Deirdre Hargey
South Belfast · Sinn Féin · Northern Ireland
“His double standards, including his condemnation of and opposition to equality and rights for our LGBTQ+ citizens, have caused real harm to others. The revelations about his double life expose the staggering hypocrisy of the DUP's moral facade. We need to know whether failing to act sooner left more vulnerable people at risk.”
“One week ago today, Jeffrey Donaldson was found guilty of 18 child sexual offences, including rape. That conviction was made possible only by the strength and resilience of the two victims who came forward and reported the abuse. Donaldson was an abuser. He abused children, but he also abused his position in politics and faith.”
“They now say that they knew about his behaviour, but, crucially, they did nothing to expose his inappropriate hypocrisy and double life. The 'Spotlight' programme and other reports have shown that senior members of the DUP — its most senior figures, including the then leader, Edwin Poots — were aware of serious issues and allegations abou…”
“It is therefore not credible to suggest that the intelligence agencies were blind to his compromised double standards and double life. <BR /> <BR />Those questions demand answers from the DUP leadership. They demand answers in the House from the deputy First Minister, who was closely associated with Donaldson.”
“It is clear that there is a huge disconnect between Whitehall and the reality that is being felt by people on the ground. A British Treasury policy that is managing decay, real-terms cuts and disastrous policy decisions such as Brexit or the funding of wars over public services comes on top of existing disparities between how public servi…”
“The answer is not the short-term fixes or cash injections that we have had in the past, which have allowed for the repeated Treasury script of record settlements and inability of the Executive to manage their finances — scripts that are often parroted in the Chamber.”
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“There is engagement at an official level in the two Departments on what the recovery will look like and how we deal with increased unemployment. We have to deal with the systemic inequalities and the structural inequalities that exist, and I am committed to doing that.”
“Obviously, I will bring forward plans for an anti-poverty strategy, the children's poverty strategy, the gender equality strategy, the disability strategy and others, so all of those issues will feed in. That has to be cross-cutting across government; it will not work if it is only within my Department. All departments need to buy into that in a serious way. I will outline my plans for that and will work with those communities, with older people and with younger people. It will be a co-design approach so young people will be involved, along with the Children's Commissioner and others, in the time ahead. Older people will also be involved in co-designing that. <BR /> <BR />I totally get your point. It is a critical point that, sometimes, is missed when looking at economic recovery with regard to those who are more impacted than others.”
“I will engage with the departments. I had met the Economy Minister even before the pandemic, because, obviously, there are clear linkages. We need to look at an economy that works for all the people and not just for a few. There are issues that I want to look at. I want to look at community wealth-building models, cooperative development models, and I have been working with organisations out in the community. I am looking to engage the Nevin Economic Research Institute and others in an economic rethink that protects the most vulnerable in our society. I will continue to do that. Again, any suggestions that people may have I am more than willing to listen to.”
“Notwithstanding that, there needs to be prudency, and we need to look at finance but, if the will is there to do things quickly, it can be done. I moved legislation a couple of weeks ago in two weeks. If the will is there to do it, it can be done. We need to have a bold vision of what our society will look like, going forward.”
“What this pandemic has shown is that some of the red tape and bureaucracy can be removed very quickly if the will is there to do it.”
“We have to look at those who are not doing well and who are deprived, and, where structural inequalities exist, we need to remove them. We need to have a serious conversation in the time ahead. If we do not remove those inequalities, then we are not dealing with them and we are forgetting about that 30% and moving on, so it is critical. <BR /> <BR />My Department is looking at this. We know the impact of the virus on health and well-being and on children and young people who are unable to see their friends or sports, and that is after a decade of cuts and austerity and the impact that has had. It has also come after decades of conflict and the impact that had on the mental health and well-being of our people. There are, therefore, layers of challenges that we need to work through and to remove.”
“Thank you very much for your question. It is an important one. Of course there is an impact on older people and younger people, but also on poor people. We know that viruses like this, or any economic downturn, impacts most on poor people. When you look at issues of imposed austerity, again that impacts on poor people. We have seen studies, for example in Spain recently, that show that it is the most deprived communities that are being impacted by coronavirus death rates. <BR /> <BR />Obviously, I want to look at protections. That is why I said earlier that we need to have a new conversation about what our economic and social outlook will be in the future. It is not good enough just to build an economy that grows and looks at those who are doing well.”
