Declan Kearney
South Antrim · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“The 'good jobs' Bill is designed to benefit every single worker across this society, regardless of background. It is not anti-business. It is about growing economic productivity and enhancing employment and workers' rights.”
“The rhetoric around proper scrutiny is a complete red herring; it is an attempt by the DUP to run down the clock in relation to the mandate. Why is that? What is the DUP afraid of? Why is it vetoing the 'good jobs' Bill?”
“The fallout from Brexit is a reality that is being felt hard by workers and families across the North daily, and that is illustrated in evidence sessions that we have received in the Economy Committee. In one, we learned that our electricity bills here are now higher as a result of Brexit.”
“Catastrophic, kamikaze economics, politically toxic — there is no other way to describe the Brexit debacle. Yet, 10 years on, those in the Chamber who continue to cheerlead are burying their heads in the sand.”
“The fact is that Brexit has brought a positive focus to the democratic logic of self-determination and constitutional change in Ireland. There is a way to remove the negative and enduring legacy of Brexit. Irish unity provides that option. Therefore, it is time to widen participation in the debate.”
“Minister, do you agree that the discrimination in employment and the political vetting that have been practised in this state for so long, and actively supported by some Members, have no place in today's society, and that appointment to government boards should be open to all sections of society, including such citizens as Peter Lynch?”
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“It is, in fact, about pragmatically addressing the practical realities and challenges that we face in the immediate term — in the here and now — and how we can sensibly prepare for the democratic transformations and opportunities that lie ahead, instead of, as some would prefer, sticking our heads in the sand.”
“having —? Listen, the pantomime season has not even begun. It will start, but we are not going to start it here today. Thanks for your intervention. <BR /> <BR />The proposals advanced in the motion will help to address the current democratic deficit and navigate the new post-Brexit trading realities. At the same time, they will create pragmatic interim arrangements to facilitate a smooth reintegration of the North within the European Union, and in the context of constitutional change and Irish unity. Therefore, supporting the motion is not about the fake news narrative being purported by some on the other side of the House.”
“because it appears that, characteristically,”
“In a moment. <BR /> <BR />The British Government should set a date for a unity referendum before the end of this decade. The EU played a strategically important role in helping to develop and consolidate our peace process through political, diplomatic, economic and financial support. Twenty-seven years after our peace settlement, it is time for us to open up the next phase of the peace process based on national reconciliation and reunification.”
“The case for constitutional change is being made across this island and further afield by people from all walks of life. It is time that the British and Irish Governments began to plan and prepare for the constitutional change that is allowed for under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The Dublin Government should do so through the appointment of a Minister of State for reunification, the immediate publication of a Green Paper on constitutional change, and the convening of a citizens' assembly on our constitutional future.”
“Brexit has swept away all the constitutional, political and economic assumptions about this place, but the North of the island also enjoys distinct advantages over other regions that have been directly harmed by Brexit. In 2017, as colleagues have mentioned, the European Council stated that in the event of Irish reunification, the entire territory of Ireland would become part of the European Union. We, in the North, therefore have an automatic legal route to rejoining the EU via constitutional change and a referendum on a new Ireland. The reunification of our island is no longer just an aspiration; it is a viable project that should be pursued in earnest by the British and Irish Governments. Irish unity has become the defining issue of our generation.”
“Practical and pragmatic approaches are available to us, and I agree with many of our local businesses, and with the report of the Murphy review, that a one-stop shop mechanism to simplify administrative processes would, indeed, be an advantage to us. The British Government need to listen and take on board the need for those reforms. <BR /> <BR />On maximising our input to EU processes, a decision to confer observer status representation for the North at the European Parliament and the opening of a European Commission office in Belfast would be good starting points. Maximising our democratic input in the post-Brexit systems, for which the British Government and the EU are responsible, makes sense.”
