Alan Chambers
North Down · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“<BR /> <BR />A relatively recent piece of important character that was added to the village some years ago was the addition of a number of trees along Main Street.”
“It is my pleasure and privilege to present a petition signed by more than 1,500 people calling on the Department for Infrastructure to drop plans to chop down a number of mature street trees in Main Street, Groomsport. <BR /> <BR />Groomsport is a beautiful village with a strong community spirit.”
“Indeed, in the past week, it has been adjudged to be the best-kept town on the island of Ireland. It has many outstanding characteristics, including three lovely beaches with clean and pollution-free bathing water; a well-sheltered harbour that is reputed to have been first constructed by the Vikings; a modern children's playground; and t…”
“Minister, I sent a question for written answer in May 2025. You told me that your officials had identified a problem on the A48 in November 2024 and that a works order had been issued.”
“The Department's approach to the problem, however, has been to fire up the chainsaws. That is a shameful and unacceptably lazy plan. There are many engineering solutions that do not involve such crude environmental vandalism. Government policy, rather than to chop down healthy mature specimens, is to encourage more tree planting.”
“For many, the ability to start or grow a family is a major priority; for others, it is not a priority at all. When fertility problems stand in the way of that dream, the emotional toll can be immense. There has already been reference to the commitment in NDNA, which was one reason why my party very much welcomed that agreement.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,411 lines we hold for Alan Chambers, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 21 of 29.
“Given the recent accidental but serious release of information on the identity of former police officers in the Neil McConville case, can the Minister confirm the security of information on the upgraded Causeway IT system?”
“The deputy First Minister alluded to what seemed to be quite robust representations from her, along with the First Minister, on the importance of sharing travel information, particularly for Dublin Airport arrivals. What was the response to those representations? What is the basis of the Irish Government's apparent reluctance to release information given that, I understand, their Attorney General has said that there are no legal barriers to sharing data from the travel locator forms? Does the Minister agree that the Republic of Ireland is not demonstrating a great appetite for a North/South, east-west approach to fighting COVID?”
“Minister, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride, said at a press conference in this Building recently that just because you can does not mean that you should. Does the Minister agree that those words will carry a huge significance in the coming days?”
“We will beat this virus, but we all have to do the right thing. If we do the right thing, it will happen sooner rather than later.”
“It is the right thing to do, and it is in keeping with the Christian message, which, let us not forget, Christmas is all about.”
“<BR /> <BR />I have, as I am has sure everybody else in the House, received numerous emails from different organisations affected by the relaxation of these regulations, such as indoor sports clubs, swimming clubs and people who are involved in all sorts of activities, telling us that they have put fantastic things in place to prevent the transmission of the virus and asking whether we could lobby to allow them to reopen. The reality is that there is no safe or absolute way to avoid transmission of the virus in a situation where people gather, and just one little slip could lead to a death. <BR /> <BR />My family has made decisions that are, quite frankly, heartbreaking at a time of the year when we all love to get together, and I appeal to everyone to make sacrifices over Christmas.”
“It is easy, when that happens, to look for reasons and to want to find somebody to point the finger of blame at, but it happens because people let their guard down and facilitated the transmission of the virus. <BR /> <BR />Our Executive have granted relaxation of social gatherings over Christmas, and there will be a temptation to say, "Thank you very much" and to take advantage of the relaxations. Indeed, it might even be tempting for people to try to stretch them a little bit further to suit their own circumstances. I say this to anyone who is planning to take that approach: you do so at your own peril. If ever there was a time to raise our guard, it is now and in the coming few weeks. We owe it to our family, our neighbours, our workmates and all our fellow citizens to keep that guard up.”
“We have received very serious news today from the Health Minister about the new variant of the virus, just at a time when we were all quietly celebrating that we felt we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. At that point, this new challenge has come along. Let us hope that the vaccine proves that it can deal with it. <BR /> <BR />BBC 'Spotlight' recently did a programme that outlined the success in Wales, particularly with the different track-and-trace procedures that it had in place, and the efforts there were certainly very impressive. However, over the weekend, we heard the bad news that transmission of the virus has gone through the roof in Wales.”
