Emma Sheerin
Mid Ulster · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“Given what we have seen unfold across the North in recent weeks, it is important that we acknowledge that they are people with particular vulnerabilities who are particularly sensitive and, with that in mind, consider our language.”
“No, I will not give way. You have rambled on for long enough in this place. <BR /> <BR />When it comes to the early clauses of the Bill, I, like others, put on the record our appreciation of the work of Geraldine Hanna and our support for the intent of Part 1 of the Bill, which puts the role that she has been carrying out impeccably thus…”
“I thank the Minister for clarifying that immigration is an excepted matter, which means that it is the responsibility of the British Government and nothing to do with the House.”
“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Members will be aware that the DUP and some of its lackeys in the UUP cynically used petitions of concern, two weeks ago, to block rights for children.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak at the Second Stage of the Victims and Witnesses of Crime Bill. I am proud to be from a party that consistently supports the best available human rights advice on all matters.”
“For many years, Donaldson used his position of power to abuse and to escape justice. He presented himself as a role model. We now know that that was bogus and that his public persona was a deception.”
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“is a place that is close to my heart. My great-grandmother was one of the last native speakers in an area in which the language was subsequently wiped out. I feel very strongly about the issue. I was in Donegal at the weekend with a group of Irish language learners from my area to attend classes organised through Glór na Speiríní. The work that is being done is fantastic. As the Member who spoke previously mentioned, we have Irish language groups across all areas of mid-Ulster, including in Carn Tóchair”
“everywhere, but I did not see anyone running away or being terrified of the language. It is open to everyone and belongs to us all. It should be that way. <BR /> <BR />Being half-Donegal and half-Tyrone, Tír Chonaill”
“When you leave a Gaeltacht region, you think to yourself, "Why can we not have that everywhere?" The vibrancy and visibility of the language — it is a living, breathing thing in the places where the language was maintained and where they could not wipe out our language. I was in several restaurants, pubs, supermarkets and other places over the course of the weekend and saw signage as Gaeilge”
“Ar dtús ba mhaith liom a rá gur chaith mé an deireadh seachtaine i nGaoth Dobhair, áit a maireann ár dteanga dhúchais agus áit a bhfuil sí beo beathach agus láidir i ngach áit sa cheantar.”
“I extend hearty congratulations to the players and management team of St Pat's College Maghera, who, yesterday in Croke Park, won the Hogan Cup for the sixth time in the school's history, which is a fantastic achievement. I congratulate the entire staff and all the pupils of St Pat's, which takes students from south Derry and beyond, on such a well-deserved achievement. They will rightly enjoy their celebrations now.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. I agree completely. That is what it is about. It is about supporting women to come into the sector, removing those structural inequalities and barriers and trying to ensure that everybody is on a fair footing and has an equal place in the industry. I commend the motion to the House.”
“Women are also heavily involved in that an awful lot of the time, yet they do not get the recognition that they deserve. Barriers are put in place for them. It is about recognising that and providing support to ensure that women can be recognised as farmers in their own right, as opposed to their being just an add-on or somebody who is —.”
“She was therefore as much a farmer as anybody else in the house was. My own contribution to farming is limited. I cannot boast to being as involved as my colleague Áine behind me. My contribution is confined to standing in the gap or feeding the odd pet lamb. That is as much help as I provide. Otherwise, I would be a hindrance. <BR /> <BR />I have reflected on comments from other Members. We acknowledge that farming is a business, and, in most households, everybody ends up being involved whether they want to be or not. It is mainly the women in the household who fill in the movement books, are responsible for the tax returns and do all the other farming tasks that are as much a part of making the business a success as the hands-on, out-and-about work.”
“I welcome the broad support across the House for the motion, which seeks to formalise the role of women in the agriculture sector, because, as others have acknowledged, we all know that women are very often at the heart of farms and very much involved in their daily operation. I can attest to that. I am a farmer's daughter and the daughter of a farmer's wife who herself was a farmer's daughter and whose mother was a farmer's daughter and a farmer's wife. Most of the time, one will find that, in such situations, that person is as involved in the farm business as anybody else in the family is. I think particularly of my paternal grandmother, who was a farmer's wife and would have been recognised as such, but she milked the cows every day, collected the eggs, reared the family and did everything else in between.”
“What exactly has been done to ensure that policies are effective in meeting those objectives?”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as an fhreagra sin.”
“Tá cuid mhór le ceiliúradh againn. Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam.”