“Obviously, the North/South issue is going to be critical, because a lot of sports are played across the island on an all-Ireland basis. We need to make sure that there is synergy there, and we will continue to do that. <BR /> <BR />As we move through this, we will update the Executive. We are working with the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Officer to look at easements, so that, if we are trying to get people back onto pitches and playing sports, it is done in the safest way. The main thing is that coronavirus is still here. People are still losing their lives. Any return to these activities has to be done in a managed way that ensures that public health and safety is number one. However, we will continue to liaise with them all in the time ahead. Indeed, as I have more announcements, I will make them in due course.”
“<BR /> <BR />As I said, I have written to the Economy Minister about the business support grants that are available to say that they should be available to sporting organisations that have a business element to them. We know that the furloughing scheme has assisted many sports organisations and sporting codes to furlough their workers. In turn, they have been out on the streets on a daily basis responding to the pandemic. They have not just gone home and put their feet up — they have been working tirelessly responding to the pandemic. <BR /> <BR />My officials are engaging with officials in England, Scotland, Wales and, indeed, in the South about looking at a programme as we start to move into a period of opening up again and how we do that.”
“There is never enough money for the need that is there. We released the £750,000 quickly. That is suspended at the moment, but I would like to get it started again as soon as possible if I can get the money made available to me. <BR /> <BR />We will not meet all needs. It is a bit like it is with the charities fund or any funding that comes forward: we have to look at the critical overheads and costs that need to be funded in order to keep organisations going through the midst of the pandemic. That is what we are trying to do. We are doing that assessment at the moment. It will not be to meet all of the costs and, indeed, there will be some organisations that will need it more than others depending on their output, make-up or their overheads. Therefore, we are looking at that at the moment.”
“Again, it goes back to the point that if the will is there to do those things, they can be done. The pandemic has shown that they can be done. I am committed to continuing that in the time ahead. I just want to end by thanking all those in the Department, the Housing Executive, Supporting People providers, and community activists on the ground who have worked on the issue over many years and who I will work with in the time ahead to ensure that we improve the quality of life of those people. <BR /> <BR />With regard to the broader issue of homelessness, more social housing needs to be built. There needs to be an increased programme and availability of the kind of housing that is needed going forward. That is one issue that I am looking at. I will outline my vision for going forward in the time ahead.”
“<BR /> <BR />From that, we worked with the Health Department and the Health and Social Care Board. A nurse-led team was established to deal with people who have higher vulnerabilities and people who are homelessness. That nurse-led team has worked really well. There has been that collaboration between housing and Health. <BR /> <BR />Today, there has been the announcement of an additional £10 million for the Supporting People programme. That will go to providers on the ground who work with people who find themselves on the street, people who are homeless in other forms, people with underlying addiction issues or mental health and well-being issues, and, particularly, young people, who are even more vulnerable being on the street or homeless. Excellent work has been done.”
“<BR /> <BR />Obviously, there was concern about the impact of the virus on street-based homeless people; that they would be more vulnerable to contracting the virus and to its spread, and the impact that that would have on the health and social care system. There was an immediate response to that and immediate interventions, such as upfront funding that I released to the Supporting People programme in order to ensure that contracts and funding were paid in advance. I quickly engaged with the Housing Executive, which is my Department's arm's-length body that has responsibility for the issue. It set up a team immediately to look at that and to ensure that no one was rough sleeping. It is important that that also included people who had no recourse to public funds in the midst of the pandemic.”
“It is a critical issue. As somebody who was a housing rights campaigner for many years in my community, I really wanted to look at that issue when I took on the role of Minister. Christopher touched on the impact in places like Sandy Row. With regard to homelessness, there was, obviously, an immediate health issue for those who sleep rough on the streets. That is not the only type of homelessness that exists in communities and society: thousands more people — up to 30,000 — are known as "sofa surfers". They do not have a home to call their own. While it is important that there is a focus on street-based homelessness, it is important that we recognise that it is not the only type of homelessness out there.”
