Paula Bradshaw
South Belfast · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“They were places where those who were vulnerable were concealed, young mothers were stripped of their babies and children were stripped of their identities. Let us be resolute in our remembrance of what happened behind the doors of those institutions.”
“At all stages, the Committee has set out its clear support for the legislation's overarching aims and principles, which are to establish a statutory public inquiry into the systemic failings associated with mother-and-baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses between 1922 and 1995 and to create a statutory redress scheme for t…”
“Again, I refuse to call them "mother-and-baby homes", for we now know that there was nothing homely about them. What the Bill can and must do is offer a tangible declaration that the state accepts its responsibility.”
“As Chairperson of the Committee for the Executive Office, I welcome the opportunity to speak at the Final Stage of the Inquiry (Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses) and Redress Scheme Bill.”
“Key points were also made in relation to redress: the need to ensure that the Executive Office introduces clear guidelines for the scheme as soon as practicable; the need for the Executive Office to widely communicate and promote the scheme to all victims and survivors, including those who live overseas; and the need for the Executive Off…”
“The First Minister and deputy First Minister tabled a number of amendments that gave effect to the Committee's intent across a number of clauses. In several instances, the Committee chose to withdraw its amendments in favour of the Ministers' wording, where that better reflected the broader book of the law.”
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“Maybe I misheard you earlier, First Minister, but did you say that there may be a point at which some of the contributions may go back, once a threshold is reached? I am conscious that the institutions should pay not just for the redress but towards the professional ongoing services that many victims and survivors will need for the rest of their lives.”
“I thank the Minister for the response. I am very conscious that time is marching on, and, like victims and survivors of other historical abuse, the people who have been campaigning for accountability, truth and justice are getting very fed up. You said that you were going to launch the consultation as soon as possible. Do you have a specific timeline for that?”
“You will be aware, First Minister, that the institutions and the religious orders were put on notice in 2010. They have had 14 years to come forward with their contribution. Will you consider legal action if they do not come forward in a timely manner?”
“<BR /> <BR />The motion is very timely and very much supported, and I look forward to hearing the Minister's response on what concrete action can be taken, especially around the residential rehabilitation unit.”
“Around every corner, especially in inner-city communities, you will find the impact of the scourge of drugs and the very hopeless people who are addicted to them. <BR /> <BR />To go back to that young lady who was seven months pregnant, I always wonder what happened to her. I wonder about what happened to her and her baby and whether they ever got the support that they needed. It is a desperate situation. <BR /> <BR />I thank Órlaithí for the times that she has brought people to the steps of Stormont. I met some of the mothers and bereaved parents that she brought up that day. They were so frustrated that they had walked those steps up to Stormont so many times, begging for help. They have lost loved ones and do not want anyone else to go through that.”
“The next thing was that the young woman smacked the guy up the face. I then spoke up, and he ran off. It turned out that the woman, who was seven months pregnant, had just left the Royal Victoria Hospital. She had been an inpatient and still had the wristband on her arm. Her boyfriend had picked her up from the Royal, and she went straight to Botanic Avenue to buy drugs. The drug dealer had taken her money and had not given her any drugs. The need for a residential rehabilitation unit is plain to see. From that day on, I very much agreed with it. <BR /> <BR />My last story is about when we were doing a walk around in the Holylands and, in one of the alleyways, there were two heroin users. One was injecting the other's foot with a syringe, because, obviously, the rest of his veins had collapsed.”
“The young man had presented at the Mater and at the emergency department at the Royal many times, looking for help, but it just was not there, so he came home. He had suffered from poor mental health for his entire life. It was the worst of situations to stumble across. My office is working with that young lady now, but it is so sad how addiction affects not only the individual but everybody around them. <BR /> <BR />I will also pick up on the need for the residential rehabilitation unit in Belfast. Again, while walking through my constituency — I do not do it on purpose — I saw a really aggravated argument between a young woman, who was clearly pregnant, and a guy. Again, I was not going to walk away. I am not a superhero, but I am the type of person who will not walk away from something if I am not sure that it is safe.”
