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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“When I met the principal and members of the board of governors, I saw their dedication to success on the field and in the classroom. Well done, Inst.”
“I congratulate Royal Belfast Academical Institution on its win in the Schools' Cup yesterday. The school has a long and proud history of 34 outright wins in that competition, which is the second oldest rugby tournament in the world. Yesterday's victory adds to the school's win in the Medallion Shield, which is, essentially, the junior schools' cup and its win in the Burney Cup, which is the boys' schools hockey tournament. It has been a fantastic year of sporting success for that south Belfast school. I commiserate with Ballymena Academy and all the other teams that took part. <BR /> <BR />As we know, team sport is not just about the players on the field. It is about the coaches, volunteers, parents and the entire school community. Last year, I visited Belfast Inst.”
“Does the Member agree that we in the party have concerns that another Ad Hoc Committee similar to the Ad Hoc Committee on a Bill of Rights would cause a lot of work and a lot of people to become invested in it, only for the wider public to be disappointed?”
“I will pick up on the previous debate on the deterioration of our public services over the last number of years in terms of stop-start politics. With regard to your leadership role and that of the First Minister, how are you going to work through areas of Government where we need to stabilise and where we need to transform in the Programme for Government?”
“Do you agree with me that stop-start politics has been very damaging to public service delivery in Northern Ireland over the past 25 years and that we have to do something to change that?”
“That is objectively undeniable, but we also need to ensure that the institutions operate in a way that is befitting of the entire society that they are supposed to represent, and we need to move beyond those silos.”
“As in many other policy documents, that has a fundamental recognition that our system of government relies, perhaps too much, on allocating every policy area to a particular Department and too little on a genuine sense of collective interest and collective responsibility. It is on the First Minister and deputy First Minister, and the Executive Office, to look at that because we see far too much silo working in the Assembly and in Departments. What is required, therefore, is recognition from all of us, including those who tabled the motion, that there were flaws in the original agreement and that a review mechanism was built into it that was meant to iron those issues out but rarely did. We need to remove crude sectarian vetoes.”
“<BR /> <BR />The point is that designations do not just mean that cross-community votes, whether arising from the application of a petition of concern or otherwise, take a crudely sectarian form where other votes are deemed to count for less, with the result that people opting to vote neither unionist nor nationalist are blatantly discriminated against. It is not right that the electorate who vote for the Alliance Party are, effectively, disenfranchised on important votes. Those votes also mean that the institutions do not function in a manner befitting the post-agreement electorate. <BR /> <BR />My party colleagues will come back to much of this, but I want to turn to another issue that we raised in our 2022 manifesto.”
“It would remove a single party's ability to wield an all-destructive veto, which we saw over the past two years, and parties would be entitled to opt out of the Government but not entitled to force others to opt out too. <BR /> <BR />Weighted majority voting, ensuring not only an inclusive Government but a genuine choice for the electorate, would also enable the abolition of communal designation. Even back in 2004, that was seen as a crude form of institutionalised sectarianism. In 2024, it is entirely inappropriate for the modern, post-agreement Northern Ireland in which we live and in which people are choosing even more often to step beyond the old dividing lines when making choices in schooling, leisure activities and, indeed, the polling booth.”
“Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I was responding directly to the comments. <BR /> <BR />Some parts of our 'Agenda for Democracy' document have actually been implemented, including those parts on the reduction in the number of Departments and the devolution of justice. The document is still relevant as it sought an Executive to be founded, like almost any other Government in the democratic world, through negotiation and compromise. Taking into account our particular circumstances, the idea was that any coalition should be able to take office provided that it had the support of a weighted majority in the Assembly, which would ensure that it was inclusive. Twenty years on, that idea's time has come.”
“Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. <BR /> <BR />You obviously were not a Member then. The issue at that time was that we were renegotiating to get us back. We called for a recall many times. We took things forward. However, the argument that you had with the UK Government over those two years could not be solved in this Chamber. Shame on you and shame on your party for the impact that that had on our public sector, which has seen a decline. For you to hold the whole country to ransom over your party issue is absolutely shameful. We will feel the effects of that for generations.”
