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.”
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“How does she feel when she sees large gatherings of people? We have seen it again today in Belfast.”
“We know the psyche in Northern Ireland and how much weight we attach to the wake and everything that goes with it. <BR /> <BR />Just the other day, I watched a hearse stop in the middle of the road, not far from a home, and a wife go over and kiss the side of the hearse to say goodbye to her husband of 60 years. He was in a coffin in the hearse on its way to the crematorium. She was not permitted to travel to the crematorium with her husband. She had to say her goodbyes in the middle of a public street, in front of the public. Saying goodbye to a loved one is one of the most personal things that any of us ever has to do. <BR /> <BR />People have made huge sacrifices. I believe that to go to that protest that day and to any other protest, people are ill advised and fly in the face of people like the woman whom I have just described.”
“I say to the organisers of the protest that perhaps it was ill advised to call a large public gathering in the middle of a pandemic. I think that it was ill-advised. Perhaps they, with hindsight, would say that it might have been better not to have called so many people onto the streets. <BR /> <BR />There was a lot of talk in the Health Committee about conspiracies, and all the rest of it. There was no conspiracy. It was human error that caused the legislation to have to be revisited and changed. <BR /> <BR />A lot of people in Northern Ireland have made huge sacrifices. People have cancelled weddings, people have lost a lot of money through lost deposits, and people have been heartbroken about that. However, the biggest sacrifice in Northern Ireland has been around the funerals of loved ones.”
“<BR /> <BR />He also admitted that when the legislation was changed — I think that it might have been on a Friday — he was not aware, and I take him totally at face value, that a protest was planned for the next day. He also said, as the Chair mentioned, that, with hindsight, it might have been better to delay that part of the legislation for one week. <BR /> <BR />I have said it at the Health Committee, and I repeat it today: I fully and totally support the motivation behind the Black Lives Matter protests — as long as everything is done peacefully. We have seen, in some parts of the world, where it has not been done peacefully. You cannot support that. However, I totally support the motivation behind the protests.”
“There have been people who have, foolishly, decided to breach and break the regulations. Fortunately, however, they are in a minority. <BR /> <BR />The chief environmental officer, whom the Chair of the Health Committee mentioned, gave the Health Committee a briefing earlier this month. He openly admitted that there had been an error in the wording of the enforcement part of the regulations. Bearing in mind that this is an emergency, the regulations are all emergency legislation, as are the relaxations. You have to accept that we are making law without the benefit of the normal levels of scrutiny that law needs in order to be put into force. We have to accept that, from time to time, human error will creep in. Unfortunately, on this occasion, human error did creep in.”
“I support the relaxation of regulations, and I welcome other relaxations coming down the line, always with the caveat, of course, that they are based purely on scientific and medical advice. The Health Minister today addressed the Health Committee. Members will have heard him over recent weeks in the Chamber refusing to be drawn into making comparisons with other regions of the United Kingdom or with the Republic of Ireland. Today, however, he said that he felt that he had to say that, in terms of transmission rates, we are probably the best placed of all the regions of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. <BR /> <BR />That is down to the emergency legislation that we have all had to operate under in recent months. It is also down to the fact that the people of Northern Ireland have cooperated fully with the regulations.”
“Minister, thank you for your answer. Would you consider excluding BT from any future competition?”
“Minister, I have just come from a meeting of the Health Committee. Despite one member there considering or suggesting that we are actually through the pandemic, I think that we all realise that the virus has not gone away. If, God forbid, we should find ourselves back in the situation of March, would you consider a complete closure of schools again or would you look at a different approach?”
“Given the fact that similar decisions have been taken across the United Kingdom, does the Minister consider that the operational decision to reduce the number of routine inspections of care homes in March, which was designed to reduce the disruption of routines in homes and to curtail the introduction of the virus into care homes, and the decision to redeploy staff involved to other more pressing duties around the pandemic were justified and the appropriate thing to do in the circumstances at the time?”
“As a democrat, I accepted the decision, and I cannot understand why others who call themselves democrats are still in some form of denial.”
