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?”
The complete record
Every one of 2,489 lines we hold for Steve Aiken, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 39 of 50.
“I will just point out quickly that, when we could be getting rates at - 0·25%, now probably is the time to borrow.”
“Gary Middleton quite rightly said that we have had plenty of strategies, and we need some deliverables. As an Assembly, let us commit to making those deliverables happen. Unless we do that for our SME sector, which is 99% of our economy, there will not be an economy for Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />As Mr Stalford pointed out, there is no question of raising a tax base on an economy that is growing because there will not be an economy to grow. We have to do something. Let us stop talking about it and get on with it, Minister, and let us do something now. We support the motion.”
“It sounds like management-speak. Our SMEs do not need that; they need the assurance of some form of financial support so that they will still be around in the next couple of months to regrow the economy. Quite frankly, Minister, they do not need another strategy or another business plan. They need somebody to tell them very clearly — that should be you, Minister — that we hear what they say and that we will give them the necessary finance to enable them to do that. Minister, you have the opportunity and the support of all the parties in the Assembly who will want to work with you, as well as the Finance Minister and other Ministers, to make that happen. We need to realise that there is a significant problem that we must do something about. It is not the time for more plans and strategies; it is the time for outcomes and actions.”
“I agree with you. One of the things that we should be able to do by working cooperatively together, because we know that the SME sector needs support, is to look at putting together some form of plan that is able to support it. However, I hear words about strategy, business plans and words like that.”
“The problem is that, in these circumstances, that money could be ensuring that our economic ecosystem is capable of growing and could be getting the SME sector back up and running.”
“<BR /> <BR />As many of you in the Chamber will have heard me say, I will be one of the first people to lambast the Finance Minister at every available opportunity. Last week, the Minister of Finance allocated £37·9 million to the Department for the Economy. However, has he received any bids or longer-term bids to support the SME sector? Have any bids been put together for the allocation of the £53 million, which has been very clearly identified by the Minister of Finance as being available? <BR /> <BR />We also know that there are monitoring rounds. We probably expect come the end of the financial year, as normally happens, even in this period of COVID, that a substantial amount of resource will need to be allocated very quickly.”
“They have been able to get financing from banks and to do a variety of things that have enabled them to deal with this situation. However, those in the SME sector have watched their cash drain away and their ability to do things dissipate, and they are now in a situation where they are facing extinction. If they go, that is a part of the economy of Northern Ireland that is not going to come back. <BR /> <BR />We are in the situation where we have known about this for some time. We have known about this since March. Indeed, the Department for the Economy gave back, I think, about £53 million to the centre, quite rightly at the time, because it did not know how it was going to spend or allocate that money. That was money that came specifically for COVID in order to enable the economy to keep going. That was in March. It is now October.”
“We must all work together in order to create a business plan that enables us to come out of the end of this with some form of economy that has the ability to grow and to strengthen rapidly if it needs to, because our economy is going to contract. We have heard that it is going to contract by about 11·7%. That is an absolutely horrifying figure. We need to get it bouncing back not by 7% or by 10% but by 15%, 16% or whatever. That bounce back is going to come from the SME sector. It has the entrepreneurs, and they are the people who are going to be agile enough to be able to do something about this. They are the people that we should be concentrating on and helping. <BR /> <BR />A lot of the big companies are able to deal with this situation. They have chief executives.”
“Thank you, everybody, for the debate so far. I have been impressed by the tone and tenor of the debate compared with some of the others that we have had recently. It is vital that we do this, because we are talking about our economy, which is the second most important thing in Northern Ireland, and about the position of our economy. We are also talking about how we can ensure, particularly for our SMEs, which represent 99% of our economy, that there will still be an SME ecosystem when we emerge from COVID at whatever stage. <BR /> <BR />I am sorry that Mr Stalford is not here, but I want to say this in the spirit of cooperation.”
“<BR /> <BR />Finally, as the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, I welcome the fact that the Minister sees the benefit of being part of the Union and of dealing directly with our Chancellor, who is having to spend a considerable amount of resource in dealing with the challenges of COVID.”
“I thank the Minister for his statement and also for meeting me earlier today to talk about these issues. I think that it is very clear that, as COVID impacts on all of us in Northern Ireland, we need to understand how we have flexibility, and we need to get clarity. Will the Minister commit to working very closely with the Finance Committee to look at the detail and the understanding of this information as it comes through, particularly when it looks to the moving and transferring of moneys within budget, bearing in mind the past record that we have in Northern Ireland on that, and also on the details of the shared prosperity fund?”
