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 49 of 50.
“Our Executive met the Brexit Minister — separately. Our European office in Brussels has set up more teleconferences. Our civil servants — at least some of them — are talking to one another. Oh, and we have the ear of Liam Fox. That, unfortunately, is about it. <BR /> <BR />Embarrassingly for a devolved Government, the Secretary of State has done more: he has established an advisory panel, held talks with our nearest EU neighbour and held a wide series of meetings with key stakeholders. He has regular chats with the PM and the "naughty trio" — all of which is a damning commentary on our dysfunctional non-Government. I imagine that David Davis was laughing all the way back to Whitehall, and probably still is.”
“<BR /> <BR />We note that, across the UK, the other regional Governments have already embarked on action. In Scotland, we have seen the formation of a Scottish standing council on Europe and a £100 million stimulus package. The Government there have already taken a proactive approach to getting the best deal for the Scottish people. In Wales, a similar approach is being taken, and the English regions and the city of London have been taking part in detailed discussions with Whitehall. Plans have been published, meetings are taking place and all these regions have defined what the impact of the loss of the EU means to them. <BR /> <BR />What have the Northern Ireland Executive done? They sent a letter to the Prime Minister on 10 August containing what to many, if not all of us, was a statement of the blindingly obvious.”
“It is nearly three months since the referendum that resulted in the people of the United Kingdom voting to leave the European Union. We as a party are conscious that the people of Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain in the EU — the position that we, on balance, campaigned for — but we accept that the vote taken will result in the United Kingdom triggering article 50 in the near future, possibly as early as January 2017. We have asked for this debate because we, as a responsible Opposition, wish to encourage our Government to action — any action. We have listened closely to civil society, business groups, agriculture, the university sector, the travel industry and, above all, the people of Northern Ireland, who have asked us, time and again, what is being done and what is the plan.”
“Minister, we will all in the Assembly note with concern Ryanair's announcement today that it is cutting the route from Stansted to City of Derry/Londonderry Airport, removing the route to Faro and reducing the service to Liverpool. I am sure that the Minister will now look closely at access to our airports and, maybe through the Northern Ireland Executive, push for issues relating to air passenger duty and access to airports, road and rail links to be addressed.”
“I ask the Minister to, instead of looking purely at the potential growth in the number of people using Belfast International Airport, take on board the views of all the South Antrim MLAs here. We talked about the overall growth of the population of the area and looked at that as part of a wider prospect. I am sure that the DUP would also be delighted to look at wider options to improve those links.”
“— but competition against a state-aided airport seeking an all-island monopoly must be challenged. Thank you for your indulgence, Mr Deputy Speaker.”
“Finally, while not germane to this discussion, we must address the challenge of Dublin Airport. We are all for competition —”
“More importantly, APD has to go, and we know that the Scottish Government are already planning to reduce theirs.”
“We would, as a matter of priority, push for a dual carriageway link from the M2 to be built first, and any additional infrastructure made available in the autumn statement should be fast-tracked to that provision. Indeed, the Executive, along with Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, could significantly push the success of this programme by fast-tracking the planning of such a link and doing it now.”
“What are the Executive going to do about this, apart from utilising Dublin Airport regularly? I and, no doubt, all of the 1,000-plus workers who keep our airports working and the aircraft based here flying will be interested to see which Ministers and officials use Dublin rather than our own airports. <BR /> <BR />In supporting the motion, my party calls for a much wider discussion on improving access. We welcome an improved rail system across all of South Antrim. Connecting the airport should also include facilitating a major park-and-ride facility at Crumlin and a rail station at Ballymartin park-and-ride should be progressed with a degree of urgency.”
