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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“At discharge, you have to wait a lifetime to get your medicine, and it can take forever for the ambulance to bring you back home again. It is not a pretty picture. Even if the health service officials do not accept that, I certainly do. <BR /> <BR />I do not think that it is the problem of an individual person. We have a cocktail of problems. We have a population that is growing older and presenting more often with more complex needs. Our staff find the other side of the world much more attractive to work in than here. We have the cutbacks to our budget through the Tory cuts agenda, which is implemented by our Executive. The problems are manifold. <BR /> <BR />My constituency has local problems, too.”
“The ambulance takes too long to arrive. Then you have to wait in a queue outside the emergency department. You eventually get inside, only to have to wait on a bed, which could be a trolley in a corridor, before you eventually get seen by a doctor. Then you have to wait to get up onto the ward. When you want to be discharged, you have to wait until your home care package is in place. If it is not, you have to remain in hospital, not for vital and much-needed healthcare but merely because nobody is available to care for you when you get back into the community. Bed-blocking is prevalent in the community and is costing tens of thousands of pounds. More importantly, it is denying early medical intervention to those who need it.”
“They told me that the service was not broken, that they did not need any extra money and that essentially all was rosy in the garden. I think that, Minister, you will have your job cut out convincing senior officials that there is actually a problem, never mind getting them to address it. <BR /> <BR />The issues span the full length of the service. Some of them have been mentioned. They include long queues at accident and emergency; waiting times for elective operations; excessive waiting times for ambulances, especially in rural communities; inequality when it comes to GP appointment waiting times; long waiting times for appointments with consultants; and so on. The health service, which our own officials — public employees — tell us is in great shape, is certainly anything but. <BR /> <BR />We have a cycle of problems in emergency care.”
“I rise today, hopefully in quieter circumstances, to support the motion because I care deeply about the health service of Northern Ireland in general and in my own area of south Down in particular. I worry about the excessive waiting times and the impact that they are having upon people who must wait. It appears that, in some instances, the sick are getting sicker as they have to wait excessive time for treatment. It is therefore timely that this motion is being heard so early in this Assembly mandate. <BR /> <BR />I met senior officials from the Department of Health just two weeks ago. I kid you not: in response to my suggestion that the health service is not working and is failing people, they seemed insulted that I should say such a thing.”
“Thank you. Indeed there is. I think that it has been mentioned a few times today that policing and community safety partnerships can definitely utilise their experience on the ground in communities to identify problems and target the resources that can come from the centre. Nothing wipes out a supply chain more quickly than diminishing demand. <BR /> <BR />In conclusion, we have today something that we may not get a lot of in this mandate: agreement from all sides. I do not intend to go through bit by bit what people said. I think that we all know that we support the motion and the amendment. We are asking Northern Ireland to be tough when it has to be but caring when it needs to be and sensible enough to know the difference and to educate people about the risks to them and allow them to make truly informed decisions.”
“We call for more information and assistance, for emergency help when needed, and for guidance and support should people stray into drug-taking and want to put the brakes on. We have asked for an Executive-wide approach because, whilst the Department of Justice can lock people up, the Department of Education can teach people, and the Department of Health can help people when there is nobody else to support them. We must educate our children as well about themselves to help them to understand the reasons for the decisions that they take. With care and construction, an appropriate sharing of resources, and a suitably motivated and driven team of professionals, we could target that type of education to the places it is needed most and prevent the next generation of drug users.”
“Young people can become consumed by the drug culture: the places they hang out, the people whom they meet and the activities that they do. Young people might have the freedom of a new wage packet or a university place and become users, maybe of soft drugs first before, as was mentioned, moving on to harder drugs. We have young people who recreationally use harder drugs and whose weekends are incomplete without a dabble. With 86% of those convicted of drug-related crimes being male and well over 26% of convictions coming from the 18-24 age bracket, we are specifically letting down young men if we approach this in a simply punitive manner. <BR /> <BR />There is never a happy ending to taking drugs. It impacts young people's lives and futures, and it can have a debilitating impact on them for the rest of their lives.”
“They are wonderful, caring and friendly, and it is my pleasure to represent them in this place and do all I can for them in the constituency. <BR /> <BR />I move on to the issue at hand: the scourge of illegal drugs. We tabled an amendment because we felt that the motion did not go far enough. We were worried that it focused too much on punishment. Whilst a clear message must be sent to drug dealers, peddlers and those in the supply chain, the motion could have gone further and called for a joined-up and coordinated approach to help to prevent those who feel tempted to partake in drugs from doing so. <BR /> <BR />I am finishing my role as a youth worker, and I know only too well the impact that drugs can have on young people, be they involved in taking drugs or watching a family member do so.”
“Margaret has assisted me in my political career. She has been a friendly guide. She helped to establish me, and she had such drive and determination that we always had to work the extra hour, walk the extra mile and rap the extra door before we got to rest. I pay full respect to Seán Rogers. Another quiet gentleman of Irish politics, he will be missed from the front line. He leaves a legacy of hard work, service and care for the community that he served. I pledge to maintain and deliver on the work that he started. <BR /> <BR />The area that I represent is a beautiful place, stretching as it does from the shores of Strangford lough, past where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea and the idyllic expanse of Carlingford lough. If there is one thing that is better than the scenery in our area, it is the people of South Down.”
“The matter of illegal drug use in our society and trying to protect our communities is both relevant and pertinent. <BR /> <BR />I hail, for those who do not know me, from Downpatrick, which is the county town of Down and the final resting place and true home of St Patrick. I say that because I know that no Armagh city representatives can interrupt me during my maiden speech, and so I will say it again: I am from Downpatrick, which is St Patrick's true homeland. <BR /> <BR />I arrive to this seat in the footsteps of some political greats. Mr Eddie McGrady was the quiet giant of Northern Irish politics: fair, determined and yet well liked on all sides of this House and others. He was a gentleman and a mentor, and he is sadly missed in politics and in our area. I also follow Margaret Ritchie into the seat.”
“Thank you for calling me, Deputy Speaker, for this, my maiden speech. <BR /> <BR />It is an honour to serve one's constituents in a place such as this and to do so when winding up a debate about illegal drug use in our society —”
“I thank the Minister for her statement and wish her well in her work in the Department in the time ahead. <BR /> <BR />What assurances can the Minister give us that any additional resources secured in the June monitoring round will be used in an equitable manner across the full health network to include places such as the Downe Hospital in Downpatrick and the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, which are ideally placed to alleviate pressures in the major centres?”