“I want to bring forward pilots to look at community wealth building that considers the wealth within a community or council area, and work with local government and others to support small-to-medium enterprises. Also, I hope to support communities to come up with projects, so I want to look at developing cooperatives and have a culture of cooperatives within our communities and economy. <BR /> <BR />As I start to move through those initiatives, working with the sector, I will keep the Assembly and Committee updated. I am always open to suggestions. I do not have all the answers. I am more than willing to work with Members.”
“I have already given the commitment to extend their funding for two years, to allow time to design a new anti-poverty programme. I also gave them a commitment that that will be done in a codesigned fashion. It will not be done to them, but done with them — in partnership and working with them. We will look at this going forward. <BR /> <BR />I will outline other interventions that I am going to make. It will be a broader conversation on how we allocate budgets and funding. It is important that we have our own financial levers so that we can make our own decisions in the Assembly. I encourage society and communities to stay involved in those conversations.”
“The pandemic has also shown that, if the will is there, we can remove them, notwithstanding the financial stuff, because we still rely on a block grant from Westminster rather than our own economic levers. <BR /> <BR />We need to look at all those issues and, when I was in Strabane, I gave a commitment to work with communities. I give the same commitment to any community that I visit. I want to give the power to communities so that they will be part of the decisions. All policies and strategies will be codesigned, and I will work with local organisations. <BR /> <BR />Strabane has a neighbourhood renewal partnership. Before the pandemic, I wanted to give assurance to neighbourhood renewal partnerships that are based in our most socially deprived communities as identified by the Noble index of deprivation.”
“We are developing a business case for expanding the number of social supermarkets. <BR /> <BR />All of this, including the distribution of food parcels, is to address the immediate concerns in response to COVID-19. The public guidance from the Assembly asked people to stay at home, particularly those who had to self-isolate. We have a duty and responsibility to respond to that. We also have a responsibility to manage this, as we start to move through the different periods. That is why I built in a six-week review of the programme. We also need to look at this beyond 12 weeks, and consider what is going to happen after that. It will have to dovetail with the anti-poverty strategy. What this pandemic really exposes is the inequalities that existed beforehand. There are structural inequalities that we need to remove.”
“I thank the Member very much. I was delighted to visit Strabane. I will look at the issue of notice. Obviously, all Members should get appropriate notice when I, or any Minister, visits their constituency. I am glad that you, and representatives of other parties, were able to be there. <BR /> <BR />One of the first things that struck me is that St Pat's church hall is a real community hub. You can see the food operation and food boxes going out. There was obvious engagement and collaboration with the Fire and Rescue Service, which gave out essential fire and rescue information because a lot more people are at home. I commend their work. <BR /> <BR />I also visited the Grass Roots Cafe, which my Department supports as a social supermarket. Indeed, it is part of a pilot across the North that I want to expand.”
“I will make an announcement on that in due course.”
“We are looking to see whether the products can be delivered to the council distribution points and councils can tailor the food boxes to the constituents and lists that they know to ensure that the people get the type of food that they want. <BR /> <BR />I also want to consider health and well-being and ensure that there is fresh fruit and vegetables in the boxes. A review of that is being done. I am meeting with officials this week, and we will communicate that with councils and the wider public. <BR /> <BR />As I said in my statement, as well as launching the food boxes and parcels, I released £1·5 million in a community COVID fund, which was disseminated through the 11 councils. I am looking at replenishing that fund, because I know that it is delivering critical need and services through the 11 councils.”
“They cannot pack more food parcels than that because they have to adhere to social distancing, and that is the capacity and contract that was signed up to. We are looking at that to see whether there are other ways that it can be done, because I know that there are issues. An older person living on their own, for example, will not need some items in the food box every week, and we do not want food to be wasted. I want to ensure that people get the food that they need. We are liaising with councils. All 11 councils have a key food lead within their council, and there are daily calls with my Department to look at the issue.”
“We were responding to an emergency, and it is not a perfect programme — albeit, it is meeting need — so I wanted to review it halfway through to ensure that we could make necessary changes, if needed. We are making changes. We have, obviously, been liaising. Some 18,000 people across the North receive food parcels every week. Councils have had a role, as have DAERA personnel, and the Department for Infrastructure has had a role through its public transport being involved in getting the food parcels out to those who need them. We will review the programme and see whether there are other things that we can do. <BR /> <BR />We stopped at 18,000 people because the three wholesale suppliers that we use cannot go beyond 18,000.”
