Steve Aiken
South Antrim · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Minister for his statement. Minister, as well as the move to reduce the cost to the Assembly of vacant non-domestic properties and to increase liability so that we will not have so many vacant properties, you will be aware of the Dilapidation Bill and of the conversations that have been taking place in Wales and Scotland about…”
“Instead, that most dysfunctional Department, under the most inept Sinn Féin Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly and a series of grossly over-superannuated permanent secretaries, gave the money back.”
“We know that her Department spends more on legal cases, fighting judicial reviews and being chastised by judges for legal ineptitude and on vesting land and ripping out hedges and fencing and then trying to unvest it and paying even more money to put back the fences and hedges that it took out.”
“We can hardly blame the current permanent secretary, as she has just taken up her post, but, surely, her predecessors must bear some accountability or responsibility, especially considering the senior civil servants' salary scale of between £146,000 and £163,000, with, of course, their taxpayer-funded pension contribution of 34·2% — £218,…”
“It must be said that £181·3 million is a lot of taxpayers' hard-earned money. It is money that is raised from local commuters, vehicle owners, farmers, local businesses, logistics companies and, above all, our constituents — those vital people whom we are elected to represent.”
“The Minister will be aware that, under the public appointments guide published by the Executive Office, it is clear that she is supposed to take independent advice before appointing board members. What independent advice did she receive, particularly about the board members selected?”
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“On a point of order, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I think that the Minister tried to call me a johnny-come-lately. He might like to correct the record, because, if he has any knowledge of the number of times that I have been involved in the No Gas Caverns process, along with John Stewart and, indeed, his two illustrious colleagues the Members for East Antrim, he will discover that we have been doing it for a very long time. Minister, please feel free to correct the record.”
“I was going to raise a point of order too, Principal Deputy Speaker. Please continue.”
“Thank you very much indeed, Minister, and I thank Mr Dickson for asking the same sort of question that I am about to ask. Minister, on 27 June this year, the Lady Chief Justice quashed the marine licence associated with the gas caverns project in Islandmagee. In light of your comments in paragraph 5 of your 70-paragraph statement, in which you specifically mention a "moral duty" — I say that again: a "moral duty" — on Ministers to deliver on the climate emergency, why are you and the Department taking such a retrograde step of referring the decision on the gas caverns back to the courts when, actually, what we need is resolute action from you, Minister, in stopping it right now?”
“I am sure that the Minister would like to join me on a tour of South Antrim to look at some of the significant areas, but what is he doing to make sure that we take a more realistic approach to planning systems , rather than what we have at the moment?”
“I declare an interest as a member of the board of governors of Kilbride Central Primary School, a great primary school, and of Ballyclare High School, a great high school. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Minister for his remarks. He will be aware, as he will have heard from his MLAs and others, of the considerable amount of development that is going on in South Antrim. There seems to be a mismatch in some of the plans that are being proposed for new housing in the area, which, I am glad to see, is being taken up. The key question, however, needs to be how the plans match the requirements for the education system.”
“On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I apologise for my mobile phone going off just before Mr Gaston had the opportunity to make a speech. I do not normally provide musical accompaniments, so please take my apologies.”
“I thank the Minister for her remarks so far. Minister, you talked very clearly in your statement about prioritising public-sector pay. Does the Minister accept that, as a result of the Executive's Budget decisions, we are very likely to face fresh industrial action by health workers and other key members of the public service?”
“Regrettably, today, unless we take urgent steps to properly defend our freedoms and fight intolerance, it will not be long until those horrors are revisited on us all. As we remember the past, do not ignore the facts that could lead us inexorably back to those dark days.”
“The naivety of those political and media commentators who do not see the interlinking of that wider-scale conflict in the Middle East, directed by Iran, and the battles in Ukraine, directed by Russia, show that they are perfect examples of Lenin's useful idiots. You do not need to look very far to find them. <BR /> <BR />One of my predecessors as Ulster Unionist Party leader, Jim Molyneaux, saw first-hand the impacts of destructiveness and hate when he helped to liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. The horrors of war and the inhumanity and evil shown were that which our forebears fought against and which many of us who have served since thought had been consigned to the past.”