“Unlike the previous Member to speak, we, in the Alliance Party, are delighted that this is the first topic chosen for debate on Opposition day, as it reflects an Alliance Party policy and priority of long-standing. We will, of course, support the motion. I welcome the Opposition to this discussion. To emphasise just how long-standing our party's position on meaningful reform is, I have here a document called 'Agenda for Democracy' that we, in the Alliance Party, published 20 years ago today. It is remarkable how prophetic that was, given that it was published even before the St Andrews Agreement. It sought fundamental revisions, not quick fixes. The quick fixes since, as the proposer will agree, have only made things worse.”
“Fundamentally, it would be an opportunity to provide a lasting tribute to those who lost their lives and a lasting reflection on the trauma that we all widely experienced.”
“We want to show support for those who were bereaved and people who experienced loss in whatever form, and support each other collectively as we continue to reckon with the consequences of that period. I am pleased that Belfast City Council intends to create a COVID memorial wall for those who were bereaved, for those who still suffering from long COVID, and, indeed, as a place where everyone who was affected can reflect. <BR /> <BR />I would like to mention Brenda Doherty who spoke for the thousands of bereaved families at the minute's silence event in the Great Hall last week. Thank you, Mr Speaker, for facilitating that. She called for a permanent memorial here in Parliament Buildings that would serve as a reminder and tribute to her late mother Ruth Burke and so many others. The Alliance Party very much supports that call.”
“I would like to say a few words on yesterday's day of reflection, organised by Marie Curie, which will now occur on the first Sunday in March in line with the first recommendation of the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration report. I thank Marie Curie for promoting the day, and other local charities like Aware NI for their associated ongoing events. This is our opportunity to remember those who died from whatever cause during the pandemic, and to consider what further steps we need to take on behalf of the 175,000 people who were bereaved during that period. We also need to reflect on the overall sense of loss that we all experienced: the loss of loved ones, rituals and routine. As we do that, we need to remember the time of extreme disruption for us all.”
“We must commit ourselves to ensuring that women and girls feeling safe everywhere is something that just happens.”
“Clearly, I am proud of the leadership that my colleague, the now returned Minister of Justice, Naomi Long, showed on that, but it shows that the Assembly is capable of passing laws that can bring about greater good. Going forward, we need to deal urgently with the obvious remaining area of violence against women and girls. Let us be clear: our task is not to tackle violence against women and girls but to end it. <BR /> <BR />We have heard and will, no doubt, hear many compelling contributions in the Chamber. I commend my colleague Connie Egan for her hard work as my party's spokesperson on the topic and congratulate her on her maiden speech. I also thank Women's Aid, White Ribbon NI, Nexus, the Rainbow Project and many others for their ongoing contributions on the issue. What we need now is concrete action from the Assembly.”
“I look forward to an assurance that those things will happen within that time frame. <BR /> <BR />One of the main pieces of evidence that went into the design of the framework and action plan was called 'It's Just What Happens'. We can be and, in many ways, already are much better than that. The passage, in the last mandate, of the Domestic Abuse (Safe Leave) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, the Protection from Stalking Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, and the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 brought Northern Ireland into line with and, in many ways, put it ahead of neighbouring jurisdictions' legislative interventions to protect women and girls from violence, abuse and unwanted attention, while supporting victims.”
“One striking and horrific statistic from the strategic framework is that three fifths of 16-year-old girls in Northern Ireland have been sent unwanted sexually explicit pictures. That is deeply shocking and speaks to the attitudes that we need to challenge, yet it gets worse. Research that was carried out by Ulster University found that over half of 11-year-old girls reported that they had experienced violence or abuse of some form. It could be any of our daughters, nieces or granddaughters reporting that. I find that chilling. <BR /> <BR />The first-100-days decisions for the incoming First Minister and deputy First Minister include approval of the Executive Office's response to the consultation on the strategic framework, approval of the budget for the action plan and approval of long-term implementation.”
“It goes on to emphasise something important: that, in order to be free from all forms of gender-based violence and abuse, we also need to be free from:”
“<BR /> <BR />At the outset, it is essential not to miss the vital foundation of the strategic framework, namely the action plan and the vision contained in it. The plan recognises that transformational change requires collaboration; in other words, it requires a commitment from us all, and that commitment should be nothing less than:”
“The strategy will then require sign-off by the First Minister and deputy First Minister. The Committee expects to be kept updated and engaged as the strategy is rolled out. As we heard during the debate on the Budget Bill, £2 million was allocated to the Executive Office for that work. The Committee will look forward to hearing how that money is spent and what other resources are needed. It will be on hand to provide advice and guidance on implementation at every stage. <BR /> <BR />I will now make a few remarks in my capacity as an Alliance Party MLA. I thank the proposer of the motion for bringing it to the House so soon after restoration. We will support the motion and the amendment.”