“Thank you Minister for the statement. Minister, you alluded earlier to the issue of travellers coming in via Dublin Airport. Are you satisfied with the level of cooperation that your officials are receiving from officials in the Republic of Ireland on helping to tighten up the release of data on travellers arriving via Dublin Airport and then travelling home to Northern Ireland?”
“— in these situations. Thank you very much, Mr Principal Deputy Speaker.”
“If some of his colleagues in the DUP had exercised a level of scrutiny during the renewable heat incentive (RHI) debacle and in the run-up to Brexit, we may not have found ourselves —”
“That is not the fault of the teachers or anybody else; the pandemic has created that set of circumstances. Here we are, just 10 months since the pandemic decided to visit these shores, and we have a produced a vaccine that has started to be rolled out today. I am struggling to see where the failure is, but there are people out there who have been waiting for months for grants that they were promised but still have not received. Maybe there is a bit of failure in that regard; maybe we need to look at where that failure occurred. <BR /> <BR />Mr Buckley expressed a passion for scrutiny. I think that that passion for scrutiny is one that we all share in the House.”
“Mr Buckley said that we had failed. We have to be careful about using words like that. We have to be very careful that people who are absolutely knocking their pan in — for want of a better expression — in the NHS to save lives do not feel that, somehow, we are referring to them. We have to be careful that we do not taint the people in the social care sector who are going the extra mile for people who are shielding, for instance, with the word "failure". <BR /> <BR />The public really have played their part in protecting life and limb by making sacrifices. There is not a family in this country who have not made major sacrifices to comply with regulations. Our children have lost out on their education. They are all back at school, but it is not normal; they are not getting a normal education.”
“If we delay the introduction of something that is absolutely necessary to protect the health of the population of Northern Ireland for three weeks, we will inevitably cost lives and put more pressure on the NHS.”
“Unfortunately, however, we are in the middle of a pandemic in which more than 1,000 have died. All over the world, hundreds of thousands of people have died. I think that most of us get it that we are in the midst of an emergency. However, some people still seem to be struggling to come to terms with that, and they want everything to be done the right way, with all the i's dotted and all the t's crossed. <BR /> <BR />However, in the middle of this situation, people are doing the best they can to protect life and limb. In fact, although we will never know the number, there are people alive today because of the regulations introduced in the past lot of months. We have to take that into consideration. The most important thing about the regulations — Ms Bradshaw referred to it earlier — is that delay costs lives.”
“I had not intended to speak in the debate. I will be brief. I want to refer to remarks that my colleague Mr Buckley made earlier. He referred to the perception of "two-tier policing". I certainly agree with him on that, as there seems to be some grounds for people having that perception. Recently, I saw it in my own constituency when swimmers were cleared off the beach at Helen's Bay. They were law-abiding people who could not understand why they had to leave the beach. <BR /> <BR />All the talk about dissatisfaction has been well rehearsed in the House and at Committees. None of us is entirely satisfied with the way in which regulations have been brought through the system. In normal circumstances, we would not give some of those regulations, or the way in which they have been brought to us, houseroom.”
“I join in the good wishes to Minister Poots. It is reassuring that the NHS was there for him in a timely manner when he needed it. <BR /> <BR />Minister, following 1 January 2021, will Northern Ireland food products for export be labelled "UK" or "EU"?”
“Hopefully, we are about to commence the last lap of what has been a difficult pandemic that has caused much pain, suffering and death within our community. If we stick together in the coming weeks and months, we will get our lives back and be able to do the things that we may have taken for granted before this virus reached our shores. It is certainly not a time to let our guard down or to start to relax. Complacency is the friend of the virus; there is a responsibility on all of us not to do anything to encourage that friendship.”
“The logistics of this operation will be such that I have no doubt that the army will be able to offer support. I am sure that the Minister will be happy to deploy that help and support if it is needed. As if the roll-out of this vaccine was not a big enough challenge for the NHS, there will also be the development of a mass testing procedure. This testing will slow up transmission of the virus while we strive to protect the community through the vaccine. The pilot scheme in Queen's University, which used lateral flow devices to test students, has been a useful and helpful exercise in informing how this type of speedy testing can be rolled out for general public use. <BR /> <BR />We have come a long way in the fight against this virus. We have learned a lot about it. We have also come a long way in protecting our citizens.”
