Gerry Carroll
West Belfast · People Before Profit Alliance · Northern Ireland
“Yesterday morning, as others did, I stood alongside our resident doctors as they commenced a 24-hour period of industrial action. We often praise our healthcare workers in the House and more generally, saying things such as that they are invaluable and that we wish them well.”
“If we have learnt anything from the political events of the past week, it is that powerful people — powerful men, in particular — and institutions should always be held to maximum account when it comes to abuse, neglect and victims, and that victims and survivors should be believed and supported on every occasion.”
“Agency spend has, again, gone through the roof and is sky-high; locum spend has gone up and continues to go up — it has gone up by in the region of £0·5 billion over the past few years; and, almost every single year out of the past five to 10 years, hundreds of millions of pounds of public money have been pumped into the for-profit privat…”
“With bills increasing month-on-month and year-on-year, that is true, and those workers need a proper settlement that meets their needs and the ever-increasing cost of living. One striking doctor put it to me starkly yesterday. They said that they left Scotland and took a more senior position in the health sector in Belfast.”
“I commend Stephen and his colleagues in the Bill Office and the Executive Office officials, who worked closely with me to try to support, amend or help along my amendments — whatever way you want to look at it. I also want to commend the Member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone who spoke out during the last few stages.”
“I commend people for speaking out on the issue, especially Sharon Burke. I think that she might be in the Gallery. She has been emailing Members on that issue.”
The complete record
Every one of 4,137 lines we hold for Gerry Carroll, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 46 of 83.
“In a second. <BR /> <BR />There is also an onus on the First Minister to support and outline a vision of a united Ireland that breaks from one that simply stitches two states together and challenges the powerful interests at the heart of the states North and South. We cannot continue to assure Irish capital that its profits will remain untouched. We stand with many others in the tradition of James Connolly and insist that working-class rule, not unionist or nationalist rule, is the only rule that is worth fighting for in a united, socialist Ireland that brings together people of all backgrounds and creates better living standards for all. Only then can we leave communal symbolism, sectarianism and the deprivation that was wrought by Stormont and Westminster in the past.”
“Will we have a First Minister for workers or a First Minister for corporations? <BR /> <BR />I note and welcome the First Minister's comments on a ceasefire, but, genuinely and sincerely, will the First Minister for all stand with the people of Palestine and boycott the White House this St Patrick's Day, or will the lure of American capitalism, foreign direct investment and low-wage jobs for Irish workers prove too much? The mass Palestine solidarity movement will not tolerate Ministers of any kind or ideology from this Administration giving cover to a US Administration who are funding the genocide in Gaza. One of the first tasks of the Assembly should be to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and join the boycott of the apartheid Israeli regime.”
“This state still grapples with the legacy of that sectarianism, with an Assembly built on communal designation, communities built on segregation and a political establishment that strangles attempts at working-class unity and a decent future for all. <BR /> <BR />The election of a first nationalist First Minister is symbolic, but, in a society like ours, boy, do we need to move beyond symbolism. Symbolism is not enough to deliver the aspirations and needs of working-class communities. It was not too long ago that the First Minister and deputy First Minister — unionist and nationalist — worked hand in glove to essentially impoverish people of all backgrounds. Given the past record of Sinn Féin and others, we seriously ask whether we will have a First Minister for all or a First Minister for the well-off.”
“It is important to briefly address the appointment of a nationalist First Minister. First, we reject the sectarian politics that seek to deny somebody office on the basis of their community background, where they grew up or where they live. Secondly, nobody can deny the symbolism of a nationalist First Minister in a state that was designed to ensure unionist domination. The Protestant state for a Protestant people was undemocratic and unjust. It was meant to ensure the fortunes of a unionist elite who were far removed from the ordinary struggles of working-class people — Catholic, Protestant and neither.”
“— in funding the apartheid state in Israel. More on that later.”