“I had not intended to speak on the issue, but my party supports the motion. The Chair of the Health Committee rightly reported that, at its meeting, the Committee was unable to come to a conclusion to support the motion. It is only fair to point out that the Committee was split down the middle — 4:4 — on the issue. We cannot, therefore, convey the sense that there was some sort of unanimity in the Health Committee: there was not. The Committee was divided on it. <BR /> <BR />I want to refer to Brexit. We keep hearing the mantra that Northern Ireland voted against Brexit. I voted to remain; I voted in a UK-wide referendum. It was not a regional headcount, and nobody ever suggested that it was. It was a UK-wide vote, and the nation spoke.”
“Would the Minister agree that in the middle of this pandemic that it is really ill-advised for any group of people to hold a public protest such as those we have seen in recent days, no matter how justified the cause and how supportive I personally would be of those protests?”
“Yes. I will finish my remarks by stealing some words from a former local politician. If he was speaking in relation to the risks associated with the virus, he would tell you:”
“<BR /> <BR />Some Members have asked for scientific information to be published. I understood that the Department of Health published some information, yesterday. Perhaps, the junior Minister will confirm that in his summing up, but I think some fairly detailed scientific advice was given yesterday. <BR /> <BR />It is also important not to forget that another outbreak of the virus is a strong possibility. People are still being infected on a daily basis. God forbid, but more people may die from the virus.”
“People are also crying out for the reopening of sport — football, GAA, horse racing. We all look forward to the day when we can go out to support our sports. People are also keen to see the reopening of church services, public worship and weddings in churches. A lot of people feel hurt that they cannot go ahead with a wedding in a church. Those are issues that will have to be considered on the basis of scientific and medical advice, not political pressure. <BR /> <BR />One Member talked about time scales and said that it would be nice to have dates for these things. Given the nature of the crisis, we cannot set anything in stone. We must always be flexible, and people have to be prepared for an indicative date that they may have been given to be changed. That could happen.”
“I accept the Member's right to have that opinion, but, as I said earlier, I welcome the fact that the Executive are not looking over their shoulder at what other jurisdictions are doing. They are doing what is best for us. I have to accept in good faith that they are doing the right thing. I cannot wait until the barbers are open. Maybe, I will go to Spain, but I would have to quarantine for 14 days when I get there and 14 days when I come back, so it would not work.”
“It is difficult when you are rushing things through and taking shortcuts that are absolutely inevitable when you are bringing in emergency legislation; you can lose sight of unintended consequences. That is what has led to the contradictions. We all have to stop sniping at them and acknowledge that everything is being done in the best interests of the public. <BR /> <BR />People have been sending me emails and phoning me about hairdressers and barbers, and I am sure other Members are receiving the same communications. I am a living example of someone who is looking forward to them reopening; I cannot wait for the barbers to reopen. Dentists are also appealing to us. Again, we have got to acknowledge that those are services that involve close contact and they are in enclosed spaces, which makes it difficult.”
“I noted that, in referencing the amendments in his opening remarks, the junior Minister said where anybody was stopped in their car, it would be a reasonable excuse to say that they were going to a drive-in cinema or concert. There is a huge contradiction there, insofar as, equally, someone could drive from Newry to Londonderry and when they are stopped in the course of their journey and say that they are going to a garden centre, that is considered as a reasonable excuse with no distance limit placed on it. That is the sort of contradiction that, perhaps, causes the police some embarrassment. <BR /> <BR />I am not going to criticise anyone for those contradictions. We have to acknowledge that we are having to abide by emergency regulations.”
“That is the right thing to do; we should be dealing with the situation on a local basis, based on the local scientific and medical advice that the Executive have been getting. He also mentioned contradictions, but it is important to acknowledge that the Executive are acting solely in the interests of protecting and saving life in Northern Ireland. Against that, they also have to balance the demands of our economy because we cannot allow that to sink either. It is a bit of a balancing act and we need to acknowledge that. <BR /> <BR />When he spoke about those contradictions, Mr Frew mentioned that the police had told the Justice Committee that they would not be enforcing the travel restrictions.”