“I concur with what Carál said: the drug debts are owed to so-called paramilitaries — thugs — so there is that added layer of complexity in Northern Ireland. He effectively stole money out of the mouths of his babies. The money was meant for top-up cards and clothes etc. <BR /> <BR />The problem with all that is that, if that young man had not been in an addicted state, he would probably be highly ashamed and sorry for what he had got himself into. I spoke to the young lady, took her round the corner and got her a cup of tea. She said that his parents are both lifelong abusers of drugs and alcohol. Is it any wonder that he ended up in that state? Again, Carál hit the nail on the head on this issue.”
“to drugs. On Saturday, I was in my constituency and happened upon a very serious argument in the street. There was a young woman in a very distressed state and a very aggravated partner, who was shouting out of the window at her. She wanted to get back into her house. Of course, I was not going anywhere when I saw this happening. It turned out that her partner is a very serious drug addict. She had found drugs in the house and, as she has a young family, flushed them down the toilet. He thought that a measured reaction to that would be to smash the house up. She was in a very distressed state. Earlier in the week, he had stolen £100-odd — I do not want to give too much detail — from her purse to cover a drug debt.”
“I thank the proposer of the motion. It is a very important debate, and I concur with other Members' comments about its tone and sentiment <BR /> <BR />To bring the motion to life, I will talk about a number of issues that I have dealt with as an MLA. I am very struck by how the motion mentions:”
“I thank the Member for giving way. My concern and that of our party is that we have not yet seen the reconfiguration of the hospitals. In the intervening period, the Minister needs to bring forward proposals for that, because it is not just about better services; it is about better use of public money. That would give the Minister time to look at the issue in greater depth.”
“Meanwhile, the victims and survivors of historical clerical abuse are left with the pain, shame and lifelong trauma of what happened to them. We can no longer continue to tolerate that. I call on the First Minister and deputy First Minister to sign off on the terms of reference for the research.”
“We were advised that the timescale for commissioning that research was "the coming weeks" and that the period covered by the research would be from 1968, due to the introduction of the Children and Young Persons Act in that year. I include that date in my remarks to indicate that time is not on our side in securing robust evidence. <BR /> <BR />There is a recurring theme: always just about to move forward with the research but never quite doing it. One of my main frustrations is that the procurement process, when it begins, can, we know, take months. Then, the research is conducted and the report is written, and, before we know it, two more years are lost. Then, the officials have to take their time to review the findings, conclusions and recommendations and consider what to put to the Ministers.”
“It is many years, probably six, since I accompanied members of Birth Mothers and their Children for Justice Northern Ireland to a meeting with TEO officials, and I was advised then that that was TEO's plan. <BR /> <BR />At a meeting of the Health Committee in November 2020, we were told by representatives of the working group that they were:”
“That has not happened and there is no evidence of it. Furthermore, from papers provided to Committee members, we have seen that the Executive Office intends to:”
“I want to put on record my frustration at the ongoing delays in the interdepartmental working group between the Executive Office and the Department of Health bringing forward any meaningful work on historical clerical child abuse. Members will be aware that that working group was established in 2017 to pick up on areas that fell outside the remit of the inquiry into historical institutional abuse, including mother-and-baby homes, Magdalene laundries and workhouses and historical clerical child abuse. We know that work has been progressing on the mother-and-baby homes, and I look forward to chairing a session on that topic at the Committee for the Executive Office in May. Work on clerical abuse, however, appears to be far behind after seven years. <BR /> <BR />The Executive Office's website states:”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. The Minister touched on Lough Neagh. Will he please outline the impact that inadequate funding will have on his ability to tackle the issues associated with the lough?”
“Will the Minister outline his Department's plans under the new farm support and development programme for supporting farmers who are impacted by crises?”
“Can the Minister clarify, to avoid any doubt and for the benefit of some Members, that you do not intend to criminalise free speech?”
“We are all excited about this development in South Belfast. When you visit it, the station is very impressive. <BR /> <BR />Minister, you mentioned connectivity: will you give us an insight into how the station will connect to the forthcoming south Belfast corridor for the Glider?”
“<BR /> <BR />Of the people who made allegations to the Hart inquiry, the largest number spoke about experiences in four homes run by the Sisters of Nazareth and two homes run by the De La Salle Order. The inquiry also looked at three homes run by the Good Shepherd Sisters, a Church of Ireland home, two secular homes run by Barnardo's, five local authority homes and five juvenile justice institutions. There were allegations against 65 institutions or homes in total. In closing, I also want to put those institutions and homes on notice. As Chair of the Executive Office Committee, I will not let the issue go. It is a priority for me, and I will come back to it time and again until it is resolved to the satisfaction of victims and survivors.”