“Access to food was one of the critical areas as we entered the pandemic. The scheme was an emergency response to ensure that we got essential food to people who needed it, be they people who were self-isolating and shielding, people who did not have a support network to bring them essential food or people in financial crisis who, perhaps, had lost their job, had reduced incomes or increased expenditure because they were at home. From the start, I said that I wanted to build in a review. The food programme cost £10 million for the initial 12 weeks, which covered the three-month shielding period. I built in a six-week review to the programme, and I am looking at that at the moment.”
“In taking that forward, I am committed to addressing the connectivity needs of that community and to ensuring that they feel the benefit, and to ensuring that those physical, social and economic connections are felt in the city as a whole. I am committed to doing that, and I am happy to talk to you further after this session.”
“However, as we move through with councils up and running with planning, and as building control starts to get back to work, I am hopeful that we will move forward. <BR /> <BR />The big thing for me is to try to protect the capital budget and ensure that none of that is lost so that we meet our housing targets as we move forward. I will outline plans for my vision around housing and increasing the housing stock. I know about the issues in Sandy Row and I know that the community that I live in, in the Market, has engaged with community activists in Sandy Row. Going forward, the Hope Street development will be a vital one.”
“I thank the Member for his question. We have been meeting and a lot of work over the last three months has been focused on the pandemic. There has been a slowing-down in other parts of the Department but we are focused on the issue of housing and new housing builds. That was a priority for me when I came into post as Minister in January. I have been in meetings over the last couple of weeks with the Department and there has been a change in personnel of one of our leads in housing and regeneration. Nevertheless, we are committed to developing the housing programme. It has been affected by the pandemic and construction has stopped, as have Land and Property Services (LPS), building control and planning.”
“The Executive are looking at a recovery plan and I know that the Economy Minister is going to bring forward an economic recovery plan. My role is to ensure, in any of that, that we have a different type of economic outlook that looks after the most vulnerable, that tries to lift as many up as possible and looks at a fair distribution of the wealth in our communities. There needs to be a focus on small-to-medium enterprises as the bedrock of our economy. There has been good collaboration across the Departments as well but it is not for me to answer questions for another Minister.”
“I am continuing to engage with the sports forum and Sport NI to look at what additional measures we can take. I also want to bring forward the development of our regional and subregional stadia programmes to ensure that we can get things moving on those key infrastructure pieces. We are looking at all of that at the moment and I will update Members as I start to bring forward more programmes and proposals.”
“There are a couple of things. They do play a vital role in our communities. They will be key, even in the impact of the lockdown and the impact on children and young people who are missing their sports. Sporting organisations will play a vital role in the health and well-being of those people as we move into the next steps of our approach out of the coronavirus pandemic. <BR /> <BR />I am looking to see whether I can extend the existing hardship fund — the sports COVID fund that I launched. I have also written to the Minister for the Economy about the other grants. I believe that sports organisations should have been able to avail themselves of those funds where they have a business element. I was keen to do that and I am waiting to hear what the Minister has to say. I know that she is proactively looking at that at the moment.”
“An announcement will be made this week to give an assurance to charities that the process is starting. The Economy Minister is looking at the £40 million scheme. There will be further discussions on support for the social economy sector, as well. It seems to fall between two stools because there is no definition of a social economy. We are looking at that.”
“That has to be around having an inclusive growth approach and looking at issues such as community wealth-building to ensure that we can retain wealth and focus, wealth and growth within communities and to target people who need it the most. I hope that, in any economic recovery, we start to look at those measures in looking at issues of, I suppose, institutional inequality and what we can do to remove them. I will bring forward a proposal, soon, on developing the anti-poverty strategy and the child poverty strategy. There will be opportunities there to start to change how this institution and Assembly respond to those most in need. Again, I will welcome Members' input and engagement on those issues. <BR /> <BR />I will update Members. It is good that we will get the £15·5 million out.”