“Since its imposition, Sinn Féin, other parties here, the Irish Government and the EU have sought to mitigate its worst impacts, and the mechanisms now exist to do just that through the protocol and the Windsor framework. While our regional economy is showing growth because of the dual market access that is available under the Windsor framework, our voice is silenced in the European institutions because Brexit removed our ability to directly input in them. Unsurprisingly, British Governments have been focused on the democratic deficit that their approach provoked. They have failed to address how that can be best remedied. <BR /> <BR />The good news is this: the damage caused by right-wing Tory and DUP recklessness does not have to be a permanent condition for people in the North.”
“I would go further; it is a subversion of democracy. It is a classic case of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Why would you not look for increased access and maximum engagement with the European Union and the British Government on how we navigate the post-Brexit realities? By contrast, there have been reasoned contributions in the debate from others, which are predicated upon the logic of maximising democratic engagement with the European Commission. In my remarks, I will touch on the importance of that. <BR /> <BR />Brexit has been an economic, political and social disaster for citizens and businesses here and in Britain.”
“It is divisive and inflammatory to say that, because the constitutional future of this place will be addressed and resolved under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. That is a settled matter. This is a case of back to the future, with the abuse and misuse of POCs to subvert democracy. You could say that unionism appears to be resolved to undermining the democracy of the institutions with negative politics in one hand, and the misuse of a POC in the other.”
“Every party in the Assembly agrees on one thing: Brexit has left us all with a democratic deficit. The difference, of course, is in how that democratic deficit is defined and then addressed. <BR /> <BR />Some carp about that deficit without facing up to realities, still refusing to acknowledge that they themselves bought them and us all a pig in a poke. <BR />Then there are the rest of us: the representatives elected to this place who represent the citizens in the North who voted against Brexit — the majority. The POC attempt by unionism overshadows the DUP approach to the debate. Let me briefly deal with the fake news narrative that the motion is somehow a constitutional stalking horse.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-leas-Cheann Comhairle.”
“Minister, can you outline for us how you envisage the 'good jobs' Bill improving the working lives of young people across our entire community, with particular reference to the proposal that tips earned should be held on to by those workers?”
“Does the Member recognise that British military expenditure, which is currently in excess of £60 billion and will rise to £73·5 billion by 2028, has direct repercussions for the ability to deliver services for workers and families across the British state and in the North?”
“First Minister, you will be aware that the Murphy report states that one of the most obvious benefits attributed to the Windsor framework is dual market access and that there is a need to highlight and publicise that fact. Do you agree that we need to do more to maximise dual market access?”
“Yes. I do not doubt that you are committed to the ethos of good mental health care, but that cannot be delivered in circumstances in which there are no wards or rooms. Minister, have you looked at the facilities —”
“That is an unfair attempt to push that back on to me. It is a cop-out. The reality is that you are the Minister of Health. Our family members are patients in Holywell. Our family members and our neighbours are the doctors and the nurses who try to provide care there. The reality in Holywell at this point in time — I do not doubt for a moment that you are committed to the ethos of —.”
“The care facilities at Holywell Hospital are now at breaking point. The status quo is unsustainable. Urgent decisions are needed. I welcome the Minister's presence, and, this evening, I again appeal to him to do two things: first, to expedite approval of the required funding; and, secondly, to confirm a clear time frame that allows the construction of the Birch Hill Centre for Mental Health to proceed.”
“Regrettably, the responses to date have lacked the clarification needed to provide reassurance to the staff, patients, carers and families who depend on the implementation of the Birch Hill Centre for Mental Health.”
“<BR /> <BR />I have previously recorded my concerns with the Minister of Health through questions for written answer and correspondence.”