“Thank you very much. I am a bit disappointed that the Member has joined Simon Coveney and various other people in "Unionsplaining". Members of this party — I am not speaking for other parties on this — know very clearly what our constituents want, and it is not a border down the middle of the Irish Sea.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Perhaps I was under a misapprehension or a false impression that the debate was going to be held in a respectful manner and, until the last contributor, I thought that it was. I ask us all to stop this incessant Brit-bashing and concentrate on the issues at hand.”
“Thank you very much indeed for coming back. We have enjoyed it. Thank you, Christopher.”
“You have already intervened. <BR /> <BR />Let us do it. We have an opportunity here. <BR /> <BR />I think that this is the fourth debate that we have had on the issue. The Ulster Unionist Party has put in two motions. One of them is that we want a debate about the issues, about us talking to both the United Kingdom and the European Union about putting the interests of Northern Ireland first. We still have that opportunity. Rather than continuously talking about what the United Kingdom Government have done and are not going to do, we clearly need to talk about what the European Union should do. As an Assembly, we, on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland, should do that.”
“We should, as an Assembly, gather together to instruct the Executive to talk directly to Frost and Barnier and say, "For Northern Ireland, you keep on saying that you want to put the Belfast Agreement to the fore of where we are. Well, let's do it".”
“If anybody thinks that it is just a question of Republican Administrations, Republican and Democrat Administrations in the United States have both been very neglectful of international law and international treaties. <BR /> <BR />The real issue — I have said it time and again — is that we have an opportunity, as Members of the Assembly, to send a clear message to Frost and Barnier, who are going into a non-tunnel tunnel, depending on which way you look at it, that we want to see the lightest touch of regulation for all the people in Northern Ireland. We do not want to see the goods in our supermarkets going up in price. We do not wish to see a position in our electricity market where we will have to pay an additional 5% for energy.”
“When Simon Coveney went to the United States, he cited the example of quite a few members of the United States Administration and the legislature and their support for the so-called rule of law. Indeed, one of the members that he quoted was a Republican Party representative who supported such really sort of proper things as Trump's wall, repealing the Affordable Care Act, removal from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), removal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and indeed, for many of us on this side of the House, there is considerable concern that that representative seemed to spend a lot of his time glorifying IRA terrorism in the past. None of these things is likely to be able to raise the point to us to show that this is the kind of thing that we should look at, and that is not an example.”
“I thank the Member for his comments. The next thing he will be telling me is that they will be following the Northern Ireland Government's particular rules — that they have not had their accounts audited, or they have always been given a qualification so far. <BR /> <BR />The other issue that we need to consider is that we have had examples cited of the United States. It was of considerable concern to us in the Ulster Unionist Party that, less than two weeks ago and despite the implications of COVID, Members from other parties drove all the way down to Dublin for what was essentially a photo opportunity with Simon Coveney. When Simon Coveney, the next day —”
“Unfortunately, for many of us who have served, when you have to deal with the aftermath of the EU's intervention in the former republic of Yugoslavia and the disaster that that was, what is happening in the Mediterranean right now or, indeed, the meddling that seems to have taken place in Ukraine, you realise that the European Union is hardly a paragon of virtue when it comes to international —.”
“One of the reasons we have raised those issues is that the Internal Market Bill does not answer the fundamental questions that we have to deal with, particularly about trade coming from Great Britain into Northern Ireland, or what we would call the level playing field for Northern Ireland and a level playing field across our nation, the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />People might cite examples of the European Union, and we have already had one example being quoted about the Grexit situation and what happens to Greece.”
“Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. That was quite disrespectful to talk over me. It does not really suit you, Matthew, because you are not normally of that sort. I imagine that I will continue in the spirit of that as well. <BR /> <BR />The issue is the United Kingdom having the possibility of breaching international law. The most important point is that the United Kingdom has looked to support the Vienna convention for a considerable time; indeed, the Ulster Unionist Party has noted with concern the approach from the British Government in their attempts to breach this law. We have raised those issues in the House of Lords; indeed, we have raised those issues directly with the Secretary of State.”
“— but one of the most important things that we need to consider here is the importance of where we are at for Northern Ireland”
“First of all, I commend the motion tabled by Sinn Féin, particularly Dr Caoimhe Archibald, because the tone of the debate has probably been better than the usual Brit-bashing fest that we have been used to over the last month and a bit. I also commend my very learned friend from South Belfast for realising the Ulster Unionist Party's desire to have no borders North/South or east-west —”
“I thank the Minister for her remarks so far. One of the big issues facing Londonderry is hope for the future. One of the things that I would like the Minister to do is to make a comment about what she is doing to progress the Magee university, particularly the move towards the new medical school. That would send a strong message to the people in Londonderry about their future and their ability to come out of the COVID situation.”