“Since then, we have not seen any movement. Quite frankly, I think that that is just lip service. We need to see firm action. <BR /> <BR />We know that £90 million has been paid out so far in redress. However, that does not include associated costs, nor does it cover the cost of specialist services that the victims and survivors have rightly accessed. We know that children who have adverse childhood experiences will, unfortunately, experience poor health outcomes in later life. It is therefore even more important that the religious orders contribute to redress, without any further delay, for the pain, suffering and abuse that they perpetrated against all the innocent, vulnerable children.”
“<BR /> <BR />I want to highlight a particular concern that they all raised, which is that, 14 years after the religious orders and institutions were put on notice that they would be obliged to make a redress and recognition contribution, and seven years on from the publication of the Hart inquiry report, the institutions responsible for systematically causing harm through what were plainly criminal acts against children have not contributed one single penny in Northern Ireland. The victims and survivors of that childhood abuse want and deserve accountability from them. <BR /> <BR />At a previous Committee meeting, we heard from a TEO official who advised that an independent facilitator had been appointed and that two institutions were ready in mid February, and two were close behind, to make a contribution.”
“I rise to bring attention to the fact that we are still failing the victims and survivors of historical institutional childhood abuse in Northern Ireland. Since being appointed as Chair of the Executive Office Committee, I have met victims and survivors, listened to their stories and felt the very raw anger and frustration that they continue to experience. <BR /> <BR />Last week, the Committee heard evidence from the Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse, Survivors North West, the Rosetta Trust and Survivors and Victims of Intuitional Abuse (SAVIA), and I thank them all for their contributions and time.”
“Thank you, Minister, for your answer. The question was off the back of your response to a question for written answer, and I appreciate the extra information that you have given me today, but have we costed that work, and is there a timescale? Some of my constituents are very keen to see their birth certificates in Irish.”
“There is a lot of work to be done, and I would like to see more action that reflects the urgency with which we have to do it.”
“For example, we still have no clarity of when and how much the institutions responsible for historical childhood abuse will in fact be contributing to redress as they are required to do. Time is of the essence, and we have to face the fact that legal action in that area may be required to be taken by the Executive Office and urgently. <BR /> <BR />Conversely, we also need to see the Executive Office leading on the shared future strategic framework, as per yesterday's motion. We should see more efficient action across a range of policy areas, including but not limited to reducing the costs of division. There is little point in arguing that we must have funding allocated on the basis of need only then to throw away hundreds of millions of pounds every year on maintaining segregated services.”
“For example, we have no Victims' Commissioner and no interim advocate for victims and survivors of mother-and-baby homes. Those should already have been acted upon, not least because we want to determine clearly what money is being spent by whom, for what purpose and with what controls. <BR /> <BR />On top of that, as I have mentioned, we have new bodies due to be set up but, as yet, no clear commitment from the First Minister and deputy First Minister as to exactly when. My concern is that those may be being deliberately delayed. When will those appointments be made? On top of that, we have some areas where additional expenditure may come to be required and, therefore, managed.”
“At the same time, the existing arm's-length bodies of the Department need to be able to fulfil their roles. The 10% cut across the board in the previous financial year, which, in many cases, was just the latest of many such cuts carried out in succession, has left organisations understaffed and facing considerable difficulties in carrying out their functions. The Committee will wish now properly and fully to examine how the Department spends its money and the adequacy of sums allocated to it. <BR /> <BR />I will make a few brief remarks in my capacity as an Alliance Party MLA. Although we have heard that the recruitment process has begun, it is a matter of considerable concern that the Executive Office continues to operate without a permanent secretary and that some bodies associated with it are also operating without key personnel.”
“<BR /> <BR />Moving on to the Vote on Account at 65% of the £169 million resource and £26 million capital DEL from the previous financial year, the Department is to receive £127 million for those areas in the coming year, pending a formal Budget being agreed. It is acknowledged that this year is exceptional and that Budget processes are unusual, but the Committee looks forward to being fully informed about money that the Department is going to spend. Not least of that expenditure is the creation of four new bodies: the office of identity and cultural expression; the Irish language commissioner; the commissioner for Ulster Scots and the Ulster-British tradition; and the climate change commissioner. All those bodies need to be adequately resourced to do the jobs that they are intended to do.”