“It is correct that those who will be administering the vaccine initially will be the first to receive the dose. There will be some logistical issues around how some of the vaccines produced have to be stored or transported. This will add to the challenge of the task. There will also be challenges in how the vaccine will be brought to nursing and care homes and taken out to those who are receiving care in their homes. These are all issues that the professional experts who are leading the programme will undoubtedly address. <BR /> <BR />Over recent months, there have been calls for military intervention. The Minister is on record that he would not hesitate to call in such help if it was required. To date, it has not been necessary. However, that may change in this phase of the fight against the virus.”
“I have to say that I was a little bit disappointed by earlier remarks that implied a degree of criticism of the plan to roll out the vaccine in Northern Ireland before it has even begun. It is reassuring that a panel of vaccinators are being recruited from various parts of our health service and that they are receiving the necessary training for the task. <BR /> <BR />This programme is an enormous challenge, and certainly unprecedented in living memory. It is an exercise that will require the support of the entire Executive and everyone in the House. Any actions or words that compromise this operation, or, indeed, lead to a loss of public confidence, would be unhelpful in the extreme. We have to recognise that there will be local hiccups and not try to use them for political point-scoring.”
“The messaging around washing hands, wearing face coverings, social distancing and following the guidance in regulations will still be a vital weapon in suppressing the virus while we seek to vaccinate everyone, starting with our valued NHS and care staff and then our most vulnerable citizens. That is another reason why it is not a good idea to campaign, contrary to medical and scientific advice, for the opening of certain sectors currently closed by legislation. <BR /> <BR />The motion calls for the urgent appointment of a professional expert to lead the vaccination programme. That is a sensible suggestion that I think has already been addressed by the Minister of Health.”
“I place on record my admiration and appreciation for the urgent response of scientists in producing a vaccine that will protect our population from COVID-19. This has been a fantastic United Kingdom achievement. It is reassuring that checks and balances have been, and are being, carried out to ensure that it is a vaccine that is safe to use. <BR /> <BR />What is our expectation of this vaccine? Is it a magic wand? In the medium to long term, it will give community and individual protection. The more people who decide to be vaccinated — I hope that it will get close to 100% — the quicker the spread of this deadly virus will be slowed down and eventually halted. In the short term, we must not allow its arrival to create any sense of complacency in the community. The virus will not go away just because a vaccination programme has begun.”
“I appreciate that, Minister, and look forward to receiving it. Perhaps you can also address my supplementary question in the letter: are you satisfied that sufficient administrative resources are in place to expeditiously discharge the backlog in cases awaiting consideration?”
“I will be very brief, Mr Deputy Speaker; I had not intended to speak. As the recipient of a temporary implantable recording device, I certainly welcome the information in this report that the medical device information system is to improve the safety and standards of such medical devices. I have never felt that my health and safety has been compromised to date, but I am reassured by this. It is also good that data and information gathered will be shared, because it will help others in the future. I just want to put on record that my party fully supports this legislative consent motion.”
“Can the Minister provide any update on his previous request to the UK Government for 4 million lateral flow tests?”
“No, I am just finishing. <BR /> <BR />In the meantime, my party and I fully support the regulations that are before us today.”
“I wonder whether he has taken advice from Professor Gabriel Scally on this issue. I know that he holds the professor in quite high regard. The professor advocates total lockdown. I take Ms Bradshaw's point that it is only for two weeks. Lockdown is only until 11 December, and it will be reviewed.”
“That is a regrettable consequence of this virus. It is also the stark reality of the price that we are having to pay because of this virus. That reality seems to present difficulties for some Members to accept or to understand. I am sure that the Minister, in his winding-up speech, will have no difficulty in confirming that no urgent or immediate life-saving medical intervention has been or will be denied to anyone. If these regulations, along with others, are followed and a reduction in the rate of COVID transmission is reflected in a reduction in the number of hospital admissions, normal services can be fully restored across all medical disciplines. <BR /> <BR />I listened today, and on Thursday at the Health Committee, to Mr Buckley passionately making the case for gyms to reopen.”