“I thank the Minister very much for his answer. How is the app working on both sides of the border?”
“One of the Minister's previous answers referred to the transfer of responsibilities, as mandated by the Executive, from the Department for the Economy to the Department for Communities and, indeed, the Department for Infrastructure. Will you outline, therefore, if you are looking at any future transfer of resources, which is vital, from the Department for the Economy to the Department for Communities and, indeed, the Department for Infrastructure to enable them to deliver on those COVID-related issues?”
“Thank you very much indeed. Bearing in mind what the Speaker said earlier on the importance of accuracy, maybe the next time that you are talking to Mr Coveney you may want to point to the fact that, under international law, the fishing zone of between three to six miles is the exclusive preserve of the sovereign state. Mr Coveney was either being inaccurate or did not understand the fishing rules, which is probably more appropriate.”
“Therefore, there will have to be a relationship; there will have to be a partnership. However, it has to be a partnership in which people realise that the inequities of the common fisheries policy have been put behind us. More importantly, we need to look to the future. I trust that the Minister, and the Members of this Assembly, will do that.”
“<BR /> <BR />We have the opportunity to help rebuild the Northern Ireland fishing industry from a very low level. I never again want to see our fishing vessels being pulled up on the beaches and burned for some form of common fisheries process. I never again want to hear the words, "decommissioning for the fishing industry". I want to see us building a fishing industry that is sustainable in Northern Ireland, but it has to be done in partnership with the Scots, the Welsh, the English and those fishing boats from the Republic of Ireland that are willing to abide by the rules. The deep seas off the 200-metre line, in which the Irish Government invested a lot for the sake of the fishing vessels from Killybegs, have been fished out. There is nowhere for them to go, except for the United Kingdom's exclusive economic zone.”
“Only by managing what is, in effect, one of the largest areas of stewardship will we get to the point where fish stocks are being maintained and can be fished sustainably for a considerable period of time so that we can build an industry. We also hear that within the legislative consent motion we do not have issues that address the crews of fishing vessels and the importance of more of our own mariners wanting to go to sea. Quite frankly, that is not the case. As is the case with the Merchant Marine and across all aspects of seafaring, we should be concerned about the welfare of those who want to make their livelihoods by fishing at sea. The fishing associations in Northern Ireland are rightly concerned about that, and the Minister will be taking a very close interest in what we are trying to achieve as the LCM goes through.”
“An industry for all the people in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, where people can go back to their traditional skills and manage them effectively. There are some specific issues. We hear an awful lot that, when we leave the common fisheries policy and decide to do away with the London Convention, even though we will have access to the fish, we will not have access to the market. I have got news for the people in Europe, because everywhere else has been fished out. If the people in Europe want the fish, they will have to get it from the source, which is UK waters. So, there is a future for a United Kingdom fishing industry. <BR /> <BR />There are other significant issues, and we have heard about the importance of conservation.”
“That happened to such a degree that we reached the point where the North Sea, previously one of the largest areas for cod, had been virtually fished out. However, it was not fished out by British fishing vessels; it was fished out by the likes of the Danes despite over 40% of their catch being in British waters. What does that mean for Northern Ireland? It means that an industry that should have been built, developed and grown has shrunk. Many of the families who were involved in fishing left the industry and did so because they saw no future. <BR /> <BR />One of the things that we can see as we approach the end of the transition period is that, with the end of the common fisheries policy, we can start to think about an appropriate future for the fishing industry.”
“The move by those fishing vessels into UK waters over the years has led to a point where close to 60% of the English quota alone is owned by foreign vessels. That demonstrates how badly skewed the common fisheries policy has left things. <BR /> <BR />Less than three decades ago, it was a proud industry that people were quite happy to become involved in and go to sea with. It was an industry that supported fishing vessel building yards in Portavogie, Ardglass and other places, but they have all gone. The reason that they have gone is the common fisheries policy. <BR /> <BR />As we look at what is happening with environmental issues and the flow of fish stocks around the United Kingdom, we can see that areas that have not been under the control of Britain have been, particularly where the EU has been involved, overfished.”
“Indeed, the fact that, under that policy, the majority of productive waters that are left around Europe are in the United Kingdom's exclusive economic zone out to 200 miles from its coast underlines the degree to which other areas in the Mediterranean or off the French and Spanish coasts have been heavily overfished.”