“That is marked in particular by two events this weekend at either end of Europe. On the 86th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the violence against Jewish people in the streets of Amsterdam was rightly identified by the President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, as a pogrom. This is Europe in the 21st century. Secondly, virtually ignored and forgotten by our near-instance, short-attention-span media, a full-scale war is ongoing in Ukraine between Putin, along with his North Korean and Iranian allies, and the Ukrainians, to whom we should be giving all our support. <BR /> <BR />The continued rise of the antisemitism that pervades what passes for political thought in some sections of this island and across Europe and the war in Ukraine are clearly and irrevocably linked.”
“Today in the Assembly, we solemnly gathered to remember those who gave their all so that we may have the freedoms that we have today. We often forget that those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the defence of our nation and the wider democratic way of life that we cherish did so not for some base ideology but because they wanted to defend their family, their friends, their community and our way of life. Wherever they served our nation, their willingness to put themselves in harm's way speaks to their courage, which we must never forget. <BR /> <BR />The wearing of the poppy is also a reminder that war and conflict continue to be with us. Recent history, regrettably, shows that violent ideology, nationalism and race hate are back with a vengeance to haunt us all.”
“I thank the Minister for her remarks. She will be aware that the Chancellor, in her Budget statement last week, talked about the pressures on health and, in particular, about the fact that, across England and Wales, the health budget will be raised by 4·7% this year and 3·3% next year. That is above the general baseline of 1·3% on funding. Is the Minister looking to match that in Northern Ireland, bearing in mind that our challenges are significant and our health allocation was below baseline during the budgetary process that started earlier this year?”
“The Minister will be aware that, often, the sooner a patient can be triaged, the better the outcome is for that patient. Can he provide an update on the work to introduce a telephone triage service locally?”
“Why are we not making that a priority for the Assembly and the Executive? That is what we should be doing right now. We should not be debating paramilitaries and paramilitarism in Northern Ireland; it should have gone a long time ago. <BR /> <BR />If there is anything that we should do as Assembly Members, it is reinforcing the message to the Northern Ireland Executive, the Justice Minister and the agencies to get on with it and solve the problem. We will not make things better for our disadvantaged communities while they suffer from the mafia-type gangsterism that is in our society. We need to move on from that.”
“Every one of those things should have been addressed. It is primarily a justice issue, and it is an operational matter that should focus the attention of not just the Justice Minister but the rest of the Ministers in the Executive. That needs to be progressed at pace. <BR /> <BR />It is ironic that a member of one of the organisations came to me not so long ago to complain about the harassment that he felt from HMRC. He felt that every one of his business dealings was being dealt with microscopically and, every time he went to the airport, the Border Agency stopped him and asked him where he was going. He was particularly asked about how he managed to afford holidays in Spain and everything else. If that is what puts fear into those groups, why are we not building on that? Why are we not progressing that?”
“<BR /> <BR />One of the most damning indictments of this place and, indeed, the Executive and the political parties over the years — regrettably, to some degree, our party has been involved in this — is that we have never tackled the problems fully head-on. One of the things that we must do, instead of talking about it, is to engage in it. Primarily, this is an issue for justice and policing. We can talk about the economic, social and cultural issues, but, until the malign influence of those who perpetrate violence in our communities is removed, we will get nowhere. <BR /> <BR />We have heard time and time again from the PSNI about how constrained it is and time and time again about how other agencies are not coordinated and enabled to work together. We have talked about a lack of direction from the top.”
“One of the reasons why those things happen is that we have given those organisations agency for far too long. They should have gone away 25 years ago. <BR /> <BR />The fact that we still give them agency gives them a degree of legitimacy that they do not have. Anybody who understands anything that is happening around the world, particularly in areas where this sort of mafia conspiracy exists with various groups, and looks at the communities that they infect — that is what they do — will ask, "What happens to those communities?". Are those communities vibrant, with good cultural life, good economic opportunities and good health outcomes? No, they are not. They are the elements of society that are left further and further behind.”