“I support the amendments, as they signal more baby steps back to normality. They will be welcomed by many of the public at large. I drove past the drive-in cinema on Saturday afternoon down at the Titanic Quarter; it was a bright, sunny afternoon and the arena was absolutely packed. I was surprised to see a film on the screen, as we usually think of a cinema as a place where the lights are out. The huge attendance demonstrated the public thirst to get back to enjoying entertainment as a family. I understand that a concert performance is planned at the same arena in early July and I am sure that people will be looking forward to that. <BR /> <BR />In his opening remarks, the junior Minister said that the Executive were not being influenced or led by what was being done in other jurisdictions, and I concur with that.”
“I thank the Minister for his statement and for his continuing work and that of his team to protect the public of Northern Ireland, which to date has been with their cooperation. I welcome the Minister's commitment in his statement to rebuilding our health services. Is the Minister confident that the Finance Minister will make available the funds to deliver his rebuilding plans?”
“Those openings are absolutely subject to the R figure remaining below the magic number of 1, and the only way that that number will stay under 1 is if every member of the community continues to adhere to and cooperate with the advice from the Executive, the authorities and the Department of Health. The best advice is still this: stay at home. We have to hold the line, and the opening of hotels and everything else in the middle of July will not happen if we let our guard down. We all have a responsibility to continue to hold the line. <BR /> <BR />In conclusion, I admire the Chair of the Committee for the Executive Office's blind faith that fly tippers will go to recycling centres if and when they are open.”
“That is the sort of inconsistency that I was maybe trying to highlight in that in one council area an estate agent can carry out viewings of empty properties but across the county line, as it were, another estate agent cannot. That creates a sense of injustice among people in the same sector and the feeling that we do not have a level playing field. <BR /> <BR />In relation to all these pre-announced openings, we have to understand — other Members alluded to this — that they are not a given. A date has been given for them, but that is not written on tablets of stone.”
“They are looking for clarity and certainty, and unless you give them that, you are handing the ammunition to the army of barrack-room lawyers that has been created over recent weeks and that nitpicks at the regulations. The answer was that the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) had set up a subgroup of public health representatives who would meet and agree consistent approaches on how they would deal with various situations. It was just last Thursday that that message was given to me at the Health Committee and put on the public record. The next day, you could have picked up a newspaper and read that a Northern Ireland local authority has decided to go on a solo run on estate agents being able to facilitate viewings of vacant properties.”
“The other question that I put to the environmental officer on Thursday was about who is now going to police the regulations with the opening of stores and businesses. As we have seen over recent days, a lot of big stores have been reopening. I asked him whether the police were still the go-to agency, but he said no and that the power had been vested in local authorities to control and police any alleged breaches and so forth of the legislation as it stood. My supplementary question was this: how can we guarantee consistency? <BR /> <BR />It is very important that, whenever we do anything, we are consistent. That is what the public are looking for.”
“People who could not justify the distance that they were travelling to exercise were either being turned back or, in some cases, given a fixed penalty ticket. There is that sort of contradiction that, at that point, the distance of travel seemed to be very important, but now, as we see, relaxation is coming in the legislation. The legislation has not changed; it is just that these relaxations have come. Travel seems to be absolutely unlimited.”
“A few weeks ago, the PSNI was stopping and questioning people about travelling to take exercise.”
“I asked him about travel to garden centres: if my nearest garden centre was four miles down the road but I decided to drive past it and go 10 miles down the road because I preferred the garden centre there, would I be breaking the regulations? Indeed, would I be in breach of the regulations if I drove 50 miles to Enniskillen to a garden centre that I particularly liked? Of course, the answer was no. The distance that you travel to a garden centre is not in breach of the regulations. I would have thought that the regulations would have contained some sort of caveat restricting the distances that you can travel to somewhere like a garden centre. I assume that the Republic of Ireland still has the five-kilometre limit on travel. I would have liked to see something like that here, as it has created a wee bit of a contradiction.”
“I support the relaxations, provided that they continue to be based purely on medical and scientific advice. That is important. Indeed, all the measured relaxations planned must always be based on such advice. <BR /> <BR />As the Minister said in his opening remarks, I am sure that we have all had many phone calls to the effect that, once one little bit of relaxation has been given to one sector, all the other sectors are on the phone or emailing us to say, "Well, if they can do that, why can we not do this?". It is difficult sometimes to answer those questions. <BR /> <BR />As the Chair of the Health Committee said, we had a presentation last Thursday from the chief environmental health officer in the Department of Health.”