“Therefore, the new Executive will have a question to answer: will they roll over as the Tories drag us into war in Europe and the Middle East, or will they really stand for peace on the global stage? People have to know that the mass Palestine solidarity movement that has exploded across the world and on this island and will not tolerate the North having any part to play —”
“The instability that that will cause will shake not only the foundations of Stormont but the foundation of the northern state itself. Despite what the Tories have outlined in the deal, the democratic aspiration for a united Ireland will not be stymied by imperial diktat. It is for the people of Ireland to decide. People Before Profit will continue to fight for a socialist path to a united Ireland that sees all people from all backgrounds in its spoils and the politics of sectarianism left in the past. <BR /> <BR />The Tory/DUP love-letter deal is not just about strengthening the Union, it is about strengthening its militaristic aims. It will attempt to incorporate the North further into British military defence systems as the Tories beat the drum of war louder and louder.”
“Those waiting on a home will remember who refused to build homes and handed land to private, wealthy developers. The communities around Lough Neagh and in the Sperrins and elsewhere will remember who incentivised the destruction of our environment and poisoned our waterways. Therefore, our message is that there should be no honeymoon period for the new Executive, and trade unionists must get ready, as they were this morning, to breathe down the neck of this Administration. <BR /> <BR />While the unionist establishment continues to wrangle over the protocol, unionism remains in terminal decline. The Tories have copper-fastened the Stormont brake, enshrining the communal veto and reinforcing the system of sectarianism that has afflicted the Stormont institutions for years.”
“Establishment parties that have heralded the changes of a new Executive must think that the public has collective amnesia. They think that their spin, which is lapped up and flung out by the media, will make us forget the failures of previous Administrations. They think that the talk of a new dawn will hide the old divisive and regressive politics at its very core. We remember that the DUP, Sinn Féin and Alliance implemented welfare reform in a previous bid to slash corporation tax, punishing the poor and the vulnerable to give handouts to the rich. Shameful. <BR /> <BR />Workers will remember that those parties cut their pay and gutted public services when Stormont last sat. The people who are languishing on health waiting lists will remember who inflicted those cuts and who opened the door to the slow privatisation of our NHS.”
“It is meant as a reward for its divisive antics, and the Tories are signaling that the DUP was justified in holding people to ransom for two years, that the concerns of unionism should be elevated above everything else and that the feelings of hard-line loyalists, including paramilitaries, are there to be pandered to. <BR /> <BR />More importantly, the deal contains absolutely nothing that will tackle the issues facing our communities, including poverty, pay, growing inequalities, hard-up schools or our collapsing NHS. In fact, the deal signifies the exact opposite. In addition, there is talk of water charges and raised rates. The deal also recommits to the devolution of corporation tax, which parties here have been itching to slash for years.”
“<BR /> <BR />Over the past few days, I have been on picket lines with striking education and transport workers, who are out because the return of Stormont does not guarantee the pay rise that they need and deserve. They need to be paid now, and all workers need to be ready to challenge the new Executive to deliver their demands. People Before Profit has been consistent in calling for the DUP to end its boycott, but it would be remiss of me not to outline our firm opposition to the latest Tory/DUP pact. It can be described as a Tory love letter to the DUP. It is couched in the language of the DUP.”
“Mr Acting Speaker, I wish both you and the outgoing Speaker well on your retirement. The Speaker is my colleague in West Belfast; I wish you both well. <BR /> <BR />After two years of divisive posturing from the DUP, working-class people are in no mood for the cynical fanfare that surrounds Stormont's resurrection. If I was a member of the DUP sitting here today, I would be utterly embarrassed by the entire debacle. You should be embarrassed that striking public-sector workers have forced you back to work, that you have delivered next to nothing on the protocol and that you have blatantly lied to the base you claim to represent. You put your political interests before workers' pay, public services and the day-to-day struggles that face working-class communities, and you have been found out.”
“Solidarity to those taking strike action tomorrow. I will be on the picket lines.”
“— the focus of an all-class alliance and challenge the profits of the wealthy and the rich.”
“As the crisis at Stormont rolls on, more and more people will insist that the Northern state itself is fundamentally broken beyond repair. Unfortunately for the DUP, it will find that, if its boycott continues and this state is ungovernable, people will continue to demand and shape an alternative. If workers take up that struggle together, an all-Ireland alternative will, and needs to, go beyond —”
“In fact, workers on picket lines have done more to unite our communities and advance their causes than all the crisis-ridden years of the Assembly. That unity is the very thing that will deliver on their demands.”