“Seo Seachtain na Gaeilge, am tábhactach dúinne uile go léir a bhfuil meas an-mhór againn ar ár dteanga dhúchais. Rinne Rialtas Shasana iarracht mhór ar dteanga a chur den tsaol, ach níor éirigh leo. Tá muid an-bhródúil go bhfuil ár dteanga anois ag gabháil ó neart go neart mar gheall ar an obair, agus ar an dul cun cinn atá á ndéanamh ag gníomhaithe Gaelige. <BR /> <BR />I mo cheantar féin, Doire theas, tá go leor ranganna le fáil ag gach léibheal. Tá mé féin ag baint an-sult as bheith ag freastal ar ranganna i nGlór na Speiríní i mBaile na Scrine. Gabhaim buíochas le Conchúr, le mo mhúinteoir Clare, agus leis an fhoireann uile. <BR /> <BR />Is é an dearcadh a bhíodh ann i bhfad ó shin in Éirinn go raibh ár sinsear bocht agus ainbhiosach mar gur labhair siad Gaeilge. Ach tá páistí go fóill ag caint Gaeilge.”
“It is great to see all the parties in the Executive working together to deliver for all the people whom we represent.”
“We can see that work starting already through Invest NI. <BR /> <BR />The Programme for Government references the proposed employment Bill, and we know that the Department for the Economy has already consulted on that, which is welcome. The Economy Committee heard a presentation last week from our trade unions, which laid out clearly that providing people with better working conditions, a fair day's wage for a fair day's work and better access to rights is not only the right thing to do but leads to greater productivity. A happier workforce is a more productive workforce: that is common sense. It will be borne out, when we see progress on that Bill, that we will have more prosperity across the North. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the Programme for Government. It is a positive step, and I look forward to seeing progress on all its objectives.”
“I welcome the publication of the Programme for Government, which is an important step. As others have outlined, it is a compromise in the context of a cross-party Executive, but it is promising that parties have worked together to produce it and lay out the priorities that we all want to see delivered for the people whom we represent. Looking at it from an economic perspective, we can see clearly laid out in the document the fact that economic prosperity in the North has not always been felt by everybody. I welcome the fact that regional imbalance is being tackled. That work is already under way. The Department for the Economy wants to address it and ensure that all areas of the North receive a fair bite of the cherry and that all our communities can benefit from good jobs and investment.”
“First Minister, do you agree that it is essential that we continue to maximise economic opportunities in the US?”
“I welcome the tone of the debate, I thank the Minister for his comments, and I look forward to seeing progress on the issue.”
“I can say clearly from a rural perspective that the small schools in my constituency that I deal with all the time care about the pupils whom they teach and about their local area. They want to make efficient decisions for the people for whom they work. We should support them in that regard. <BR /> <BR />I really welcome the consensus in the House today. This is a good opportunity to have agreement here and to take a collaborative approach that best serves all the people whom we represent. I really welcome the Minister's indication that he is looking at the issue and trying to make progress. It is not about cutting corners or removing accountability but about cutting out some of the nonsense, taking a common-sense approach and allowing efficiency in our school estates.”
“We know that our school principals, our boards of governors, our teachers, our parents and all other members of our school communities are frustrated by the time taken and the money wasted when it comes to undertaking simple processes in their school, be it getting a new door, fixing a leak in a roof or doing other simple things that should be able to be resolved within a few days, involving only a small amount of money. Work ends up costing a lot more than that in time and financial resource, however. <BR /> <BR />We know that our educators are best placed to make decisions about the school in which they work. We know how much they care about their local community.”
“In the first instance, I urge the Minister not to make assumptions about what he might do based on the origin of today's motion or last week's Adjournment topic. I do not do solo runs, and I do not need to be managed. He can take that as an indication of the strength of feeling in Sinn Féin on the issue. I am glad and relieved today to hear that that feeling is unanimous and that there is consensus in the Chamber on the need for change in how our schools manage their budgets and are able to deal with the maintenance issues that arise. <BR /> <BR />We have heard from MLAs across the Chamber today that their local schools have brought the issue to them. We tabled the motion because we hear about the issue every day from the people whom we represent.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.”
“I thank the Minister for her statement. Following today's announcement, Minister, what work will you do with residents and traders who may be affected by the disruption? Will there be a dedicated point for communication with people who are impacted on by the ongoing work?”
“The problem was reported, and correspondence went back and forth between the school and the Education Authority. In September 2024, almost four years later, the school was told that the sewage pump had burnt out and that a new one was required. The job was completed on 7 January, but, as of 7 February, the sewage pump is not working, despite the new one having been fitted only a month previously. P2 children are again sitting in a classroom that smells of raw sewage. <BR /> <BR />I have therefore heard clearly from school principals, staff and parents that they want a safe and healthy environment in which to work. The system is not sustainable or working for them. They want to see a common sense approach and some practical thinking to try to make it more efficient and cut out the unnecessary bureaucracy.”