“It would replace the current provision at Holywell Hospital and at the Ross Thomson unit at Causeway Hospital. <BR /> <BR />The Birch Hill plan sets out a strategic vision that is aimed at optimising patient assessment, treatment and recovery. That ambition was formulated through a comprehensive process of co-design and with the unique and exceptional compassion of the mental health management and staff in the Northern Trust. Their commitment to achieving something new, whilst doing their best to provide high-quality care in the intolerable existing conditions, is inspirational. The Birch Hill Centre is about securing a proper standard of care and support for patients and carers into the future. It is essential in order to provide staff with the capacity to maximise the standards of therapeutic care that they want to deliver.”
“Frankly, they owe more to the Victorian era. They do not meet the standard for a modern-day mental health care setting for patients. It is an absolutely unacceptable working environment for nurses, doctors and other clinicians. <BR /> <BR />Unsurprisingly, there is an enormous and constant drain on recurrent funding to meet the cost of the ongoing repairs, and that is just to stand still. That makes no economic sense when the premises are clearly beyond physical redemption. The Birch Hill Centre for Mental Health, which is proposed to be built on the Antrim Area Hospital site, was approved in a Northern Trust outline business case in 2020. It was granted planning permission in 2024. The new complex would centralise the trust's inpatient mental health services in state-of-the-art, purpose-built accommodation.”
“Despite the deep passion and commitment of all staff members, Holywell is no longer a medical centre that is conducive to the delivery of good mental health care provision. It was absolutely shocking to see how the facilities are rapidly deteriorating. Walls throughout are literally crumbling in plain sight. Some buildings are literally sinking into the ground and are being held in place by external supports. During sustained rainfall, buckets are required to gather water that is leaking through ceilings. The serious physical dilapidation throughout the hospital makes it a depressing and repressive environment for staff and patients. The social and recreation space that is available to patients and their visitors can only appropriately be described as oppressive. The facilities are not fit for purpose.”
“The North has the highest incidence of mental health illness on these islands. That reality stems from a number of factors: the legacy of our conflict; high levels of poverty; and other socio-economic factors. The provision of high-quality mental health care, however, is a critical priority for our community. The main mental health care facility for the Northern Health and Social Care Trust area is currently based at Holywell Hospital in Antrim town in my South Antrim constituency. <BR /> <BR />Earlier this year, during a visit to the site, it was absolutely clear from the outset that that 19th-century built environment is now totally unfit to serve as a modern mental health care facility. The conditions in which the staff are managing everyday care for patients are now untenable.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.”
“I am sure that the Minister will agree that many councils are now struggling with the effect that the slashing of the rate support grant has had on their financial management arrangements. Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, which is in my constituency, faces the invidious challenge this year of trying to work out which towns will get Christmas lights and which will not. Minister, are you saying that Mid and East Antrim Borough Council's was the only application that you received for financial support to invest in Christmas lights this year?”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a fhreagra.”
“This afternoon, I say this to my colleagues in the DUP: stop wasting our and your time. Deal with your TUV problems away from the Assembly, and start to work with the rest of us to maximise opportunities for our businesses by building the regional and all-Ireland economies.”
“At the same time, other regions caught up in the Brexit headwinds have experienced significant declines. According to NISRA, sales from the North to Britain increased by over 12% between 2022 and 2023. Cross-border trade continues to flourish. Yes, our businesses need support to help them navigate the new trading realities, and Sinn Féin firmly believes that whatever is needed should be provided. At no time in the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee or other Committee meetings have business groups challenged the potential of the Windsor framework to drive economic growth. The DUP knows that, because you sit on the same Committees as I and others do. <BR /> <BR />Friends, the framework is here to stay, and our focus needs to be on how we can refine its further implementation.”
“Not at the moment. <BR /> <BR />It was a case of right-wing, zero-sum politics, and, since then, the DUP has thwarted and opposed every effort to find solutions to the Brexit debacle. However, while the DUP was cheerleading for the hardest, most destructive exit from the European Union, others were, thankfully, working to minimise the impact. Then, in another British Government sop to assuage DUP anxieties, the Windsor framework was brought forward. <BR /> <BR />Brexit inevitably created a whole new economic and trading context. The Windsor framework is not a panacea, but it has mitigated many of the challenges that we have had to contend with. All the experts on business and trade say that it is protecting us from the worst effects of Brexit. Business exports are up 7% in the North.”