“If you couple that with the abolition of Irish air passenger duty (APD), VAT at 9%, EU-funded roads and well-established transport links to two terminals, you can see that the improvements that Belfast International Airport has made are well-nigh remarkable and it should be supported for them. <BR /> <BR />The competition will be even further skewed as our major airports are being starved of access. Again, as has been pointed out, can we name any major airport on these islands that does not have at least dual carriageway access? I will ask you to indulge me, Mr Deputy Speaker, while I quote one of my constituents who has contacted me on the issue:”
“I welcome the opportunity to compare the access that has been afforded to the fully state-aided and state-supported edifice that is Dublin Airport and to observe and listen to the advertisements, again state-funded, about the so-called great access that Dublin Airport has, coupled with significant enhancements, including the potential provision of a new runway — again state-funded. It is of concern that Tourism Ireland, to which Northern Ireland contributes over a third of its budget, actively promotes Dublin Airport as the gateway to Ireland. That raises obvious concerns about competition.”
“With Ryanair launching four new routes, including Berlin and Milan, and with extra routes to come, everyone in the House will be pleased to note that the airport has had a very good season and is looking to have a better year next year. All in the Assembly should thank Graham Keddie and his team for all that they have done not only for South Antrim but for all of Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Our major international gateway — this is where I agree with DUP Members — has been hampered by unfair competition.”
“In the airport, retail and food and beverage outlets are reporting high double-digit increases in business. One of the things that I am most pleased to report is that that increased activity has generated over 800 jobs this year, with 100 additional posts to be created shortly. That is a great success story. Indeed, the 1,000-acre site is a major economic hub for Northern Ireland, second only to Belfast harbour estate for employment numbers. Airlines such as Ryanair and Easyjet have made Gatwick the most important airport for Northern Ireland passengers, eclipsing Heathrow, with extra capacity being added on that route all the time.”
“We welcome the motion on providing improved access between Belfast and the International Airport; indeed, in our recently launched 'A Vision for Northern Ireland outside the EU', we have specifically called for improving infrastructure. I am sure that the Minister for Infrastructure and other Ministers are already aware of the ongoing discussions in London on the provision of a significant potential infrastructure stimulus. A stimulus like that could be transformational if it is used to significantly enhance our position as a gateway to the EU. End of plug. <BR /> <BR />It would also be useful to note that Belfast International Airport will come close to and might exceed 5·2 million passengers. 2017 is expected to be a better year, maybe pushing towards 7 million passengers.”
“Does the Member agree with me that the activity of the Irish Government and the Dublin Airport Authority is anticompetitive and is definitely detrimental to the Northern Ireland economy, particularly the state funding for terminal 2, for the outstanding debt for Dublin Airport Authority's pension fund and for the second runway? Those are examples of anticompetitive behaviour that we in Northern Ireland need to fight against.”
“I was asking the Member to give way to support the Member's statement about English railways. As somebody who has been stuck in what the Great Western Railway laughably called the rapid transit route across the central section of England, I can fully appreciate those issues. It is unusual for someone to support your comment, but that is indeed true. We will address those other issues as we go further in the discussion. Thank you.”
“It might be of interest to note, particularly on the Mossley line, that when the original projections on cost were made, there was not expected to be any growth in traffic. At the time, there was a lot of criticism of the investment in it. I understand that the Minister has some choices to make, but one of the most interesting things is the idea that if you build it, they will come. There is no doubt that there is a large amount of interest in improving rail links through this area, and I encourage the Minister in particular to get the Department to look critically at future growth projections rather than present growth, particularly across the great constituency of South Antrim. Thank you very much indeed.”
“Does the Member agree that one of the significant issues that we have in South Antrim is an infrastructure problem, full stop? That has been caused by considerable underinvestment over the years. Part and parcel of looking at Belfast International Airport, which is our key international hub and one of our major economic areas, is being able to develop a broad-ranging infrastructure strategy, particularly for South Antrim.”
“I welcome the Minister's statement. I imagine that, during cross-border discussions, cross-border financial crime, particularly white-collar crime, would be of considerable concern, particularly to the Irish Government, especially as we look forward to the publication of the NAMA report that we expect presently from the Irish Government. Will the Minister please state that she does not feel in any way constrained by the First Minister, deputy First Minister or Finance Minister and can set her own agenda, particularly on issues of financial crime and NAMA?”