“I am sure that Members would be extremely concerned if people who have suffered due to the conflict or because of childhood abuse were still, in 2024, facing barriers to receiving the recompense to which they are entitled or if they were simply not aware that they could submit a claim. I have to emphasise that that very much appears to be the case. <BR /> <BR />This has financial relevance, specifically because the easements in relation to payments for victims and survivors of the conflict and historical institutional abuse were included in the Department's first-day brief to the First Minister and deputy First Minister but the increased requirement for capital DEL was not. Most of that has been allocated to the Strategic Investment Board, and it is unclear as yet how that amount of expenditure was unforeseen.”
“<BR /> <BR />Payments to victims and survivors of the conflict accounted for £14 million of the money that was not required in 2023-24. Either the £59 million that was allocated to those payments was a considerable overestimate, or there was a significantly lower number of people who did not access the support that they needed. Certainly, the evidence from my discussions with the victims' sector tends, worryingly, to suggest the latter. Likewise, £5 million of the £32 million that was allocated to the victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse has not been spent. I have already carried out some meetings on that issue, and the Committee will be hearing from stakeholders in that area at this week's meeting. We will be enquiring about access to support and other matters.”
“I will speak on behalf of the Committee for the Executive Office, and I will be fairly brief, as the Executive Office has a relatively small budget compared with those of other Departments. However, it is an important budget, as the Department deals with some of the most sensitive, contentious and wide-ranging matters that we have to contend with. <BR /> <BR />To give an overview, the Department has been allocated around £185 million resource departmental expenditure limit (DEL) and £12 million capital DEL for the financial year. The Department required around £15 million less resource DEL, but that was balanced by an additional requirement for £14 million in capital, which left a balance of a reduced DEL requirement of £1 million.”
“What budget exists for a high street and challenge fund in line with recommendations 3 and 9 of the report?”
“I thank the deputy First Minister for giving way. Minister, do you agree that, while those programmes have been effective — my background is in community development as well, so I recognise the good work — the motion is about embedding good relations and a shared future in all our Departments, not just in a stand-alone programme in the Executive Office?”
“Does the Member agree that, if we were to address the cost of division, there would be more money for sustained services in the communities that she has just described?”
“Thank you for the opportunity. I thought that I had spelt quite a bit of it out, but an example is a new housing development in my constituency that went for shared housing funding and got turned down. There are practical examples of where funding has not been given when people wanted to progress good relations and a shared future.”
“Therefore, I urge all Members to back the motion to replace a bitter, fearful and divided past with a reconciled, hopeful and shared future that is led by all our Executive Ministers under a strategic framework. Thank you.”
“That objective still holds true today, including for tackling all forms of prejudice and discrimination. That is why the motion calls specifically for a strategic framework. We want to see policies developed and delivered through co-design and in a cohesive way so that a commitment to a shared future free from prejudice while maximising opportunity is woven into everything our Executive parties do. <BR /> <BR />I hope that I have set out the many benefits to us all of building a shared future, overcoming segregation and ending prejudice, building on work already undertaken. Yet we still need the fourth pillar — planet, people, prosperity and peace.”
“<BR /> <BR />There is learning not just from T:BUC but from the original 'A Shared Future' policy dating from 2005, which set as its objective:”
“Surveys show that it is widely recognised that they have done so for the better: with diversity comes opportunity. <BR /> <BR />The recent peace monitoring report makes it clear that the greatest growth in prejudice is not along sectarian lines but along racial lines. Race is now the most common basis of crime with hate motivation. Most people reported to the Northern Ireland life and times survey in 2022 that they felt that there is as much or more racial prejudice now than five years ago, yet our racial equality strategy — another case where there is a need for cross-departmental cooperation and collaboration — has not been fully implemented one year from its conclusion, and we remain the only part of the UK without a final refugee integration strategy.”
