Sinéad McLaughlin
Foyle · Social Democratic and Labour Party · Northern Ireland
“After decades of silence, being believed matters; having your experience acknowledged matters; and knowing that society finally accepts the truth matters deeply. That is what, I hope, the legislation provides. <BR /> <BR />Throughout the process, I wanted to ensure that, where we could strengthen the Bill, we did.”
“Today is an important day because it is a day of accountability. I welcome to the Gallery all of the birth mothers, all of the adult adoptees and all of their family members. I thank everyone who has journeyed with you and loved you throughout the process.”
“As time passed, I believed that the original figure no longer reflected the recognition as strongly as it should have done, so I was pleased that Members from across the Chamber supported that amendment.”
“Behind every clause is a person; behind every amendment is someone's lived experience; and behind every decision that we make in the Chamber are people who have spent years carrying the consequences of decisions that they never made. That is why the legislation is so important.”
“It is often Members who receive the attention in debates such as this, but good legislation depends on the dedication and expertise of many people working quietly in the background. Today, we complete the legislative journey, but we should not pretend that justice begins and ends with the passing of a Bill.”
“We are here because survivors refused to accept that their stories would remain untold. We are here because they never stopped asking for what should never have been so difficult to receive in the first place: recognition, dignity and justice.”
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“Thank you. I absolutely and totally agree. There are certain imbalances that we need to tackle in order to support those areas and regions. There is also a gender gap in apprenticeship programmes. We really need to look at that in order to ensure that more women and girls pick up apprenticeships and choose them as their career pathway. <BR /> <BR />Finally, I encourage the Economy Minister to be really ambitious in this space. We cannot overstate the importance of the issue for our economy and our people. Skills are the future. We need to put them front and centre of our approach.”
“<BR /> <BR />I support the motion and the amendment, which makes the motion much more targeted in a way. In calling for targets, we cannot have a Northern Ireland target; we must address where the inequities lie, so subregional targets would be really good.”
“<BR /> <BR />I also believe strongly that we must invest where the need is the greatest in order to ensure that everyone in Northern Ireland has the chance to go as far as their talents will take them, regardless of their postcode. That means addressing — the Minister will hear it again — profound regional imbalances. Today, the rate of people with no qualifications in the lowest-performing council districts is more than double that in the highest-performing council districts. I say to the Chair of the Economy Committee that North Belfast has an extreme skills problem in this area that needs to be addressed. Of course, each area has its challenges, but that is an imbalance that we cannot allow to continue. It is another example of the need for legislation to address the inequalities.”
“I firmly believe that that investment must include the ring-fenced skills fund that can provide the financial support that is available; reform of the apprenticeship levy; more support for employers and further education colleges and the cohesion between them; and proper financial support for students who undertake those apprenticeships. They need to be supported and valued through their career pathways. It is also about finding the right balance between the appropriate pathways of further education and higher education, so that we do not overcompensate one and leave those who go on the other programmes feeling less valued.”
“That skills gap is fuelled by many factors, including the low level of human capital, aided and abetted by the brain drain from our shores; the attainment gap in our schools; the lack of quality careers guidance, which desperately needs to be reformed; and the dearth of support for employers who would be willing to offer apprenticeship programmes. <BR /> <BR />In the context of those challenges, it is little wonder that the number of employers offering apprenticeships has stayed largely static in the last few years. We need to do so much more to improve our skills base by investing in apprenticeships and by closing the gap between us and other areas of the UK.”
“Investing in apprenticeships should be at the heart of the Minister's approach, and I know that he has made a commitment to that. Indeed, it has been a failure of past Ministers not to invest as heavily in apprenticeships, and that has proven to be profoundly damaging to our economic potential. The loss of EU funding after Brexit has compounded that damage, and we need to find ways to make up the lost ground. <BR /> <BR />Earlier this week, Stephen Kelly from Manufacturing NI said that, if you talk to any business in the North, they will tell you that their biggest problem is the availability of labour. He is right. We have a skills gap in Northern Ireland in comparison with the rest of the UK that shows no sign of closing.”
“I welcome the motion and the amendment. <BR /> <BR />Apprenticeships are fundamental, because, if you want to grow your economy, the best place that you can start is with the skills base of your people. Skills drive economic growth and prosperity, and investing in apprenticeships is one of the greatest interventions that you can make to increase those skill levels. Every year, apprenticeships help thousands of people, particularly our young people, to develop their key skills and gain experience, which can then open the doors to full employment. <BR /> <BR />Apprenticeships strengthen the skill base in the key industries of our future, bring people back into the labour market and help to boost our shocking productivity levels, which, as we all know around here, have been the Achilles heel of our economy for far too long.”
“Minister, this is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. What steps do you intend to take to raise awareness of that disease? Is more funding needed to make sure that people are aware of the symptoms?”