“— which very clearly looks towards ambition, as we see ourselves becoming a gateway to Europe. She needs to look very carefully at some of the key ideas in it. <BR /> <BR />When you were having discussions with the First Minister of Scotland in particular, did you consider the idea of setting up a Northern Ireland council, similar to the Scottish Standing Council on Europe that has been set up to promote the interests of Scotland, as we move to deal with issues to do with the EU? Would that not be a good opportunity for Northern Ireland to make its case very strongly?”
“I congratulate the First Minister very much for the use of the word "ambition". It is vital that we have ambition for Northern Ireland going forward. I would ask her to read our fantastic document, 'A Vision for Northern Ireland outside the EU' —”
“I thank the deputy First Minister for his words. When communicating with Ministers during the North/South Ministerial Council meeting, were you able to express some of the differing perspectives that the Northern Ireland Executive have to the Irish Government? When you were doing that, what was the response from the Irish Government?”
“I thank the Minister for his comments and for placing such importance on rolling out superfast broadband as much as we can. Further to the original question, what sort of discussions is the Department having with Ofcom, given that we seem to be moving towards a universal service obligation (USO), particularly for superfast broadband? Looking forward, what can we do specifically to make sure that the infrastructure is provided for this?”
“Minister, this river can barely flow for a year without experiencing a significant pollution incident and all the devastating consequences that come from it. The ecological damage that these incidents can cause is immeasurable, and you have only to talk to groups such as the Six Mile Water Trust or our many angling clubs and our great local council to understand how these frequent spills are affecting the river and its wider ecosystem. How will she ensure that the ecological and environmental protection of this vital resource is protected going forward? Will she consider giving the river and its ecosystem an improved protected status?”
“We have energy market reform coming up, and one of the things that we need to be able to do, particularly in these turbulent and unsettling times, is to ensure the security, reliability and price of the electricity supply to the consumer in Northern Ireland. I urge the Minister to make sure that the Department works very closely with the Committee early to make sure that we are fully aware of the issues as they come forward.”
“I, too, support the motion and echo the words of the Chairman of the Committee. I also commend the renewable energy industry for the great work that it has been doing over the past 10 to 15 years to get to where it has got to at the moment, particularly as it moved forward to help support Northern industry. <BR /> <BR />I echo the concerns that we have about the delay in bringing the SL and SR to the Committee. Concerns were expressed by industry, particularly from the likes of the Ulster Farmers' Union, directly to the Committee and to various MLAs. In future, we need to work together more closely and much quicker to make sure that those issues do not arise again. <BR /> <BR />The final point that I will make is about the critical importance of the energy sector moving forward.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer and welcome him to his first Question Time. I also thank him very much for his detailed description of what we are looking to do in South Antrim. My constituents and I thank him for that. <BR /> <BR />Will he and the Minister of Finance look at innovative financing arrangements for the much-needed Ballyclare relief road and new bridge over the Sixmilewater? Ballyclare is in a position quite unlike other places in Northern Ireland, in that it is growing and growing fast. We need to be able to support the people of Ballyclare. We need to improve the social well-being of people in South Antrim, and significant work is needed to improve the economy of that area as well.”
“That might be a benefit of us coming out of the EU. <BR /> <BR />We need to take immediate provision to invest in our universities. We have already heard their vice chancellors talking about the £55 million black hole. We need to be preparing Northern Ireland to be as competitive as possible, particularly since we are heading into such difficult times. We should be looking to see how we can fast-track infrastructure developments across the board. We need to make Northern Ireland competitive. If we do not do it, nobody else will. I would like the Executive, particularly the First Minister and deputy First Minister — thank you very much for coming in, deputy First Minister — to put Northern Ireland first. If we do not fight for the Northern Ireland economy, nobody else will.”
“We, as Northern Ireland, should be making a special case to look for additional funding to be able to get us through this situation. We need to stimulate our economy. We should be looking immediately at tax reductions, particularly corporation tax, stimulating our tourist sector and scrapping things like air passenger duty. We know that those may not be devolved matters, but the situation has changed, and we need to look forward. <BR /> <BR />We could be improving support for our retail sector and looking at taking on the initiatives that the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA) has raised about retail business rate relief. We should also start the process of easing our renewable energy requirements for our energy industry to reduce the cost of energy in Northern Ireland.”