“We need to place on record that we are grateful to the British Government for the financial help that they have given us as we fight the virus and try to mitigate the impact on our economy. We need to take our blinkers off and recognise that support.”
“Given the hugely destructive impact that COVID-19 has had on elective care services, can the Minister give a commitment that neither he nor his Department will be found wanting when the Department of Health inevitably seeks the necessary resources to try to repair some of the frightening damage that COVID-19 has inflicted on our already appalling waiting times? <BR /> <BR />I return to the recently announced mental health action plan, which recognised that there will be a surge in mental health issues post-COVID-19 as we continue to return to normality. Minister, will it be resourced? What will be the level of that financial support? <BR /> <BR />In the debate, there have been numerous mentions of Tory austerity.”
“I am aware that the Department of Health has already listed £30 million as an inescapable cost pressure to maintain existing services, specifically to control waiting times for red flag, urgent outpatient assessments and elective treatments that have a direct impact on patient safety and clinical outcomes when diagnosing and treating cancer and other time-critical conditions. <BR /> <BR />To be clear, the Finance Minister's previous allocation to the Health Department would not have allowed the Health Minister to make any progress on tackling waiting lists.”
“Whilst delivering everything contained in New Decade, New Approach was always going to be a long shot, we need to remember what some of the more important pledges were. The requirement included much-needed investment in enhancing and developing services and covered vital funding for enhancing and reforming social care, growing the social care workforce and improving its pay levels, for example. That is something with which, I presume, the Finance Minister still agrees. <BR /> <BR />In addition, a further £50 million was sought to fund an elective care action plan in order to allow us, as a society, to get to grips with what were already truly abhorrent delays in our waiting times. I dread to think what the length of our waiting lists will have grown to post-COVID.”
“Whilst recognising that we are not in normal budgetary circumstances, it must be remembered that, under the 2020-21 Budget that was previously announced by the Finance Minister, our health service was left facing a shortfall of £71·6 million against forecast inescapable pressures. The Finance Minister will have been well aware that his Budget allocation of only a number of weeks ago would not have enabled the health service to maintain even existing services. Similarly, his Budget allocation had not granted the Health Department a single additional penny to deliver on the further priorities set out in the 'New Decade, New Approach' document, for which, it was estimated, an additional £169 million was required.”
“<BR /> <BR />In conclusion, there is no doubt that the hurlers in the ditch have been out in force today.”
“Yes. The Human Rights Commissioner was mentioned, and when the testing that is due to start in our care homes in early June begins, I hope that the Human Rights Commissioner will be on hand to protect the human rights of those frail, elderly and confused people in our nursing homes who may not wish to subject themselves — their next of kin might not want to subject them to it either — to what is a very unpleasant and invasive test. I cannot see a situation where we go into nursing homes and literally hold people down as they are approached by medical operatives dressed in full PPE. What distress will that cause to frail people, particularly those who are suffering from dementia? We need to be careful about this mantra of test, test, test in care homes. It may not be the most humane way forward.”
“It is perhaps useful to recall who the Minister of Health was in 2016 when considering that remark about planning being inadequate. <BR /> <BR />There has been a lot of criticism of the Executive, but the party on the other side of the House has a number of Members on the Executive. I understand that the Executive operate on collective responsibility, and that is the way that it should be. It begs the question: have the Sinn Féin Members on the Executive been sitting on their hands when all these issues have come about and when all these shortcomings have been identified? Were they sitting with their mouths closed?”
“We may all have helped to save lives, but we have to realise that many lives could still be lost to this virus if we drop our guard. <BR /> <BR />I did not particularly want to deviate from the regulations, but certain remarks have been made in the House today that have to be addressed and replied to. We heard from the other side of the House about Exercise Cygnus, which was an exercise conducted throughout the United Kingdom in 2016. One of the recommendations to all corners of the nation was to consider increasing stockpiles of PPE to be able to deal with a pandemic like this one. At a recent meeting of the Health Committee, this was discussed, and the Chairman made a comment that, in Northern Ireland, we did not react to the advice from that exercise. In fact, I think his words were that our "planning was not adequate".”