“Once again, a local plumber could have done the work for a fraction of the price and in a fraction of the time. The procurement process is therefore causing a lot of frustration. <BR /> <BR />A principal told me about an empty space behind the school that could be turned into a playground or an extra facility for the children to enjoy. The Education Authority told the school that the work would cost £15,000. The plan therefore had to be abandoned, because the school could not afford the cost out of the school budget, even though it knew a local contractor who could have done the work for buttons. <BR /> <BR />One school principal contacted me about an ongoing issue with sewage. After an upgrade of its sewage system, at a cost of £111,000, there was a bad smell in a classroom a few months later. That was in December 2020.”
“Someone in the school family is a joiner by trade and could sort out the problem in a matter of days, but the school does not have the freedom to authorise that work. Another example is the refurbishment of a school's boiler house. It was agreed in 2021 that the work needed to be done, but no progress has yet been made, so the school is still waiting on the boiler house's refurbishment. <BR /> <BR />I will give further examples. A school in my constituency's heating system broke at the end of the previous term. Multiple attempts were made to get a call-out, but the school went for days without heat or hot water, which meant that it could not provide hot school meals. When the engineer turned up to do the repairs, it took him all of an hour to sort out the problem.”
“A school often knows somebody in the local area, perhaps a school governor or a parent of a child at the school, who can give a quote for the work, but, because of the procurement process, the school has to go through a tender process. The work can then end up costing a lot more and taking a lot longer to do. <BR /> <BR />I will now give some examples. Someone was going to put a handrail on the outside of a school in south Derry for a couple of hundred pounds — the cost of the materials — yet the job ended up costing thousands of pounds. A light fitting that was installed in a classroom unnecessarily cost hundreds of pounds. A local school needs a new front door because the old one is rotten and the pane of glass is coming out of it, but there has been no movement on that for two years now.”
“The Minister has visited a number of schools across the North, including Holy Family Primary School in Magherafelt, which is in my constituency. Its classrooms have blue mould on the walls, and children are suffering real-life health implications as a result. Principals have told us repeatedly that they are frustrated by the, as they see it, unnecessary bureaucracy in the system when they attempt to fix a problem in the school or make adaptations to the building. <BR /> <BR />I have loads of examples of where staff have contacted me about issues that are causing concern. There are two issues, the first of which is delays. I hear about the length of time that it takes Education Authority (EA) maintenance teams to come out to schools. The second is the unnecessary procurement process, which exacerbates the first issue.”
“Since I became an MLA, principals from across the North have been contacting me about maintenance issues in their school. There are schools in crisis, and we have facilities that look as though they are from the 1950s.”
“I appreciate the opportunity to bring the matter to the Chamber this afternoon. <BR /> <BR />We are asking for a common-sense approach to our local schools. It goes without saying that the safety, well-being and health of our children, our pupils attending school and our staff working throughout our school estates are of paramount importance. I know, Minister, that you will be keenly aware of the importance of that and of the importance of accountability when it comes to the spending of public money in our schools. Notwithstanding all of that, we feel that we have to see some changes in terms of maintenance and the ability of schools to manage their budgets better.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.”
“It is key that devolution is respected and that we have a say in what is to be implemented here and what will be expected of our businesses.”
“I support the LCM, the details of which have been outlined by my party colleague the Economy Minister. All Members will agree that it is important that our commitment to net zero be upheld, and, obviously, the same commitment is the basis on which this energy company has been formalised by the British Government. The establishment of that is important. It is also important that policies reflect the specific nature of our economy in the North, our society and the different needs of the businesses, people and families operating here. <BR /> <BR />As has been outlined, the assurances that were acquired by the former Economy Minister, Minister Murphy, in establishing that any policy needs consent from us in the North, are key to that.”
“An issue that has been brought to my attention by a number of my constituents is the consultation on the employment support scheme. That scheme could be aptly described as "small but mighty". It supports 249 people with complex disabilities across the North, enabling them to work in society. The scheme closed to new applicants in 2006, which means that the 249 people have been in the scheme for a number of years and are comfortable in their roles and enjoy them. <BR /> <BR />Our party has submitted a response to the consultation. We urge the Department to retain the scheme, given the value that it brings to people and the fact that it allows those with complex disabilities to remain in work, something that is recognised as their right by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.”
“I welcome the fact that the Minister for the Economy and the Minister of Finance have begun conversations on that and on bringing it to the British Treasury, and I hope to see progress.”