“<BR /> <BR />As a party, we call on the Northern Ireland Executive urgently to enact discussions and think about legislating to help to recover confidence in our business sector, especially for our manufacturing, agribusiness, tourism and retail sectors and, above all, our many small to medium-sized enterprises. Rather than just stating the obvious and rapidly growing problems, we ask that some of these proposals are given full consideration. We ask the Executive, particularly the Economy, Infrastructure and Finance Ministers, to consider talking to the Bank of England and the Treasury to look to gain some access to infrastructure support funds. We can look at the amount of quantitative easing that has already been passed to the banks, which is in the region of £250 billion.”
“We hope that we are wrong, but hope is no basis for planning, helping to secure and retain jobs, and restoring confidence. We also know that, over the coming months and years, the economy of Northern Ireland will be very low on the priority list of the United Kingdom Government, especially as the issues of Scotland, a possible general election, gaining trading arrangements with the EU and restoring faith in the United Kingdom political system will take up the majority of our mainland politicians' time. We must act now to take control of our economy in the best interests of Northern Ireland.”
“The Ulster Unionist Party respects the wishes of the British people, whilst clearly recognising that Northern Ireland and Scotland have, by a considerable majority, voted to remain in the EU. It is clear that a significant constitutional crisis, the like of which the United Kingdom has rarely seen, is occurring. Indeed, the turmoil in the country, the markets, and the palpable lack of confidence being shown in our political system are undermining Northern Ireland and, in particular, our economy. We have already heard from many business leaders that there will be a slowdown in investment and a shutting down of the flow of FDI until confidence in the UK is restored. <BR /> <BR />What we do know is that, when the United Kingdom's economy slows down, the Northern Ireland economy stalls or goes into deep recession.”
“As a question and a degree of clarification, the figure that we were talking about around the instability, which was brought by the other Member, is now £260 billion and rising. That is a lot more than £8·5 billion.”
“Thank you very much for those comments. I apologise for coming late to the debate. Many representatives of unionism and many of my constituents who voted "Remain" have communicated with me how concerned they are with what has been going on. It is not just a question of unionism in one place —”
“I thank the Minister for her comments. Will she brief the Assembly, after a proper forensic examination of the explosives has taken place, on whether, as reported, there was 1·5 kg of Semtex and whether it is newly acquired or part of some historical find of explosives that should have been long since decommissioned?”
“I thank the Minister for her comments. May I ask that the discussion be taken forward with a degree of urgency and the information brought back to the Assembly as soon as possible? The delay is unacceptable for the people of Northern Ireland.”
“I am grateful for that, and I am glad to see that we have set an ambition for 30, but I would like to see an ambition pushing for much more. There are technological changes coming on fairly quickly that we should be at the forefront of and be able to do. When we look at the use of 5G technology, for instance, and how it is moving onwards, we see that we should be able to do a combine between fibre and mobile to be able to push it on. We want to see Northern Ireland work, and giving Northern Ireland the opportunity to have the highest broadband speed and connectivity possible will reinforce our position as a great place to do business. However, I thank you for your ambition.”
“Thanks very much to the Member for mentioning that. One issue that we need to talk about is that there is already a significant debate about the relationship between Openreach, BT and other providers. One thing that we should do as a matter of urgency is to look at what is being provided by the private sector and holding it to account. Thank you for allowing me to intervene.”
“One of the key issues already mentioned is the distance and what rural provision is throughout these islands. One of the issues that we should be addressing is the fact that there is no difference between the length of cables in Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, yet provision has managed to be achieved. Also, mobile telephone coverage is significantly better, as anybody who has recently been in rural Ireland has seen. This is not an issue that is basically just a Northern Ireland problem. We need to be able to hold the providers to account.”