“I will in a second. <BR /> <BR />If you show me an Executive Minister who claims to have fought for the interests of those workers, I will show you their abysmal record. It is easier to condemn Tory cuts when you are not implementing them at Stormont. While there appears to be money on the table for workers' pay if Stormont is restored, there is no guarantee of investment in services. There is further talk of austerity measures, such as water charges and an unacceptable 15% rates hike. Given their record, questions will loom about whether any incoming Executive and the parties here will, once again, roll over for the Tories. <BR /> <BR />Our message is that workers need to be ready to challenge them. The institutions, built on sectarianism, have failed workers for well over 25 years.”
“Workers should also reject the false narratives of parties that suggest that restoring Stormont will solve issues faced by working-class people. The DUP, Sinn Féin, Alliance, the UUP and the SDLP are the same parties that, time and time again, voted against giving workers a pay rise when they had the chance to do so.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is also important to say that we will not play the cynical political game that tries to apportion blame to either the DUP or the Tories while letting the other off the hook. Just as the Secretary of State could stop using workers' pay as a bargaining chip to restore Stormont, so too could the DUP end its boycott and start addressing workers' demands. Both are to blame. <BR /> <BR />Workers will, no doubt, be familiar with the famous adage that power cedes nothing without a demand. If there is no progress on their demands, there should be an escalation of their strike action, including a general strike and, as some have suggested, civil disobedience if necessary. Shut the place down and show that it is workers, not politicians, who truly keep our society functioning and that they should be paid a proper wage for doing so.”
“Everyone who has had their pay frozen and their living standards attacked and who has struggled to make ends meet is behind you. <BR /> <BR />In recent weeks and months, there have been deliberate attempts by the Tories and sections of the media to demonise those workers for taking strike action. It is important to say that we do not buy the propaganda and the spin of a Tory Government who have decimated public services, handed billions to the wealthy and condemned countless people to a life of state-enforced poverty. We do not accept the lies of a Government who say there is no money for public services but plenty of money to bomb Yemen and commit arms to fund Israel's genocide in Palestine.”
“We are far beyond the point of making appeals to the DUP or its fellows in the Tory party. I am not here to make an appeal to the DUP, because we have been down that road before. We know its real and divisive motives, and we know that its self-serving boycott has mainly been about staving off electoral losses. Instead, I speak directly to those striking workers who have set a shining example of people-power politics, refused to accept the limitations set by the crisis of Stormont and taken action to demand better for themselves and all who have been failed by Westminster and Stormont. Every person who has languished on a health or housing waiting list is behind you. Every parent and pupil who has seen schools decimated by cuts is behind you.”
“On behalf of People Before Profit, I express our solidarity with all those public-sector workers who are taking strike action tomorrow for pay and investment in our public services, in defiance of the rotten Tory Government and their functionaries here. <BR /> <BR />Just this morning, I stood with striking education workers on the picket lines at St Joseph's Primary School, Slate Street. Their message was simple: they would rather be in school today, providing for our young people, but it is long past the time that they were given a real pay uplift and a grading review for the vital work that they do. <BR /> <BR />It is not lost on anyone that those who keep our society functioning have been forced to go on picket lines while the DUP refuses to do a day's work.”
“They are forging ahead without Stormont, which failed to invest in workers and the public services that we rely on. As with public-sector workers taking to the picket lines, the blocking of soft opt-out organ donation is an indictment of mainstream politics here. The Mac Gabhann family, the organ donation community and working-class people in general have every right to be proud: proud of the fact that politicians are being dragged, kicking and screaming, to discuss the issues that they would often rather ignore; proud of how far they have come in that fight; and proud in the knowledge that progress will win out eventually, with or without Stormont. Keep up the fight. Beir bua.”
“<BR /> <BR />People will remember that the Irish language legislation, reproductive rights and equal marriage were all delivered in spite of these institutions, which have been paralysed by sectarianism and blighted by a rotten economic agenda. It must be remembered that the primary legislation for Dáithí's law may have been brought through Stormont, but it was not delivered by Stormont. It was delivered by Dáithí, Maírtín, Seph and the countless people across our communities who took to the streets and campaigned for the cause. This secondary legislation will be delivered in the same manner. <BR /> <BR />Next week, teachers, health workers, university workers and more will take to the picket lines to demand fair pay and a better deal for all.”