“That was before we fully understood the implications of the pandemic that was coming towards us at that time. Tackling growing waiting lists was the major challenge back then. I am grateful that my colleague Robin Swann had the courage to take up the challenges when others ran away from them, and I think that the work that he has done to date has been recognised by the vast majority of the public. <BR /> <BR />We know that other hospital services have been curtailed.”
“They were scrutinised by the Health Committee a few weeks ago, and, as such, it is a bit of an academic exercise coming before the House today, but protocol has to be followed and satisfied. As we, hopefully, move into the phase of beginning to vaccinate, we must congratulate the scientists who have brought the vaccine forward in such a timely manner. All of us in the House need to commit to supporting the efforts to vaccinate our entire community and the efforts to restore all other services offered by our NHS. <BR /> <BR />Maybe those who hurl from the ditches will stop trying to outdo each other in sniping at the Minister and his Department and will accept the fact that the DUP and Sinn Féin had two opportunities to take the Health portfolio.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is very noticeable that some Members appear to target the Minister of Health when demanding answers on various elements of regulations, and it seems to me to be a classic case of shooting the messenger. Minister Swann is normally the conduit to the Executive for the current medical and scientific advice, but the decision on whether to accept or ignore that advice lies with the democratic vote in the Executive or, as happened recently, can be rejected by use of the cross-community vote veto. That decision may still have negative consequences for the health of the people of Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />The regulations before us have been in operation for a few weeks.”
“<BR /> <BR />Tomorrow, the House will discuss a private Member's motion on the roll-out of the COVID vaccine. That enormous and unprecedented exercise will require the full support of the Executive. It will not benefit from any Minister going on a solo run to sow seeds of doubt, nor the intervention of elected Members from outside this House voicing bizarre opinions. <BR /> <BR />The failure of Ministers to take a degree of responsibility for regulations that they have called for is at odds with the previous commitment of the First Minister and deputy First Minister that regulations would be tabled and laid in the Assembly by the relevant Minister. There also seems to be confusion among some Members that all the regulations and guidance issued during the pandemic have been other than decisions taken by and on behalf of the Executive.”
“I was disappointed to learn from the Minister's opening remarks that two Ministers in the Executive declined to accede to his request for one or both of them to lead on the Assembly's scrutiny of amendments — those in front of us today — that they had specifically requested. I understood that the Executive had pledged to move away from the ministerial silo mentality and to take collective decisions and, more importantly, collective responsibility. It did not work before, and, to echo the words of Mr Middleton, it is not helpful now. Surely, if ever there was a time for such a united and collective approach, it must be in the middle of a second surge of a worldwide deadly pandemic, and that should include the House and not just the Executive.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. A school in my constituency had to pay hundreds of pounds and wait weeks for a simple window repair to be carried out because it had to go through the central provider for all schools in Northern Ireland. The principal could have hired a local independent contractor to do it 75% cheaper and had it repaired the next day. This seems to be a problem for many public-sector organisations, not just schools. Will the Minister consider changes for small-scale expenditure in such areas?”
“Thank you, Minister, for your answer. You have sort of answered the question that I was going to ask. For the record, can the Minister commit to not changing his position so that students and parents at least have clarity about what they need to prepare for with regard to upcoming exams?”
“Minister, I certainly welcome the investment in my constituency. I understand that the board of governors and the staff of the school fully support the move, but there seems to be a body of resistance building against the move. Has your Department had any sense of that?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement on these two rather distressing and concerning issues, and I welcome his intervention. Whilst noting the increased powers and scope that the neurology review will have following its conversion to a public inquiry, I ask the Minister whether he is satisfied that, to date, the review has not been impeded in its work and that this is instead a case of ensuring that its future work will continue unhindered.”
“Whilst I applaud the Minister for committing to maintaining as many non-COVID services as possible, we must realise that the best way to protect non-COVID care is to reduce the spread of the virus and the pressure that it subsequently places on our already overstretched health service.”
“No. <BR /> <BR />Those who ask for increased staffing do not realise that it takes years to train a specialist nurse or doctor. Equally, the insinuation from some political quarters that all non-COVID care is being sacrificed is simply not true. The reality is that we have a limited pool of HSC capacity. When looking at the dashboard, one could be led to think that there are around 3,500 general hospital beds across Northern Ireland, but the reality is that many are dedicated to specialities such as stroke, cardiology and maternity. Those beds will be required, pandemic or no pandemic. There are, therefore, approximately 1,600 general medical beds, which means that, suddenly, 450 COVID inpatients become a significant pressure on our medical beds.”