“The question about that is that we are talking about speeds of 2 megabits per second and 3G. The rest of the United Kingdom is talking about 4G moving on to 5G and 24 megabits per second and leading up to 200 megabits per second. We are trying to reinforce failure. I think that we should be looking towards doing more.”
“Unfortunately, I am not surprised. We need to look at this urgently. I ask the Minister to hold the public-private partnership to account on the issue and to talk to the regulator. Let us not dwell on 12 or 24 megabits per second; let us see how quickly we can, like the rest of the United Kingdom, get to approaching 200 megabits per second.”
“I thank the Member for the intervention. I do not think that we have a policy of asking Translink to have its Wi-Fi-enabled buses go around Northern Ireland to improve hotspots, but that is an example of some of the significant issues that we have. I am sure that every Member here would be able to intervene during this conversation to say that he or she has similar problems in his or her area.”
“One of the things that I will ask the Minister —”
“That just shows that some of the frustrations that we have across the Province are very much to the fore. <BR /> <BR />When we talk to potential foreign direct investment investors, we find that the provision of superfast broadband and adequate broadband is key. Much more than that, we are trying to build the approach for our people. We are trying to encourage rural enterprises to develop and to ensure that more of our people get the benefits of having a broadband connection. <BR /> <BR />This is not Government bashing. One of most important things that we have to do is to have urgent discussions with the regulator to see what is being provided in Northern Ireland. Bearing in mind the amount of money, public and private, that is being spent on the process, we need to hold the providers to account.”
“If we look at what is happening in London and increasingly in Manchester and areas that we are competing against, we see that areas there already have 200 Mb per second. That is what we need to aspire to. <BR /> <BR />We talk about Northern Ireland being the best place to do business. We are competing against the rest of Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland, but GB already has a superfast Britain policy. Unfortunately, I do not see a superfast Northern Ireland approach, which is something that we need to have. We need to address the issues with some urgency. <BR /> <BR />I have personal experience of BT Openreach taking over three months to connect my house to broadband, bearing in mind that my house is only 75 metres from the green box and they were busily digging up my lane to try to achieve connection.”
“I also pass on my thanks to the Clerk for his hard work and congratulate him on his honour. <BR /> <BR />I support the SDLP's motion. I want to talk about a few of the issues, and I will echo a lot of the things that Members have already said. <BR /> <BR />Throughout Northern Ireland, the concept of a universal service obligation (USO) is in rural areas and, increasingly, in some urban areas a bit of a hollow joke. In my constituency, over 8,000 premises are not connected; indeed, even when small and medium-sized enterprises have sought satellite broadband connection, several have been informed that they are in the shadow of retransmission positions. Indeed, getting 2 megabits per second, never mind 10 megabits or 24 megabits per second, is well outwith their reach.”
“If some of the costs are less than a quarter of a million pounds when looking at potential housing for electoral offices, the offer of using council facilities is an excellent idea, and it is one that I encourage the Northern Ireland Office to look at. <BR /> <BR />We know that we have significant problems with broadband provision. If South Antrim is anything to go by, it will be very difficult for online provision to be an appropriate way of doing things in the future. So, the question I have is this: why are we doing this? What is the practical value of doing this? What is the problem creating instability in the system? What savings are likely to be made? Why can we not oppose this? We should reconsider it. The series of closures appears to be contrary to the regional provision of our democratic process.”
“I support the motion but not the amendment. I am new to the electoral process, and the support that the office in Newtownabbey gave was absolutely invaluable to me as a candidate and to my election team, which was able to understand a lot more about the electoral process and work in South Antrim. It has helped considerably my constituents for the Assembly elections and the forthcoming EU referendum. It has been absolutely important for people to be able to register and discuss registration face to face. <BR /> <BR />It was interesting to listen to the discussion today about some of the issues and costs.”
“I fully echo the view of my fellow MLA from South Antrim. We need to look at more innovative forms of financing, particularly when going ahead with significant infrastructure projects. I ask the Finance Minister to look, with a degree of urgency, at how we can have partnership and partnership arrangements for future financing to enable us to get to that position.”