“I thank the leader of the Opposition for bringing this valuable debate to the Chamber. One of the issues facing the Assembly and, indeed, society in Northern Ireland is that we have given agency to so-called paramilitaries when instead, as my learned friend behind me has said on many occasions, we should call them for what they are. This is mafia gangsterism. It is organised crime, organised child abuse, drug dealing and extortion. Those are things that should have left society in Northern Ireland a long time ago. <BR /> <BR />I am talking about not just one part of the community but all parts of the community. Those things are prevalent in areas such as north and west Belfast, but they are also prevalent in Londonderry, Bangor, Carrickfergus, Ballyclare and Antrim. Those things should not be happening 25 years on.”
“Further to my friend Mr Durkan's comments, are we envisaging Julie Harrison becoming a member of the permanent public-sector transformation board? Is that enshrining the Northern Ireland Office at the centre of our Government?”
“I declare an interest as a school governor for Kilbride Central Primary School. Minister, is there any advice that you can give to governors of schools that are stuck on the SEP? How do we navigate our way through the Kafkaesque approach that the EA seems to develop every time that we try to have a conversation with it about a business case?”
“It is also apparent to any dispassionate observer that the Irish Republic is more interested in opening embassies in Tehran and its parties more interested in inviting the Iranian embassy to their conferences than it is in tackling its ingrained and growing institutional antisemitism. While Dublin is happy to cloak itself in intolerance, it is good to see that many others are calling that out, especially in Brussels, Berlin and, above all, Washington. That, at least, gives reason for hope as Yom Kippur for the Hebrew year 5785 passes.”
“I was pleased that the deputy First Minister attended and expressed solidarity on behalf of us to our beleaguered but still proud local Jewish community and to the victims of 7 October. <BR /> <BR />That was in marked contrast, however, to the event in Dublin, where neither the president nor the Taoiseach or the Tánaiste could find the time to attend the memorial to 1,119 victims of terror, torture and sexual violence, nor did they bother to attend any Yom Kippur memorials. Indeed, a Fine Gael councillor, Councillor Rane, even expressed base antisemitic tropes during a Dublin City Council debate. It seems that some members of society on this island are deemed to be less equal than others.”
“Equally, the attempts to denigrate that religious observance by some, including university student bodies, left-wing and pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah terrorist supporters or just those who cannot resist joining in with their base antisemitism, need to be roundly condemned. <BR /> <BR />Last week, memorial services for the victims of 7 October were held in Belfast and Dublin. In the spirit of the Yizkor prayer, large numbers of Gentiles, including me, stood in solidarity with our Jewish friends and colleagues in Israel, the United Kingdom, Ireland and elsewhere. I thank the friends of the Jewish community who organised those events, especially the one in Belfast.”
“From just before sunset on Friday to dusk on Saturday marked Yom Kippur. Across the world but particularly in the homes of our many Jewish friends and colleagues, it is by observing their prayers that members of the Jewish faith seek to atone and ask God for his forgiveness. Yom Kippur culminates with Neilah and the sounding of the shofar. During the religious services, one of the most poignant moments is the saying of Yizkor, the memorial prayer for the recently deceased. Anyone with a degree of empathy will share in that with our Jewish community, this year of all years, on Yom Kippur.”
“I declare an interest as a safeguarding board member of a major NGO and the safeguarding governor of a school in my constituency. <BR /> <BR />First Minister, when you first employed Michael McMonagle, what due diligence did you do on his conduct in order to determine his suitability for employment? Subsequent to being informed that he was being investigated for serious offences, what safeguarding checks did you conduct in relation to any access that he may have had to children or vulnerable adults while he was in your employ?”
“Does the Minister agree that some in society still use paramilitarism to intimidate individuals and families, that the Department of Justice must take more robust action to dismantle those groups and that those organisations should not be called upon to use their influence in communities?”
“There is no space for antisemitism in the Assembly or anywhere else.”