“The strategic framework should sit with the First Minister and deputy First Minister because of their coordination role in cross-departmental outcomes and outworkings. <BR /> <BR />We must also confront the reality that there are still communities that live a pre-1998 existence, in single-identity areas, often, sadly, complete with paramilitary trappings, where children and young people continue even in 2024 to be exploited. Sadly, we saw that in Derry over Easter. The motion asks the Assembly, however, to confirm its determination that moving on from that type of existence everywhere is a good thing. We must no longer allow anywhere to settle for breeding fear and limiting future prospects. The mixing of our population and the growing presence of newcomers and their families have changed the face of Northern Ireland.”
“<BR /> <BR />We need to find ways to focus on the opportunities that would arise if we brought down the walls, both literal and metaphorical, that divide us. When we live with walls for generations, they inevitably become the norm, but we must never stop reinforcing the point that dividing communities with walls is abnormal. The peace monitoring report published in November 2023 notes that intercommunal violence is now extremely rare, so we have to address the fear that many people still live with. A strategic framework could help by delivering policy outcomes, for example by improving air quality and increasing levels of economic opportunity in urban areas, which would reduce fear by bringing communities together with common cause across walls.”
“As long ago as 2007, a Deloitte report put that cost at £1·5 billion. Certainly, no one seriously disputes that it runs into hundreds of millions of pounds. That is a financial cost. It effectively comes off money that, as I just said, could be spent on efficient public services, particularly in the areas that need them most. However, perhaps the bigger issue is the social cost. Those communities in which the fear of different identities and outlooks prevails are also the ones in which living standards and life expectancies tend to be lower, often markedly so. Overcoming that fear and embracing opportunity is not an easy task, but if it leads to communities that are more open to the opportunities offered by diversity, it will surely lead to communities that are happier, healthier and more prosperous.”
“Together: Building a United Community (T:BUC) has been of value to many such communities, but it has at times, perhaps, been too programmatic, focusing on local interventions in areas that then become reliant on that short-term funding rather than on a strategic policy overview through public-sector delivery that would make the fundamental and necessary changes in how our society as a whole functions. For example, in my constituency, one of our local youth clubs has been advised that its budget will be severely reduced this year. We know that those are the very structures through which good relations work can be delivered, so, if we were to stop duplicating our services, that would free up money for long-term, front-line and sustained delivery. <BR /> <BR />We can quote the literal cost of segregation.”
“It is a future where the drummer in the band parade offers up an opportunity to play the drum to a young lad coming home from GAA training; it is one where Irish-language classes take place in inner city east Belfast; and it is one where the same person vies to play on the county panel in the summer and on the provincial team in the winter. The point is that all that already happens, and I firmly believe that it happens considerably more than it did. It is our shared present. We just need a lot more of it. <BR /> <BR />In many communities, however, segregation remains a way of life.”
“Those scars are sometimes literal in our built environment, most obviously in the form of the so-called peace walls that were all supposed to have been brought down by last year. However, we should not forget that the cost in lost progress and lost opportunity is borne not by infrastructure but by people. <BR /> <BR />A genuinely shared future, to be clear, is not a neutral future where we are afraid to express ourselves. On the contrary, it is one where people can express their cultural heritage with confidence and where we are not confined to one side of the sectarian fault line in seeking out opportunities to express ourselves.”
“<BR /> <BR />The motion, which I hope will secure cross-party support, will require the First Minister and deputy First Minister to take forward the development of a shared future strategic framework. That would require each Department to develop and deliver its services and programmes in ways that ensure that they reflect the need to prioritise and promote peace and reconciliation and to meaningfully challenge and tackle the cost of division. Part of the story that we will set out today will be about great progress, great advance and great opportunity, and part of it will be about the ongoing scars in our society and the many communities that have not fully benefited from that progress.”
“In proposing the motion, I wish to be clear that it is, in many ways, a positive motion. Much of what I say will reflect on the significant progress that has been made in our society since the Good Friday Agreement, even if that has often been in spite of, rather than because of, the endless challenges that the political institutions that were founded by that agreement have had to endure. Indeed, in many ways, the argument that my colleagues and I will make today is that politics needs to catch up with society. As we plan our Programme for Government and Budget, we still need to think about the potential for a fourth pillar to add to the three of planet, people and prosperity that are in existence. We would like to see peace added to those.”
“In my constituency of South Belfast, we have a lot of newcomer families. We know that education is the gateway to prosperity for families. What support can the Minister give to the universities to encourage more entrants from that section of the community?”