“I will make some initial remarks as Chairperson of the Committee for the Executive Office. <BR /> <BR />As we know, initial work on the draft strategy followed an Assembly motion three years ago. During the previous mandate, the Committee heard about the initial steps to develop the strategy with co-design partners. The public consultation on the outcome of that work concluded in October. That is all to ensure that actions are grounded in the collective experience and knowledge of those who deal with those issues daily. <BR /> <BR />Already during this mandate, the Committee has heard that responses to that consultation have led to revisions of the draft strategy. Then, there will be a process of brokering with other Departments, which is essential because all Departments need to take ownership of specific actions.”
“Thank you, Minister. I wish you well in your new role. <BR /> <BR />Minister, you will be aware that people were promised an Act in 2003. That community has been waiting 21 years. I urge you to bring that forward as a high priority among your departmental priorities.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. With the new Encompass programme that is being rolled out in the trusts, it is hoped that, in future, other statutory bodies will have access to patient records. Does the Member agree with me that the sooner we have that joined-up approach across government, the better, so that, when people enter the judicial system, staff have access to medical records and those assessments are there for them?”
“I would like the Minister at some stage — probably not today — to bring forward his plans for how we are going to bolster our social care sector here in Northern Ireland. I have no doubt that that needs a lot more investment, but I would like to see those plans. We had Power to People in 2016. Although great work has been done by the departmental officials etc, we need firm action. I agree with Alan Chambers's point in that regard: let us stop talking about it and get on with it. <BR /> <BR />We, as a party, want to see transformation. We want to see Bengoa delivered. We have always very much supported the elective care framework, but we want to see the long-awaited hospital reconfiguration design plan. We need that consulted on, and we need to bring forward the plans. We need action, not words.”
“Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. <BR /> <BR />Will the Minister refer to that? I have never received a straight answer about that from the Department of Health. If we are OK with sending money to the South — I have no problem with that if it gets people from my constituency off waiting lists — why do we not afford the same opportunity to private providers in the North to drive down our waiting lists? I would like an answer on that. <BR /> <BR />There are two final areas that I will focus on. My colleague Nuala McAllister briefly referenced them. These are very crude figures, but it costs £700 a month for domiciliary care, £700 a week for a place in a care home and £700 a night for a hospital bed.”
“No, I am going to allow an intervention from the proposer of the amendment. Is he also in favour of extending that scheme so that anybody who is on a waiting list can use any private provider across the island, North or South? Is that what the amendment is about?”
“I would appreciate it if the Minister could tell us how he is going to use that information and bring it forward so that we have a far clearer picture. It is ludicrous that such a percentage of our population is on waiting lists. We need better clarity around how that information is collected and presented. <BR /> <BR />My party will support the amendment about the cross-border healthcare directive, but people need to be clear: that means that we will be using public money from Northern Ireland to pay private hospitals in the South. I have many constituents who are delighted about that scheme and want it to be brought back. I want to see it being brought back as well. However —.”
“I very much take Colin McGrath's point about the stop-start nature of our politics here, but we need to look at the amount that we are spending on our locums. <BR /> <BR />My third point is about the effective use of our consultants' time. As people will be aware, consultants are given a certain number of slots each week that they have to deliver. If they use one of those slots to travel to Enniskillen, and then spend some time doing work there before travelling back, two slots that week will have been lost. We need to look at the better use of our consultants' time. <BR /> <BR />We have heard a lot of figures being quoted today about how many people are on waiting lists, but we are talking about cases rather than people. Some people may be on three or four waiting lists.”
“<BR /> <BR />Those who sat on the previous Health Committee, and others who are watching the debate, will know that if a trust is given a certain amount of money for, for example, 30 orthopaedic surgeries, and it delivers only 20, it does not have to give back the money for the 10 that it did not deliver. I have no doubt that the trust then uses the money efficiently and for good ends, but there is no accountability and transparency of its use of the money. <BR /> <BR />That leads me on to my second point, which concerns the use of locums. I met the former chief executive of the Belfast Heath and Social Care Trust in, I think, 2016. He said at that time that we needed legislation here in Northern Ireland to put a cap on the amount of money that is spent on locums. That was eight years ago.”