“On those same airwaves, I and others warned the DUP that that was a wrong-headed agenda, but, like lemmings and following their hero Boris Johnson, the DUP representatives quipped that really nothing else mattered.”
“In a similar debate only weeks ago, I predicted that we would see a lot more of this type of negative politicking in the time ahead, and here we go again. We might as well all strap ourselves in between now and the next Assembly and council elections, because DUP race-to-the-bottom politics will become the constant order of the day, and all to shore up an electoral base that is now under pressure from the TUV. <BR /> <BR />Ten years ago, the DUP was in the vanguard of the Brexit campaign. At that time, its representatives told us on the airwaves that they did not care about the consequences of Brexit so long as we left the European Union.”
“Just a few weeks ago, the DUP brought a variation on today's motion to the Chamber for discussion, so I find it difficult not to think that Groundhog Day is beginning to be played out once again. In the meantime, workers and families continue to face an ongoing and relentless cost-of-living crisis. Our schools are crumbling, the health service is under constant pressure and we face an unprecedented ecological crisis in our waterways and lakes. Instead, the DUP chooses to fixate on and rehearse the fallout from the Brexit calamity — the mess that the DUP helped to bring about. <BR /> <BR />Once again, the Assembly is subject to another DUP revisionist sham fight, and it is all to save its blushes from the ongoing onslaught and attrition from the TUV.”
“With the all-Ireland economy thriving and our exports to Europe increasing, do you agree that we need to maximise our potential for dual market access?”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chéad-Aire as ucht a ráitis.”
“I am pleased to hear about the Minister's engagement with his counterpart in the Twenty-six Counties. However, infection levels here are twice the level in the South, so what action is being taken to adopt an all-island approach to the emergency?”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht an fhreagra sin.”
“<BR /> <BR />A recent report from Friends of the Earth reveals that, between 2020 and 2024, 4,202 water pollution incidents were reported by NIEA. Incredibly, from that total, only 63 fines were imposed on the polluters. Such an inadequate and ineffective response will never deter the polluters. Pollution will continue unchecked in the absence of an appropriate agency that is equipped with the capacity and remit to properly sanction those responsible for polluting our land, waterways and air. <BR /> <BR />The commitment made five years ago to establish an independent and properly resourced environmental protection agency must be delivered without further delay. Inaction will lead to the greater devastation of our environment and natural habitat. Time is running out. We need to act now.”
“<BR /> <BR />The pollution in Lough Neagh has deep and complex repercussions for the lough shore community. It jeopardises the commercial fishing industry and the entire biodiversity of the lough itself. It endangers our sustainable access to safe drinking water. It damages tourism and other economic opportunities and the rich historical heritage that is associated with Lough Neagh. The total collapse of eel fishing in the 2025 season illustrates how the environmental crisis is devastating livelihoods and economic activity along the lough shore. Research from the Office for Environmental Protection reports that the North has lost approximately 50% of its diversity during the past 50 years. Many of our fresh waterways, rivers and lakes are failing to meet healthy ecological standards.”
“Thank you, Deputy Speaker, and thank you, Matthew. <BR /> <BR />Those dismissive remarks detract from the centrality of the lough to this important conversation. They fly in the face of the views of local stakeholders — those who live and work around the lough shore — who want to see the establishment of an independent environmental agency. Just transition principles, Lough Neagh and the need to lift the issue above politics must be our shared and collective focus. The environment and how we challenge that issue in the Assembly should be above party politics. It is a national emergency that requires a North/South intergovernmental response. It demands concerted and joint political action from the Assembly, the Executive and the Irish Government.”
“My remarks were directed towards the intervention from the Member of the DUP who spoke.”