“If there is a lesson we could and should learn, it is that racism and sectarianism, whatever its form, is toxic. Maybe, at least in the Assembly, hopefully, and across wider society on this island, we will. Those so-called commentators should stop and reflect on the additional horror that they have inflicted on our Jewish community by their espousal of antisemitism.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is almost as though, to those racist commentators, no matter what sort of racist apologists they are, the lives of women, children, men, members of the LGBT community, the disabled and even a young 12-year-old autistic girl and avid Harry Potter fan, Noya Dan, did not count, just because they were Jewish, and, again, murder, torture, kidnapping and depraved sexual violence somehow do not count because the victims are Jewish. The word "othering", that horrible all-island trait of discounting and dehumanising the lives of those we do not agree with, making them some sort of Untermenschen, applies far too strongly here, especially if it has anything to do with Israel. <BR /> <BR />It is far too easy for some to rapidly fall into blaming-Israel-for-everything mode, as if that somehow excuses antisemitic race hate. It does not.”
“<BR /> <BR />What adds specifically to that horror and immeasurably to its impact on the people of Israel and our Jewish friends and colleagues is the blatantly antisemitic commentary from far too many politicians, academics, media commentators and so-called activists; commentary that blames the victims. It did not even take a day before that perverse antisemitic gloating, caricature and glorification of crimes against humanity became the normal discourse. It pains me, as it should all right-minded people across this island, that our small and vulnerable Jewish community should become the centre of so many of those ingrained antisemitic tropes.”
“Today marks the first anniversary of the horrific and barbaric terrorist attack on Israel. The horror of that extreme example of racist and sectarian hate goes well beyond the statistics of 1,191 murdered, over 4,834 injured and 218 taken hostage. The violent attacks against the old, women, children and men were accompanied by the wide use of rape, torture, beheading and burning people alive: examples of grotesque violence that, regrettably, have been the mark of terror in this age, especially elsewhere across the Middle East and the surrounding region, in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Sudan.”
“There have been public references in the media in recent weeks to a number of community pharmacies closing. Does the Minister have confidence that there remains good access to community pharmacies across Northern Ireland?”
“I will write to the Chair of our Committee today to ask, under any other business, for us to, again, stop being incurious and examine all elements of significance of the Windsor framework and how it affects Northern Ireland, but I strongly expect that, yet again, our Sinn Féin and Alliance members will decide that that is outside our remit. As an Assembly that should be dedicated to doing what is best for Northern Ireland, that lack of curiosity should be a matter of concern for us all.”
“<BR /> <BR />I have, regrettably, remarked on far too many occasions how remarkably incurious the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee is here on everything from obligatory motions to any desire to horizon-scan the Windsor framework for how it would have any significant impact on life in Northern Ireland. That we should be proactive is something that our constituents, business community, farmers and consumers expect us to be. After several weeks of no notification and examining our travel plans to Brussels, this week, at the Democratic Scrutiny Committee, our Northern Ireland public can watch us examine cats' and dogs' traceability and further details on our visit to the EU Commission.”
“Frankly, however, we have no details to work to or to allow us to assess the level of trade disruption that that might engender. The NIO has also stated that it will publish statutory guidance to stop public authorities overzealously operationalising the implementation of the Windsor framework to the detriment of the UK's internal market. We have no idea of what is in that guidance, where it applies, whom it applies to or any degree of legal compliance. That is something that you would expect our Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly to monitor.”
“Members will be aware, first from the media last week and from the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) yesterday, that our Government have confirmed their decision not to proceed with the introduction of UK-wide "Not for EU" labelling from October 2024; today, indeed. Members may or may not be reassured by our Government's commitment to safeguarding the supply of goods within our own country and their intention to protect consumer choice. Obviously, in light of the commitment that was made and then broken to city deals, that is something that we should all monitor closely. <BR /> <BR />The commitment that was made by the NIO to monitor the UK internal market to track and, if necessary, intervene to protect the availability of goods in Northern Ireland is something that we should also monitor.”
“Unless we are given an adequate funding mechanism and support, we are not going to be able to do that. I ask all Members to support our amendment.”