“I support the motion and the amendment. I will focus on what we have learnt from the Audit Office report, and from other reports and evidence, about how we can do things differently. <BR /> <BR />The Audit Office report refers to the need for extra money, and we need to be clear about one thing, which is that the Department of Health already spends approximately £4,000 for every person in Northern Ireland. I appreciate that we have an ageing population with multi-morbidity and therefore more expensive treatments, but we have to recognise that we cannot continue to have a greater percentage of the overall budget share, so we need to use our money more efficiently. Can the Minister outline — if not today, at some time in the future — how he will ensure greater financial accountability of commissioned services in our trusts?”
“I was on the former Health Committee, as you are aware, along with two of your DUP colleagues. Nobody was happy with the way in which the coronavirus regulations legislation was brought forward, but we voted for it consistently because we knew that it was in the best interests of the people of Northern Ireland. Hansard will reflect that.”
“<BR /> <BR />Put simply, we have a lot of catching up to do over the coming months to make sure that the Executive Office's contribution, be it to victims, good relations, public-sector reform, international links or whichever of its many vital areas of work it covers, provides maximum value and maximum benefit.”
“We also want to see greater financial clarity from the Executive Office once the new permanent secretary is in place. Currently, we are, effectively, assessing programmes and impacts rather than overall departmental performance. We do not want to be in the same position this time next year. It is hoped that the direction of Ministers and a permanent secretary will mean that there is leadership in setting a transparent Budget in time for the 2024-25 financial year and beyond and that, next year, we will have a series of updated strategies and consultations to work off as we evaluate the Executive Office's performance.”
“It must be emphasised that this is not remotely the fault of officials in the Executive Office. While the absence of Ministers created difficulties for all Departments, it made the effective operation of the Executive Office almost impossible. That would have been the case even at the best of times, but, in fact, particularly in recent months, we have been fairly close to the worst of times. In particular, the absence of a permanent secretary since September meant that no decisions were made. The transfer of the functions of accounting officer to the deputy secretary is not optimum, and it is my strong view, and that of my Alliance Party colleagues, that a permanent secretary should be put in place swiftly so that the functions of accounting officer can rest where they are supposed to rest for the next financial year.”
“My party and I trust that, in addition to those commitments, we will imminently carry through the recommendations for the appropriate standardised payment for mothers and adoptees arising from the mother-and-baby homes scandal, plus implementation of the tackling violence against women and girls strategy. I should add that one of my overriding concerns for the current financial year — this is shared by many respondents to the consultation on the Budget equality impact assessment — is the loss of skills in the voluntary and community sector arising from programme cutbacks. <BR /> <BR />It is fair to say that my party and I are somewhat concerned at the state in which the Executive Office finds itself after two years of boycott, and there will need to be swift work to correct that.”
“Indeed, the Committee looks forward to being consulted on next year's Budget and being involved in the decisions made on future spending and on setting priorities for funding. Consequently, we anticipate hearing from the Department in detail about its spending plans for 2024-25. <BR /> <BR />I will now make a number of points in my capacity as an individual MLA representing the Alliance Party. A notably high share of the Executive Office's spending is annually managed expenditure, and I do not expect to see that change imminently. There are already commitments from the end of the last mandate, as I noted.”
“<BR /> <BR />The extent of the Vote on Account — almost two thirds of the intended spend for 2024-25 — is also a matter of concern. It is the role of the Committee to discuss in detail how the Department allocates resources and to provide views on how money should be spent. The Committee needs time and space to examine and consider the options open to use resources effectively and to provide value for money. <BR /> <BR />There will also be new areas of expenditure, ranging from the full implementation of free period products — the legislation that was passed in the last mandate — through to the appointment of the language and identity commissioners. Those extra costs will also have an impact on how the Department cuts its cloth.”
“Deputy Speaker, I formally wish you well in your new role, and I pass on my best wishes to our new Finance Minister. <BR /> <BR />I will speak first on behalf of the Committee for the Executive Office. While the Executive Office has a relatively small budget of around £182 million, most of that is earmarked, so there is only a small amount of baseline funds to play with. Trying to make savings of £10 million out of the £76 million available has, no doubt, been a tall order. Only so much freezing of recruitment and 10% top-slicing across the Department and its associated arm's-length bodies can be undertaken before important areas of delivery, such as good relations funding, are cut. That emphasises why detailed scrutiny of the Budget is so important to the Committee, and accelerated passage deprives us of that.”
