too often fail to respond with the urgency that situations such as this demand. That is why the SDLP argues that reform of these institutions is not an abstract debate; reform is about delivery and making sure that, when crises happen, the Executive are capable of responding quickly and in the interests of the people whom we serve.”
“Even if additional funding is required, there is nothing preventing the Executive from preparing a support scheme now and being clear with the public about what will happen if prices continue to rise. Instead, in recent days, we have seen confusion, contradiction and far too much political infighting. Families who rely on oil to heat their home are worried about costs, yet they hear Ministers arguing with one another, rather than seeking solutions. <BR /> <BR />The scenes from this morning's Economy Committee are an example of how not to do government here. An emergency meeting was called to discuss rising energy prices, but, instead of our hearing a clear plan to support households, much of the discussion focused on disagreements in the Executive.”
“It is felt by older people living alone, by parents trying to make ends meet and by workers who have little room in their household budgets. The debate is not distant from the responsibilities of the Assembly but, rather, speaks directly to the cost of living and how the Executive respond when people here are put under pressure by events that they cannot control. <BR /> <BR />That is why the SDLP tabled its amendment. People expect Ministers to work together in such moments. They expect a clear plan, not mixed messages, and they expect the Executive to act to protect them from rising costs. Engagement has taken place between the Minister for the Economy and the British Government, and that is to be welcomed, but engagement alone will not protect families from higher bills.”
“International law has meaning only if it is applied consistently, regardless of who is responsible. <BR /> <BR />The debate cannot end with foreign policy alone, because instability in the Middle East quickly becomes pressure on households here at home. We have already seen oil prices rise, and that matters more in Northern Ireland than it does in most places. More than two thirds of households here rely on home heating oil, and, when prices rise, people feel it immediately. Fuel poverty is already a reality for far too many families. Too many people are trying to keep their home warm while balancing bills that are rising faster than their income. <BR /> <BR />When conflict pushes up energy prices, the impact is felt first not in markets but in homes across the North.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Although the debate concerns events far beyond these islands, it is fairly obvious that the consequences are being felt directly by the people whom we all represent. What we are seeing in the Middle East is a serious and dangerous escalation. Lives, including those of children, have been lost. Civilians have been put in harm's way. Families across the region are living in fear and uncertainty about what is to come next. <BR /> <BR />If we are serious about standing behind international law, we must also be serious about recognising the human cost when that law is ignored. The SDLP has been clear in condemning the illegal attacks, and we have also been clear in condemning the human rights abuses and lack of democracy in Iran. The two positions are not contradictory.”
“As a member of the Policing Board, I know that one of the issues that is affecting recruitment is the lack of neighbourhood officers: those officers who can go into communities and, in slow time, talk to people, engage with community groups and organisations and encourage people to join the Police Service. Does the First Minister agree that the obliteration of the Police Service's budget, which is a result of the Executive's Budget constraints, is preventing it from being able to recruit the right number of people to the force and the neighbourhood officer team?”
“, but I hope to be there next year. I appreciate that Laura Devlin from my office represented us there. Congratulations to everyone in the East Down Athletic Club for their sterling leadership of that wonderful event that brings people to our town. <BR /> <BR />Tomorrow, the county town of Down will be alive with activity. Events will take place in the Down Arts Centre, at Down County Museum, in the St Patrick's Centre and around Down Cathedral, as well as throughout the streets of our town. Our colourful St Patrick's Day parade will set off at 1.30 pm. I encourage anyone who can to come along to enjoy the spectacle and support the local shops and hospitality afterwards. Downpatrick has it all. It has St Patrick. There can be no better place to be on 17 March than there.”
“The story and legacy of St Patrick are told wonderfully at the St Patrick's Centre in Downpatrick, the only centre in the world that is dedicated entirely to him. It is well worth a visit. His influence runs right through our community life. Our chapel bears his name and our schools reflect that tradition. Of course, the Patrician Youth Centre, an organisation that I have been proudly associated with for nearly 40 years, continues to serve young people across our area and has his name in the title. <BR /> <BR />Celebrations are already well under way. Yesterday saw the hugely successful Jimmy's 10k in Downpatrick. Well done to everyone who took part in that. Unfortunately, a hamstring injury that I picked up last week prevented me from participating”
“Tuesday is St Patrick's Day. Right around the globe, people will celebrate all that is green. At its heart, it is a day about unity. St Patrick's story is one of reconciliation and bringing people together. That is the spirit in which it should always be marked. <BR /> <BR />I represent South Down and am a native of Downpatrick, a town that is proud to be the resting place of our national saint. Indeed, there are three saints buried there, but St Patrick is, of course, the most notable. Our area is steeped in that patrician heritage, from the statue of St Patrick on Slieve Patrick and Saul to the landing place along the River Quoile and to Down Cathedral, where he is laid to rest.”
“Thank you very much for your explanation of the situation, Mr Deputy Speaker. <BR /> <BR />My colleague mentioned how there was great urgency to remove the infrastructure. It was not just about removing the infrastructure. As the Minister said, it cost millions of pounds to implement new infrastructure in those car parks. It is costing us money. Yes, I accept the point that there will be an opportunity to use that infrastructure in the future, but we will wait and see whether the original Bill ever makes its way through. <BR /> <BR />I started my contribution by referencing the fact that this is a farce. I finish by saying that it is a complete farce.”
“Thank you very much for that defence of the process, Mr Deputy Speaker.”
“It was so delayed that it could not receive Committee scrutiny. This has been a farce from start to finish. It has been handled badly. It is another example of how the Executive sometimes cannot get the basics right.”