“Given that Mid Ulster is a constituency that runs alongside the border, hoteliers and people who are engaged in different types of hospitality there are frustrated by having to deal with competitive rates already. Being at a clear financial disadvantage already to hotel owners who may be just 20 miles down the road, the changes will leave them at even further disadvantage. They are really concerned about that. <BR /> <BR />A lot of our hotels rely heavily on weddings and corporate guests, but they want to move further into the international visitor experience. An increase in footfall in any region in the north-west will lead to an increase in people's movement inwards and towards Belfast, so we do not want to see that decrease. <BR /> <BR />Harmonising VAT is a sensible approach.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this sensible motion, and I thank the Member who proposed it for outlining its rationale. <BR /> <BR />During the COVID pandemic, we heard the phrase that "Ireland is one epidemiological unit" an awful lot. In my mind, Ireland is one unit in every sense, but it is clear that international visitors deem the island to be one unit for tourism. Any divergence between North and South therefore does no favours in the North or in the South. <BR /> <BR />The motion, which asks for the harmonisation of VAT rates for our hospitality sector, relates keenly to something that we have not tapped into properly across the North when raising the profile of our tourism offering and hospitality outlets.”
“What steps is Invest NI taking to develop industrial land in mid-Ulster?”
“Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire faoina post nua.”
“I congratulate a school in my constituency — St Patrick's College, Maghera — on its successful attainment of the MacRory Cup yesterday. They came from behind to beat Abbey Vocational School from Donegal by one point. In doing so, they won a seventeenth MacRory — a massive achievement for the school. I offer hearty congratulations to the management, players and everybody involved at St Pat's. I am sure that they will enjoy the celebrations and rightly so.”
“Will the deputy First Minister commit to bringing to the next Executive meeting a proposal for a new funding model, which could bring vital funding to the Ulster-Scots Agency and Foras na Gaeilge?”
“Look at the work that has been done on childcare; ending violence against women and girls; the reform of Invest NI; the regional imbalance piece that our departing Minister, Conor Murphy, has done so much important work on; and the fair investment in public services and the increased revenue in that respect. All of that is to be celebrated. There is more work to do. I remind Members that the correct forum for conversations about reform is AERC, whose specific remit is that discussion.”
“I think that we can all agree that accountability in government is important. It is important in all aspects of life. As somebody who is now on what may be the fourth reset of her "New year, new me" plan, I can attest to the fact that what gets measured gets done. Although this speech is not sponsored by My Fitness Pal, I assure you that I understand the premise of what the proposers of the motion are trying to say. <BR /> <BR />It is important that we acknowledge that governing in the North is not without its challenges, but I will reflect on the positive work that has happened over the past year, how well we have all worked collectively and how important it is that the commitments set out by all Executive parties are addressed and priorities fulfilled.”
“I know that there is disagreement between our Executive and the British Government on the target of £113 million from revenue raising. Will you provide an outline of how you plan to meet that target without putting further pressure on working families and local small businesses?”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as an fhreagra sin.”
“Minister, can you outline how the Budget supports ending violence against women and girls?”
“I thank the deputy First Minister for the statement. I was heartened to hear it touch on the importance of ending violence against women and girls. How important is it that our Government and Governments across these islands work with one another to end that scourge on society?”
“I place on record our appreciation to all those people who are trying to take us through this difficult time. Hopefully, the next time that we have a situation like this, weather-wise, in the North, we will have infrastructure that is better able to support our rural residents in particular.”
“I extend my gratitude to those people and to the people who work in our hospitals and our local shops, cafes and restaurants that have been providing shelter, heat, electricity and warm water to constituents who have not had those services in their homes. <BR /> <BR />As of today, I still have constituents who do not have running water or electricity. I extend my appreciation to those people for the patience that they have shown, even in trying to get updates. I acknowledge how appreciative they have been of our efforts to try to get the issues resolved for them. This has been a challenging time for people. The community has come together in a way that is brilliant to see in circumstances in which, obviously, none of us wants to be.”
“The effort that they went to in order to keep others — the most vulnerable in society — looked about, was a sight to behold. <BR /> <BR />I also acknowledge the hard work of our NIE staff, including those who handle calls and respond to messages from ourselves, trying to keep us updated; and, obviously, the engineers, the linesmen and the men and women on the ground who are trying to fix the electricity faults across the North. That effort is, obviously, going to continue for the rest of the week and, indeed, into next week. They work in incredibly challenging conditions, with the wind and rain beating off them, and go for 12, 14 and 16 hours at a time without proper sleep or food. They are deprived of all those things but are still trying their hardest.”