“The absence of an Assembly cannot be an excuse for delaying life-saving organ donation legislation. The parties that take their seats in Westminster now have a job to do. That having been said, the failure to elect a Speaker today is just another stark reminder of how this institution is fundamentally broken. This Building, once a bastion of unionist dominance, is now a vestige to unionist obstructionism, political scandals, crises and a failure to deliver on the hopes and aspirations of ordinary people. The Mac Gabhann family and the organ donation community are just the latest in a long line of people who have been failed by this institution.”
“They are ready to go, and politicians should be exhausting every avenue to implement them. There should be no room for prevaricating now. The legislation has to be progressed. <BR /> <BR />Just like the DUP, the Tories have abdicated all responsibility for governing the North. The Tories have no problem with hurrying through legislation to change the election deadline, to break the trade unions and to deny victims justice. They should show some urgency in implementing Dáithí's law. That is my message to the Secretary of State today. Democracy has been put on hold by the DUP and their one-time Tory allies. If unionism's two biggest parties refuse to govern for the North within the Union, it shows that something is fundamentally wrong with this state.”
“We are talking about a six-year-old boy who is waiting on a new heart and the many others who depend on transplants. People's lives are more important than the DUP's protocol protest, and anyone who listened to Maírtín on the BBC recently will have heard him talking about attending the funeral of a young boy who was waiting on a transplant — absolutely heartbreaking stuff. It makes it crystal clear that people on the donor list do not have time to lose. <BR /> <BR />We have all heard discussions about whether this legislation should be progressed through Stormont or Westminster, but opportunities are there for those who seize them. Both the DUP and the Tories are refusing to seize the opportunity to implement Dáithí's law. The regulations are set out.”
“Today, my foremost thoughts are with young Dáithí, the Mac Gabhann family and all those waiting for the gift of organ donation. The Mac Gabhann family have conducted themselves with the utmost dignity in dealing with the blocking of Dáithí's law, particularly in their interactions with the DUP. Earlier this week, I heard Dáithí's father, Maírtín, describe the DUP's refusal to nominate a Speaker as disappointing, and it is. It is a disappointment that most of us share. <BR /> <BR />Knowing what is at stake here today, it is only fair to describe what we are about to witness as absolutely cruel. We are not just talking about disappointing a family, who have moved mountains to promote organ donation, we are not just talking about disappointing the people who have marched, protested and campaigned for this legislation.”
“I associate myself with the comments to wish Alex Easton well and to pass on our sympathies and with the comments about the people who have died in Turkey and Syria. We offer our condolences. I also extend my solidarity to the Member for Lagan Valley Sorcha Eastwood for the intimidation that she is facing from bigots and bullies. They will not intimidate her, and we all send our sympathy and support to her.”
“Finally, in solidarity with every worker who is out on strike in the coming weeks, we say this: today may be about the DUP, but tomorrow is about you.”
“We are fast approaching the point where, given the choice, people may call time on this farce, because you cannot paper over the cracks of an Assembly that is crumbling at its foundations. <BR /> <BR />All things considered, people may still ask what the point is in taking a seat in this broken Assembly or speaking here today. For me, the point is simple: as long as I and other socialists have a voice in the Chamber, we will use it to amplify the voices of workers and social movements, and we will hold parties like the DUP and the Tories to account. Whether the DUP votes for a Speaker today or not, it is important that it hears the disastrous consequences of its actions.”
“<BR /> <BR />Illusions of Stormont are waning, and, whether the Assembly is restored or not, working-class people who have been crushed by this crisis will not wait for politicians to get their house in order. We have only to look at the example of our health workers, who are striking in the coming days to defend our NHS. They will remember that the previous Executive were content to offer them a pay cut in real terms. Our postal workers, Housing Executive workers, BT workers, university workers and countless others are also forging ahead without Stormont. They are fighting to ensure that their demands for a better future are heard, wherever they need to be heard. <BR /> <BR />To be clear, I believe that, if Stormont is restored in its current guise, further crises will come. The sectarianism at the heart of the state guarantees it.”