“I must confess that I had thought that I had wandered into the wrong debate. I support the controlled relaxation of the regulations, provided that doing so is always based on best medical and scientific advice. I will express a word of caution, however. The one thing that we have to guard against — all of us — is complacency. These baby steps are certainly not an indication that COVID-19 is beaten. It may still have a sting in the tail, so I appeal to all those calling for more relaxation of the regulations that may affect a particular aspect of their life to be patient. What they are doing may be understandable, but it is perhaps unhelpful, as they may influence others that the virus is disappearing and that it is beaten. It is not. We must still exercise caution, respect social distancing and use good personal-hygiene routines.”
“In conclusion, Mr Deputy Speaker, I place on record the appreciation that we owe the Treasury in London for the major additional funds that it has made available to the Executive to tackle the current health crisis and to help mitigate its economic impact on our citizens and businesses. If we ever needed reminding of the practical benefits of being part of the United Kingdom, this crisis has provided it.”
“The end of this pandemic will end one major challenge for our Health Ministry, but will reopen another major challenge to address waiting lists that will, as I have said, undoubtedly be higher than when Minister Swann came into office in January. I will quote the Health Minister, Robin Swann. When he spoke in this Chamber last week, he said:”
“The Executive have broadly done the right thing in recent weeks by giving the Department of Health the money it needed to support care homes to pay for the thousands of staff coming on to the payroll and to protect essential services such as community pharmacies. However, all parties must recognise that the cost of repairing the psychological and physical damage of this virus will demand serious attention and serious resource for years to come. People who needed an operation on their hip before COVID-19 will still require it after COVID-19.”
“The Department stated clearly that it needed £492 million as an absolute minimum just to meet inescapable costs. With that allocation, it means that the health service was facing an immediate funding shortfall of £92 million. As a result of the shortfall in funding, unfortunately, the Department may find itself in a position of having no choice but to use money that had been earmarked for transformation instead. Transformation is key, yet this Budget sadly did not acknowledge that. <BR /> <BR />When all this is over and done, our waiting times, which were already by far the worst in the UK, will be even more frightening.”
“<BR /> <BR />Whilst recognising that we are in the midst of the biggest public health emergency in the history of Northern Ireland, we must also remember that much of the day-to-day work of the health service has to continue. People are still having strokes and cardiac arrests, women are still giving birth and all our health workers, more than ever before, need and deserve their pay. They earn every penny. <BR /> <BR />With an ageing population, with increasing complexities, co-morbidities and medications, it is little wonder that this year's forecast expenditure needed to increase by 6% just to maintain existing services. It is welcome that the health service was to receive an additional £399·6 million. However, that included £170 million for the Agenda for Change pay deal that had already been committed to by the Executive.”
“I rise today as the health spokesperson for the Ulster Unionist Party. This would have been a difficult Budget to align under any normal circumstances, so with the ongoing challenge of COVID, the actual end-of-year Budget report will, in all likelihood, look very different from what is being discussed today. <BR /> <BR />Given the immediate demands and pressures at hand, it was perhaps understandable that the Budget did not include the costs associated with the current response to COVID-19. However, the urgency of the situation must not mean that public money is spent in an ineffective manner. In the weeks and months after the current crisis, there will be time to review how the Executive spent their COVID allocations, but, for the time being, their focus must absolutely remain on saving lives.”
“I have already asked whether the Minister was aware that that was what the Republic based its decision on.”
“Minister, you are under a lot of pressure to replicate the closure of schools as undertaken by the Republic of Ireland. Are you in a position to confirm that its decision was taken on the heels of generic advice that it received from the European Centre for Disease Control? I will quote from two paragraphs in that document. It says:”
“What is the Minister's assessment of the success of the pilot schemes of the multidisciplinary model?”
“Does the Member agree that the actions taken against the whistle-blower would certainly not encourage whistle-blowers to come forward in future?”
“The Ulster Unionist Party will support the budget.”