“We are meeting NICVA and others who have done surveys to look at the impact on the community and voluntary sector. Some of their initial analysis says that over £350 million would be needed for that sector going forward. I do not have that finance, obviously. We want to continue to work with the sector. We want to work with the grassroots organisations that have been responding to this public health emergency in defending essential services at this time to look at what additional supports we can bring in. <BR /> <BR />As was touched on in one of the other questions, society will change here. I think that questions need to be asked about what we finance and how we finance, as an Assembly and Executive going forward.”
“That is why the proposal that I will bring forward this week will start to look at charities individually and their needs. We are also looking at other measures. Can they furlough their workers, for example? Are there other supports that can be brought in? I have written to the Minister for the Economy, and I know that she is looking at the £40 million grant that is available, to ensure that social enterprises and charities can also avail themselves of that. That said, you can avail yourself of only one funding stream from government; you cannot be double-funded. Many charities are government-funded. In my Department, any organisation that gets funding has been paid that up front. We have given advanced payments to them. <BR /> <BR />We will continue to look at this.”
“It is a limited pot of funding, and there are pressures. I know that CO3 has been doing an analysis and has engaged over 200. We have more than 9,000 charities that are impacted, and they are impacted in different ways. We have charities in three brackets: those that have an income of less than £10,000; those between £10,000 and £1 million, and, from the analysis that we have done, we know that they will be most severely impacted by lost income and fundraising due to the pandemic. We want to make sure that the £15·5 million funding that we have from the Barnett consequentials gets to as many of those charities as possible. We want to make sure that this is not about meeting the longer-term costs of those charities; this is about meeting the critical short-term costs.”
“They have been really committed to helping those most in need, and I am confident that we will be able to manage that in the time ahead.”
“If, as we move through the pandemic, there are easements and we start to open up our public buildings again, all of that will have to be assessed while keeping staff and members of the public protected. That has to be the number-one priority. <BR /> <BR />We are looking at unemployment benefits in terms of our employability programmes. We are starting to look at the recovery period and what we will need to do to respond to those who find themselves in the social security system, including how we get people back into the workforce and what we can do to support them. I will meet officials over the coming weeks to start to plan that. That will have to sit with what the Department for the Economy does on recovery and, indeed, what the Executive as a whole do, but I am confident that our staff have been excellent throughout this whole period.”
“That has been down to those critical front-line essential workers who have gone above and beyond in coming into work and working from home. We have had to change our practices and make more technology available for those who are working from home to ensure that payments can be processed. It has also been done through working on a shift basis and bringing people in throughout the day and over the weekend, if needed. We needed that during the initial spike in the pandemic. <BR /> <BR />I am confident, going forward, that we have the capacity. We are starting to plan to mitigate any eventuality that we may have in the future in responding to the virus. It has to be said that all that is being done because we have stood down some other procedures in the Department, such as suspending face-to-face engagement.”
“<BR /> <BR />There has been the additional pressure, which I have not shied away from, in that we are working with just over 30% of our staff. Part of that is due to people self-isolating, and the other part is to ensure that we adhere to social-distancing measures. I visited one of the offices in Strabane on Friday. It is an office of over 45 people, and they work on a rota basis over a three-week period and have around eight or nine people in the office at any one time. Obviously, that reduces the personnel that we have, but that is to ensure that our staff are safe. We have to do that, but I have to ensure that the service is not impacted by it. <BR /> <BR />I commend the work of staff, in that 99·3% of payments have been made on time, even in a period of an unprecedented increase in claims.”
“That is an important issue and one that I discuss with Department officials on a weekly basis. At the outset of the pandemic, I wanted to ensure that payments were made to people as quickly as possible, particularly those who were in financial crisis. The unprecedented demand in universal credit claims is no secret, and I have spoken about it on a regular basis in the Chamber and outside it. The fact that we have had over 71,000 new claims shows the impact that the pandemic is having. Thousands of people all of a sudden — overnight — no longer have a job or have been let go on a temporary basis, and that could get worse depending on the outworking of the pandemic, if we get a second spike, and depending on the furlough scheme, which has been extended. That is to be welcomed. We do not know what this will look like further down the line.”
“Once that has been done and the table has been agreed and signed off, I will make sure that Members and Committee members have that information.”