“Maybe later. <BR /> <BR />People Before Profit will support the election of a Speaker today as a stopgap measure. However, we recognise that resurrecting Stormont will not itself solve the cost-of-living crisis or deliver on the long-term hopes and aspirations of the majority here. As in the past, it will be for the public to pressure any new Executive to act in their interests. If the Assembly is not restored, that denial of democracy should be met with democracy and a border poll should be called within two years. People should be given a say in reshaping this island for the benefit of the many, not for the benefit of the DUP or the economic elites on this island.”
“People are all too aware of how these sectarian structures were used to deny same-sex marriage, reproductive rights, Irish language rights and the broad democratic desires of the public, and, unfortunately, the communal carve-up has been no barrier to things like welfare reforms, public-sector pay cuts and corrupt schemes like RHI and Red Sky.”
“Besides exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis, the DUP is simply exercising the sectarian veto on power-sharing that is enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement. These political institutions, built and run on the basis of communal divisions and designations, have failed Catholic, Protestant and neither. After 25 years of failure, serious questions loom about whether this place could, or should, be resurrected at all.”
“We have had election threats, budget cuts and, finally, a threat to introduce water charges and to punish ordinary people for the intransigence of the DUP. <BR /> <BR />Make no mistake: the Tories also want us to pick up the bill for their September Budget that promised handouts for the wealthy and misery for the rest. They are a Government of the rich and for the rich who have always been about making ordinary people pay for their mistakes, but those threats against working-class communities could be the last resort of an Administration that have no plan whatsoever to deal with the crisis that exists here. Stormont is fundamentally broken, and neither the Tories nor the political establishment here has the desire to fix it.”
“<BR /> <BR />Just as everyone knows that the DUP will not vote for a Speaker, they know that the DUP's outrage about the protocol is manufactured. Edwin Poots's embarrassing attempt to change the protocol Bill proves that point. The DUP's political credibility and vote are plummeting, so it has reverted to the familiar tactic of stoking inter-communal tensions to shore up its base. While the DUP refuses to govern, its one-time allies in the Tory party have decided to inflict more misery on people in the North. That same party indulged the DUP's boycott of the Assembly from the outset, first with the protocol Bill and then by re-entering negotiations with the European Union. After failing with the carrot, the Secretary of State is now trying the stick.”
“I have to admit that today's political circus might be amusing if the cost-of-living crisis were not so deep or the outcome of the proceedings today were not so predictable. Although the sitting might carry some intrigue for the press, workers on the picket lines, patients lying in hospital corridors and everyone who is struggling may ask, "What's the point?". This morning, I met Kids Together and Sólás. They, who are being denied access to Youth Service funding, effectively because they work with and support children with disabilities, may also ask, "What's the point?". The DUP's impervious attitude to people's plight is obvious, so there is some justification in asking what the point is of pleading with a party that has allowed people to go hungry, whole households to freeze and whole communities to suffer for its own ends.”
“Make no mistake about it, however: we know that a restored Executive will not be the silver bullet that some may suggest. We know that previous Executives refused to act in the face of the cost-of-living crisis and that their previous economic agenda did nothing to uplift our communities. I have, frankly, no faith in politicians to deliver without a fight, but I have every faith in workers in our communities, and in ordinary people's ability, to keep up the pressure and deliver real change. Election or not, I will return to the picket lines in coming days, because, ultimately, that is where real change in our society happens: on the streets, in communities and outside workplaces, with people taking action.”
“The money is there, and they should be paid what they are worth, which is a lot more than what is currently being offered. <BR /> <BR />I make a similar appeal to the outgoing, and any incoming, Health Minister, and it is this: we cannot endorse health workers getting a real-terms pay cut. Health workers are preparing for strike action in the near future, possibly in the weeks ahead. There are more disputes to come: Royal Mail workers are out on strike, as are BT and Openreach workers and council workers, not just for themselves but for everybody who relies on their services and deserves much better than what is being currently offered. <BR /> <BR />We must be clear that today's sitting is ultimately about the intransigence of the DUP. I urge it to stop playing with people's lives and get back into government.”