“First Minister, will you outline the timeline for the recruitment of a permanent secretary to the Executive Office, please?”
“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. During the debate on the motion, Mr Allister made an unparliamentary comment towards my colleague Eóin Tennyson. Under Standing Order 65, I ask you to make a ruling on that.”
“Thank you, Minister, for your statement. I wish you well in your new role. You will be aware that the Executive Office is responsible for the re-establishment of the economic policy unit and the development and delivery of the investment strategy for Northern Ireland. Will you outline how your statement today will align with those pieces of work, please?”
“Another point in the Minister's contribution that I felt was important was the mention of ethnicity, socio-economic groups, vulnerable and marginalised women and the need to ensure that the strategy very much takes account of different groups of women. He talked about the opportunities to make progress in the short term that come from the 'Getting It Right First Time' report around access to gynaecological services, and he explained that he is looking at the recommendations on that. <BR /> <BR />Liz Kimmins closed by talking about health inequalities, gaps in healthcare and how we need to look at areas of high deprivation.”
“He also referenced his colleague Sinéad McLaughlin's survey, which showed that 90% of women indicated that they feel that services for women are inadequate. He called for a women's health ambassador and said that if we build up hopes that we can take that forward, we need to ensure delivery. <BR /> <BR />The Health Minister thanked everyone for their contribution. He said that the wider population of women will also have similar stories and that he has placed the issue high on his list of priorities. He explained the process around bringing forward a women's health action plan in the first instance and said that he felt that that was the right approach because it was demonstrated, through the mental health action plan, as a good way of getting the issues together and moving forward.”
“She spoke in particular about the barriers that her constituents have in accessing healthcare in rural communities. She talked about how important perinatal mental health is and, again, shared her experience of perinatal and postnatal depression and anxiety. I thank her sincerely for that. She also mentioned the need for the specialist mother-and-baby unit and for the Minister to provide the time frame for it. <BR /> <BR />I am also much indebted to Colin McGrath, who is another male who talked about the fact that we are the only region of these islands that does not have a women's health strategy. He said that we have to remove the taboo and stigma around all the issues. He highlighted the fact that we have the worst ovarian cancer survival rates here.”
“<BR /> <BR />My colleague Kellie Armstrong highlighted the fact that other parts of these islands — Scotland, England and Wales — already have their women's health strategies in place and that we need to ensure that, when we get ours developed, it runs in time with budgets and is fully funded. She talked about menopause and how it is life-changing, with many women having to give up their jobs and reduce their income at a time when they should be at the "peak of their careers". She also talked about her personal experience of miscarriage and of trying to access fertility treatments. <BR /> <BR />In her maiden speech, Sian Mulholland, another colleague of mine, provided some insight into her constituency, saying that she is the first mother to represent North Antrim.”
“I fully agree with her that there are so many issues there that we need to ensure that this women's health strategy is robust and inclusive of all the issues across a woman's health span. We need to catch up with other parts of these islands. <BR /> <BR />Deborah Erskine talked about the amazing role of the community groups, many of which are represented in the Gallery or are looking on via our internet provision. She said that we need to ensure that they are involved and that we build on the work that they have already done. She said that we need to ensure that the actions that come from the action plan and the strategy are robust. She said that there needs to be wholesale buy-in from women, community groups and healthcare professionals and that training will be essential for GPs.”
“<BR /> <BR />My colleague Sinéad McLaughlin talked about the constituent with whom she has engaged who had to leave work due to the debilitating pain from endo, and she mentioned that, at times, the service is broken and inaccessible to women. She talked about the long and painful waiting times for women accessing their first gynae consultant appointment, and she talked about her own diagnosis of endo. <BR /> <BR />Órlaithí Flynn talked about the APG on women's health, and I very much agree with the Member that all Members who are on that group, from across the House, have come together around these very important issues. There is genuine cross-party consensus on the need for this women's health strategy.”
“Thank you. It is a very important point, and, at the all-party group on cancer, the professionals who came from the trust and from the Public Health Agency wanted us as elected reps to very much endorse that message. Thank you, Mr Chambers, and that leads me to your remarks. Thank you for attending the Chamber. You were the first male to speak in the debate, and it is really important that this is seen as not just a women's issue but a whole of society issue around getting women's health right. You mentioned that women's health issues were disregarded for a long time and said that we have to adopt a whole-life-course approach to the women's health strategy.”