“There has been a big investment by the Executive to provide the funding. We have been working with SOLACE and the councils to look at where there is need. It is not that an even calculation will be made across all the councils, because that is not how it works. Councils have different issues and difficulties that they have to deal with, so funding will be tailored to the needs of each of the councils. We will continue to work with them over the next few days, so I do not have a table that shows a breakdown of that finance just yet. We were dealing with furlough issues, which have more than halved the amount of finances requested by councils. We continue to work through some additional issues, with the goal of getting the money released and out as soon as possible.”
“I will continue to look at all avenues to ensure that I can do that.”
“I have worked regularly over past weeks and months along with the two junior Ministers with Ulster Rugby, the Irish Football Association (IFA) and Ulster GAA to respond to the pandemic but also to look at what implications the pandemic has for sports. We have worked closely with the Sports Forum and Sport NI, which represent all sports at all levels. I want to continue to do all that I can to address needs, but that is with tight finances, when we are trying to deal with the immediacy of the pandemic by addressing homelessness issues and trying to make sure that people are safe. Those are some of the balances that we have to get right. <BR /> <BR />I continue to look at whether I can make greater flexibilities to increase the money available, allowing more sporting clubs to get the grant.”
“From those applications, we will see what money can be made available and whether any money will be left over. I am working with officials, and we continue to engage with the Sports Forum and Sport NI on whether we can open the process again to allow other organisations to come in. <BR /> <BR />I take no role in the assessment of applications; that is done by trained staff who work in the sports branch. I did not have the breakdown figure right away. The detail is very much done by officials, adhering to rules on how public funds are issued. <BR /> <BR />I want to get as much resource and support as I can to all the sporting organisations.”
“The first thing to say is that it was an emergency fund to respond to the crisis. It is not enough money to meet the need, and we do not have enough money to meet all the need that is out there. We did move quickly, however, working with Sport NI and the Sports Forum, which represents a variety of sporting organisations and codes, on the delivery of the fund, and I know that it has been welcomed by all of them, notwithstanding the fact that it is not enough money. <BR /> <BR />The scheme was launched. Everyone got the same information and was updated at the same time about the launch. The demand was unprecedented, so we had to suspend the scheme. It is not closed but suspended at this point, because we need to assess the applications that are in.”
“We know that there have been critical issues for councils. We have had information from councillors coming through from across all the parties, and, obviously, we needed to respond. We will work with them on the allocation in the next day or two, again to get the money released as quickly as possible. The Finance Minister will make a statement after this one, and that will include the issue for councils around waste management, which does not fall within my Department. There will be other announcements there too.”
“The important thing is that we have over 9,000 registered charities that meet the legal definition in the North and £15·5 million will not meet all of the need. At this point, we have to analyse what the critical overheads are that we need to meet at this time as we deal with the pandemic. That is what I am assessing. However, I am, obviously, thankful that the funding was agreed by the Executive yesterday, and I will announce the roll-out of that this week. <BR /> <BR />On councils, the funding is initially to meet costs between now and the end of June, so it is for the immediate costs and impact of the pandemic at this point. Obviously, my Department has been working with SOLACE. It sits on the emergency leadership group at Executive level as well, and it feeds in on a daily basis.”
“Those are two important areas. I will just start on the charity stuff. Obviously, we got the announcement of the Barnett consequentials a few weeks ago. The Finance Minister made the announcement about the hospices, so we have £15·5 million remaining. It has taken a bit of time to analyse the impact on our charity sector. We have a wide-ranging charity sector, some of which includes social enterprises. There is no legal definition of what a social enterprise is, but, obviously, a lot of them have charitable outputs, and they will be included. I will outline plans for what this will look like, and, obviously, my announcement will include the quickest delivery that we can get in terms of actually getting money out onto the ground.”
“However, it is clear that we will be in a very different place as a society at the end of the process. I want to ensure that we retain the very best elements of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic by embracing a new sense of community spirit and togetherness, by acknowledging and recognising the efforts of key workers, and by protecting the most vulnerable and addressing the systemic inequalities that exist. I trust that you will find this update helpful, and, of course, I look forward to engaging with you.”