“We are living through one of the worst ecological and diversity declines in Europe, so our party supports the urgent establishment of an independent environmental protection agency. That is an unfulfilled commitment from 'New Decade, New Approach' in 2020. The delay is not good enough. We need to be seized with an urgency to deal with our environmental and biodiversity crisis. Therefore, we welcome the motion from the SDLP. I also welcome the Minister's engagement on the issues thus far. <BR /> <BR />The most shocking example of the dilemma — the existential crisis — that we face is the ecological catastrophe in Lough Neagh. I regret the dismissive approach that the SDLP Member who spoke took in relation to the centrality of the lough. That flies in the face —.”
“— confidence as a Minister of Education —”
“Denying genocide and defying international law are absolutely reprehensible. You have chosen to associate yourself with the perpetrators of a modern holocaust and then to revel in that decision. You should be ashamed. You can no longer command —”
“<BR /> <BR />Your Israeli-sponsored trip and attempt to sanitise your complicity with a social media post on the Department of Education web page is an affront to the Assembly and to our power-sharing institutions. You do not own the Department of Education. It is the property of our peace settlement and the Good Friday Agreement. The arrogance that you have shown in defence of your actions since your return confirms your premeditation. There has been not one ounce of humility, compassion or regret for the people of Gaza or the anger that you have provoked. It is clear that you intended to cause rancour and division. Your actions are inevitably tied up with your personal political ambitions and your party's electoral pressures within political unionism, but, be that as it may, what you did was absolutely wrong.”
“By acting as a prop for that propaganda stunt, you have aligned yourself with a rogue terrorist state — a state whose murderous bloodbath in Gaza has made it a pariah in the global community; whose leader is the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ); whose genocidal war has violated every canon of international law, such as the genocide convention, the Rome statute, the Geneva Convention and the United Nations charter; and whose famine, genocide, torture, siege and carpet bombing of Gaza have been denounced by the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, B'Tselem, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Association of Genocide Scholars. Today, the state of Israel stands charged with and condemned for crimes against humanity.”
“The Minister chooses to ignore the slaughter of over 20,000 innocent Palestinian children in Gaza, 1,000 of them under the age of 12 months. One child has been murdered every hour for the past two years, and 21,000 children have been left with permanent life-changing injuries. Limbs have been amputated without anaesthetic; hundreds have been starved to death by Israel's siege of Gaza; and Gaza is a graveyard for children, as described by UNICEF. <BR /> <BR />The Minister has form in using these institutions to rake up the past of our political conflict and to consciously provoke and demonise.”
“The participation of the Education Minister in his Israeli state-sponsored propaganda stunt was an obscene act, one that has caused deep offence. It has also been roundly condemned by teachers, unions, students and all right-thinking people across these islands. <BR /> <BR />Minister Givan knew exactly what he was doing. His participation was premeditated. He knew that the use of his departmental social media would provoke widespread outrage. That, too, was premeditated. In doing this, he chose to ignore Israel's sadistic depravity and genocide against the Palestinian people. If there was ever the slightest doubt before, there is no doubting now that he is a genocide denier — an amoral, inhuman, incredible and grotesque position for anyone to adopt, but especially someone in public office.”
“The proposals in the legislation are expansive and transformative. Sinn Féin's constituency-based canvas will be aimed at maximising awareness of those important measures in the coming weeks.”
“The proposals to expand trade union membership and strengthen collective bargaining rights are very important. The legislation will enhance the working environment for workers with parenting and caring responsibilities by guaranteeing rights to flexible working and parental leave. It contains family-friendly proposals, such as an introduction of additional leave and pay entitlements for working parents of babies in neonatal care, a statutory right to carer's leave, strengthened paternity leave rights and an extension of redundancy protections for pregnant women. <BR /> <BR />The 'good jobs' employment rights Bill will improve workers' conditions. It will guarantee that they keep their tips, strengthen the right to disconnect from the workplace and end precarious working conditions by introducing banded-hours contracts.”