“I fully agree. It is a pity that other members of the Finance Committee are not here, although we do indeed have the Deputy Chair of the Finance Committee here. Where is the sustainability plan? It was supposed to be here by the end of the month. I believe that the month finishes at 23.59 tonight, and we have not seen a sustainability plan, so I am not quite sure where that is going. I welcome the Member's comments. <BR /> <BR />The most important thing that we need to appreciate — this is why I encourage all Members to support the amendment — is that finance has to be found. Finance has to be found for our number-one priority, which is Health. I do not believe that anybody disagrees that the community and voluntary sector needs more resources, but we can only allocate those when we have them.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. Much as I feel quite happy to talk about the Education Minister and some of the other issues with the DUP, we have had similar issues on Infrastructure, Justice and Economy, and we go on and on. The reality is that the funding is not there, and funding must be put there correctly and be appropriated for Health. Many of us sat around the table at Hillsborough Castle less than a year ago, and every party that is now in the Executive agreed that Health was the number-one priority.”
“Other Members will be aware that we have similar situations with policing, Infrastructure and Education. Every single penny has to be scrutinised and looked at effectively. Finding extra funds is not just a matter of pulling them out from wherever they are, and that is why we tabled our amendment. We are calling on the Finance Minister to make sure that, when additional funds come through, they do indeed come to Health.”
“Nobody here, I believe, does not consider the fact that we need to look at other members of the voluntary and community sector and not just at the ones that have previously been in that sector. We need to look at what is the best value and the best approach for us to be able to do that, but we cannot do it without the necessary funding. That is why we tabled our amendment. <BR /> <BR />This issue is about funding, and our party took the decision not to support the Budget because the funding is not there for Health. Some Members spoke eloquently and some did not, but some of those who spoke eloquently talked about, in the overall size and context of the Health budget, the small amounts of money that should be available to be able to do that.”
“Thank you very much. I thank all the Members for the mostly good-natured tone of the debate. <BR /> <BR />As the Minister said very clearly, the main issue that we have to deal with is the irony klaxon. The Minister and the Department of Health made these decisions only in the worst possible cases. The cut was made not by the Minister but by the permanent secretary when the Assembly was not sitting. <BR /> <BR />Let us just focus on that for a second. Here we are, an Assembly debating. Nobody here thinks that the community and voluntary sector does not do a good job or that it does not add significantly to what we do for health outcomes across Northern Ireland. It is a vital part of what we are trying to achieve.”
“The Minister will be aware of the morale problems in the Prison Service at the moment. One of the things that may be affecting the recruitment process is the fact that many prison officers feel as if they have not been listened to, particularly on issues to do with NICS HR. Will the Minister commit to an independent review of the Northern Ireland Civil Service HR process to make sure that our prison officers are not badly treated, as, they believe, they are?”
“Minister, in a previous answer, you mentioned extreme weather events, which seem to happen with monotonous regularity now. Are there any plans to improve the modelling that we do with the Met Office for such extreme weather events, given their implications in overpowering our sewerage system and other areas of our infrastructure?”
“Those are not my words, but I think that most right-minded people who understand the malign hand of Iran in the horrors of the Middle East will agree with them. For those who do not recognise the quotes, they are the words of President Joe Biden and, secondly, Vice President Kamala Harris. We should all welcome their unambiguous clarity. Rather than write letters of support to Iran's leadership, like some political leaders on this island have done, we should reflect on the clear lead shown by the United States on the reality of the situation in the Middle East and, rather than seeking to appease the perpetrators, take a firm stance against terrorism no matter where it is.”
“I would like to put on record some remarks about the events in Lebanon last week:”
“This is not definitely not a criticism of you, but we have picked up, particularly from across in England and from our friends in Wales and Scotland, similar sorts of concerns about things that have been promised but are not being seen. I think that that should be a general concern, and, if you have the opportunity, you should talk to the Welsh and the Scottish about it to emphasise it, because that is not right.”
“Yes, yes. <BR /> <BR />Rather than writing letters of censure, we should all join together to reject the Budget, which does not and cannot deliver for the people of Northern Ireland.”
“You can indeed, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I am just coming to the end.”
“Thirdly — I say this specifically to other parties in the Executive — the Chief Constable had to write to the Prime Minister because the PSNI has been starved of resources, and he has raised very serious concerns about his ability to maintain public safety. That, coupled with the very real concerns that we have already expressed about maintaining the health of our constituents, must show that we cannot accept the unacceptable.”