“I support the legislative consent motion. <BR /> <BR />For somebody who has spent an awful lot of his time at sea one of the most dispiriting things over the years has been the diminution of the small and getting smaller Northern Ireland fishing fleet and the number of times that we have seen fishing boats having to be hauled up on a beach and burned because of decommissioning policies led by the common fisheries policy. I readily accept that I would have been a Remainer, but one of the areas that always gave me concern was the common fisheries policy.”
“Bearing that in mind, I understand that the provision of the Association for Quality Education (AQE) test is not your specific responsibility, but can you indicate whether you think that this is the way that we should approach that matter and that doing it that way provides the impetus between the schools and the examination bodies to maintain the bubbles? That would be welcomed by all schools, all parents and, indeed, by children.”
“I thank the Minister for his comments so far. As a point of disclosure, I should say, as you are well aware, that I am a member of a board of governors, and, like another honourable Member here, I have two young daughters in school who are going through a similar process. However, you will be very glad to know that they have no intention whatsoever of ever going into politics, and thank goodness for that. <BR /> <BR />We are being asked time and time again about maintaining the bubbles and the bubbling principle in our primary schools.”
“Thank you very much for raising an interesting point about our Northern Ireland fishing fleet. Of course, however, some of our fleet has the opportunity to fish in other United Kingdom waters, particularly down in the Celtic Sea. One of the biggest issues that we have in the Celtic Sea is that the French fishing fleet takes about 84% of the quota of cod. Perhaps with the changes that are likely to come out of this new fishing legislation, there will be greater opportunity for Northern Ireland fishing vessels to fish around our waters.”
“I thank the Minister for her remarks so far. Minister, you talked about the joint approach that we are taking towards dealing with antisocial behaviour, particularly the COVID regulations. Will you outline the discussions that you have had with the Justice Minister, who said last week that she was willing to participate fully in, but not lead, the work of the joint task force, particularly with regard to the Holylands?”
“I am sorry. My apologies. I withdraw the question.”
“— by the end of the financial year, can the Finance Minister explain how that money will be spent by the end of the financial year, bearing in mind the difficulties of writing contracts and getting suitable business cases put forward?”
“There is a real need for financial support to do that, especially with the importance of freight. <BR /> <BR />The Ulster Unionist Party, and me as Chair of the Finance Committee and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, welcome the additional money for the A6 and Northern Ireland Water. Bearing in mind that that money needs to be spent —”
“Minister, I am particularly pleased to see the allocations for resources. However, I note in the statement — this is not a criticism of the Finance Department — issues around the excluded, taxi drivers, the haulage industry and details on the Kickstart scheme. Maybe the Minister could say whether he has received bids from the Department for the Economy or the Department for Infrastructure for those things, which have been at least six months in gestation. <BR /> <BR />I note that we have £55 million in reserve. I also note, as my honourable friend from South Belfast continuously talks about, the issue of £2·2 million in air passenger duty (APD) that we keep giving back to the Treasury despite the fact that some of our airports need resource to keep going, in particular to maintain a 24-hour operation at Belfast International Airport.”
“I thank the Minister for his statement, and for meeting me earlier. Thank you very much indeed for keeping me informed of the information so far. <BR /> <BR />The Assembly can welcome the £2·2 billion that we have received from the rest of our nation. It underlines the benefits of being part of our precious Union.”
“I thank the Minister for her comments so far. I was struck by those that she has just made about Access NI. She said, I think, that she believes that it would provide a degree of protection. However, there are no safeguards or guarantees in that, particularly as it is outwith the normal legislative process. Therefore, will she take full accountability and responsibility in the event that safeguarding is not provided despite what she believes?”
“I thank the Chair of the Executive Office Committee for doing that. I am in the process of writing to all Committee Chairs. Bearing in mind that we have only 100 days left, it is very appropriate that we do that.”
“Will the Member give way briefly to allow a short comment?”
“That is what we were elected to do. We are not standing up for the people of Brussels, and we are not standing up for the people of London. We should be standing up for the people of Northern Ireland. Mr Principal Speaker, I have made a proposal, and I look forward to hearing from the rest of the Committee Chairs later.”
“Just one second. <BR /> <BR />Can anybody actually tell me what the European Union and the United Kingdom have agreed in the specialist committee or the Joint Committee? Have we seen any output from them? Do we have any understanding of what it means to us? We are 100 days out, but nobody seems to be paying any attention to that. I think that we as an Assembly, with all of the MLAs here, should, through our Committee structure, because no one else is doing anything, be putting that through. <BR /> <BR />Thank you for bringing the note to bring it towards the Assembly, but there is something more fundamental here. We can tilt at windmills as much as we like, and we know that the withdrawal agreement and the so-called Internal Market Bill are both deeply flawed, but who will stand up for the people of Northern Ireland if it is not us?”