“<BR /> <BR />The suggestion that not enough work was done in the health service to prepare for the second wave is an insult to the clinicians and staff across the trusts who worked so hard on the surge plans. It is also clear that some of the people criticising the surge planning are not aware of the surge plans or, if they are, have not read them. The limiting factor is staffing, but the serious staff shortages in our health service existed long before COVID, and it is an issue with which a series of previous Ministers failed to get to grips. That is the main reason that there are almost 2,000 vacancies across nursing and midwifery alone.”
“Recent announcements and innovative programmes should give us all confidence that the Minister will deliver and, indeed, is delivering on a scaled-up scheme. However, it is also important to realise that no TTP service can successfully suppress transmission when community transmission is at a high level. For example, I remember hearing, a few weeks ago, that the system in Germany, which is widely considered to be the best in Europe, was unable to cope due to infection levels that were far lower than those that we were experiencing. Therefore, while it is the easiest thing in the world to grab a headline by blaming testing or contact tracing, the reality is that the experts and scientists are clear that TTP is not a silver bullet to suppress high levels of community transmission.”
“Thank you. Elected MPs who should know better have openly rubbished the concept of face coverings. A member of the Executive responsible for making collective decisions has broken ranks on more than one occasion to undermine the vital messages that the Executive are trying to promote. That, regrettably, does nothing to instil public confidence in that message. <BR /> <BR />The motion also acknowledges recent progress on test, trace and protect measures. From regularly speaking to the Minister about the issue, I am aware that the targets for index cases and close contact are both being widely surpassed. The motion also”
“We hear too many stories of people being left behind. Many have not received a penny of support from the Executive to date. The Economy Minister needs to address that at once: promises do not pay bills. <BR /> <BR />The motion promotes the importance of adhering to current advice and guidance in relation to personal hygiene and the wearing of face coverings. Regrettably, those simple measures have been undermined on occasion, among the most prominent being the many breaches at the funeral of Mr Bobby Storey. Newspaper revelations that broke over the weekend of emails that allegedly went out from Sinn Féin in regard to that funeral have added to the sense of outrage of those who have had to bury loved ones in accordance with the regulations.”
“<BR /> <BR />The other victims of the pandemic are those who have either lost their job or those on furlough who are worrying whether they will still have a job at the end of all this. The self-employed and the small and large entrepreneurs who create and provide employment have also suffered. Many will have put every penny that they have into their business, and many will have handed over the deeds of their family home to secure borrowing from their bank. <BR /> <BR />Just as the Minister of Health is battling round the clock, along with the entire staff of the NHS and social care sectors to protect and save lives, there is a responsibility on the Economy Minister to devise schemes that can be deployed in a timely fashion to help those who stare financial ruin in the face. Promises and media announcements do not cut it for those people.”
“The motion calls on the Assembly to recognise the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on many sections of society. It is an easy call to acknowledge. The number of deaths from this dreadful virus is creeping towards the 1,000 figure, and thousands of our fellow citizens have fallen victim to the serious illness that the virus produces. Many recover quickly, but some require hospitalisation and others need intensive ICU care as their illness becomes life-threatening. A worrying aspect for those who contract the virus is that the debilitating symptoms can persist and affect their quality of life. If we did not have the committed body of people that we have working in our NHS and social care sector, the death count would be much higher.”
“Thank you, Minister. I am confident that you will be fair in how you distribute that money, and I am sure that all the local charities will have welcomed the news today.”
“Does the Minister agree that those are wise words that we all need to pay heed to and reflect in all our actions and, indeed, our words, especially those of us who serve in the House?”
“I came across something on social media that caught my eye. It came from a doctor in the United States of America:”
“The Minister has addressed my supplementary question, but I will ask it. What impact does he anticipate that this will have on milk exported to the Republic of Ireland for processing in cheesemaking, with the resulting product returning to Northern Ireland and then going across the Irish Sea to England?”