“The Economy Minister here voted against the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Amendment) Bill that would have afforded those workers greater legal protection in the dispute. Many are worried about the effects of being left in the lurch. <BR /> <BR />They put themselves at risk during the pandemic to maintain people's homes, yet they are being offered an insulting 1·75% pay offer. It is being described as a rise when, in fact, it is an actual cut. One in three of those workers rely, disgracefully, on food banks, and many are paid just 6p above the minimum wage, despite the vital work that they do. I met maintenance workers this morning ahead of this sitting. They requested that I personally ask the Sinn Féin Communities Minister to intervene in the dispute to ensure that those workers get a proper pay rise.”
“There will be no solace for teachers who face having their already meagre wages cut for taking industrial action in the face of skyrocketing inflation. Similarly, as people struggle to heat their home or keep the lights on this winter, they will not look to the record of the DUP Economy Minister for any comfort, because they will find no attempt made to tackle the obscene profits of energy companies operating here. They are raking it in while people suffer. <BR /> <BR />Despite all that calamity, people still have some hope. Just this morning, I spoke with Housing Executive maintenance workers who have been on the picket line for 12 weeks and who have just announced a further four weeks of strike action.”
“It was the DUP and other parties here that voted through the cruel welfare reforms that are now wreaking havoc in hard-hit households. It was the DUP that, even last week, voted with Liz Truss's Government when her party colleagues were fleeing the sinking ship. Indeed, the DUP and the Tories are two sides of the same grubby coin. <BR /> <BR />When the Assembly last sat, the DUP assured us that it could still govern and that it could help tackle the cost-of-living crisis because Ministers were in place, but the actions of those Ministers have given little comfort to countless working-class people who are struggling to make ends meet. Having a sitting DUP Education Minister did not protect substitute teachers who found that they had not been paid their wages this month and who could still be waiting for money as we approach Christmas.”
“<BR /> <BR />The party that initially backed the protocol is now telling people that the North should not be treated differently from the rest of the UK. Those same fundamentalists had no problem with the North being a special case when it came to the denial of abortion rights, equal marriage and minority language rights. Their hypocrisy is absolutely glaring. It is the same hypocrisy that saw a sitting DUP Minister have the gall to accuse the Tories of creating instability in the North, despite his party's refusal to govern. Let us remember that it was the DUP that for years propped up the Tories, who waged economic war on working-class people across these islands, giving handouts to the wealthy and austerity to the rest.”
“It was once famously written that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. <BR /> <BR />To that I would add, "and then the DUP", because recent history has shown that, no matter how much misery it inflicts on our communities and no matter the very real damage caused by its actions, it continues its song and dance about the protocol. The reason that the DUP has continued that cycle is very simple: its focus on the protocol is designed to divide people; to ramp up tensions; and, ultimately, to shore up its own vote. It believes that its grandstanding and political brinkmanship will distract from the fact that it has failed people on all sides during the cost-of-living crisis, but people are not easily fooled.”
“I am still speaking. Look at the Assembly question that the Minister responded to indicating her support for reducing the pay of striking workers. I refer the Member to the article and the question, whichever one she desires, so go ahead.”
“On a point of order, Mr Acting Speaker. I refer the Member to yesterday's 'Belfast Telegraph'. Look at the Assembly question that the Minister responded to.”
“I thank the Minister for his intervention, which has given me an extra minute, and for his kind offer. I will be delighted to meet him as soon as possible. I have a list of ideas that you should implement and look to implement. You should say something about the fact that BP and Shell are making record profits. Your silence is deafening. Saying something would be of benefit to people in our communities, so I advise you say something. I will take you up on your offer of a meeting. <BR /> <BR />Wealthy employers and their allies in the Assembly, maybe including the Minister, need to hear loud and clear that workers will no longer stand for poverty wages and rotten profiteering.”
“— they should be saluted and supported. Wealthy employers and their —”
“If the institutions ever return, it will be up to ordinary people to pressure any incoming Executive and Government into action, because, left to their own actions, they simply will not work and have not worked for the benefit of the majority of people here. <BR /> <BR />In recent months, striking workers and the trade union movement more generally have led the fightback against employers who have attempted to suppress wages for their own greedy ends. I salute the brave decision of BT workers, Openreach workers and postal workers, who have either gone on strike or are due to strike over pay and other issues. Similarly, the RMT rail workers are leading the fight for better wages. Despite the propaganda against them —”