“Does the deputy First Minister agree that stop-start Government damages our international reputation and negates our ability to positively sell Northern Ireland? Remember, it is only 12 months since we did not go to Washington, because we had no Government.”
“In fact, it is the same agreement as that which provides for reform and expects and demands those who carry out the responsibility of preserving it to ensure that it works for the next generation. That generation deserves stability in its Government and hope for the future. The only way in which to guarantee that hope is to recommit to that agreement and reform the institution so that no one can ever pull it down again.”
“<BR /> <BR />Finally, I have heard people say that entering into any process of reform runs contrary to the Good Friday Agreement. I fundamentally disagree with that. I am profoundly grateful for the success of the Good Friday Agreement. I will never take for granted that agreement or the men and women who made it happen. They are the builders and the giants whom we all follow, but the truth is that to review the agreement's outworkings is to fulfil the very spirit of that agreement and stay true to the original intention of those builders. Change was always expected and, indeed, intended. To reform and review is to believe no less strongly in the agreement and peace process.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. I suppose that, really, that says it all. <BR /> <BR />I understand that a veto is a really hard thing to give up, but the two biggest parties have told us that they are about delivery. The single biggest message that the First Minister and deputy First Minister could send, if they are really committed to delivering for people here, is to put down that veto and accept that no one should be able to exercise it again. That would be to act in the spirit of the agreement and our peace process. Without that, how can people believe them this time, when this place has collapsed so easily before? If they do not have that commitment to write it down in the Programme for Government, people will know what conclusion to draw.”
“Indeed, a member of the public could be forgiven for thinking that such dysfunction actually suits parties that would rather say no than say yes and that are content to feed off tribalism and factionalism instead of standing over a record of government in delivery. The truth is that good government is not built by historic events, and trust is not won through symbolic handshakes. Good government is a process that demands us all to commit to consensus and compromise over years of crafting peace, the same years that simply have not —.”
“While the Government have sat back — or, too often, not sat at all — people have seen how their lives have, in many ways, been collateral damage of the deadlock. They have seen at first hand in their communities how a constant cycle of ransom politics just does not work. They see the same people lose trust and confidence in politics, and it is little wonder. They hear us talking about multi-year budgets, but they know that we are rarely here for multi years. They hear us talk about the Programme for Government, but they know that one has not been agreed since 2011. Their trust in politics has been pushed beyond breaking point on too many occasions to count.”
“That is a veto that we should all resolve to remove from our politics for good. After a decade of dysfunction, it is time to change. <BR /> <BR />As we debate that veto today, those of us in favour of reform should be comforted by the support for the idea of reform. A huge majority of the public get that the veto just has to go. In polling, a majority in every age group gets that it has to go, and that is no surprise. Those people can see all around them the consequences of that and the dysfunction that the veto has incentivised. They see it in the health service collapsing in front of their eyes, in the generation of young people leaving our shores, in their pay packets that have reduced further and further in real terms and in their childcare costs that are just skyrocketing.”
“Since this place has returned, we have discussed and debated several issues that are central to people's lives in every part of Northern Ireland. We have promised to work together on childcare, we have pledged to end violence against women and girls and we have called for action on the environmental catastrophe, yet, while debating each of those issues — I agree with the Member for North Belfast — there has been a huge elephant in the room, which is that, at any moment, one of the biggest parties in the Assembly could, once again, exercise a veto on the progress that they claim to support. That nuclear veto, which we are discussing today, and its repeated deployment in the past 10 years has eroded public confidence in our politics, left public services in crisis and forced workers out into the cold to demand fair pay.”
“Will the Minister commit to allocating all of the required funding to ensure that the city deal project can be pursued in full, rather than being scaled down because of inflationary pressures and the delay in bringing forward the cases?”
“Minister, placing an investment zone throughout the whole of Northern Ireland will not address the lack of regional balance effectively. We need positive discrimination and incentives for places, such as the north-west, that have been left behind for decades.”
“Otherwise, as was said earlier, I worry that the commitment to the strategy and the consensus that we have all shown today will be a commitment in words only.”
“I find it hard to quantify the scale of the impact of the work of Women's Aid, and I do not think that anyone here actually can. Through its practical front-line impact, the small investment through the core grant to Women's Aid paid off many times over. When we are debating the very strategy to end violence against women and girls, it is absurd that we would rip money away from organisations like that. It is absurd that we passed a Budget Bill last week that underpinned the cut to organisations like that. Will any Minister now guarantee that funding?”
“Absolutely. I thank the Member for her intervention. Education is at the heart of the matter, as is RSE, and consent and learning about consent are at the very heart of the strategy. <BR /> <BR />I know the frustration that the public can have with strategies. When we are faced with urgent crises and devastating need, demands for a strategy can sometimes sound like kicking an issue into the long grass. I understand that instinct, even though I have a view that a strategy is essential. <BR /> <BR />We need to do much more in the immediate term, starting with supporting the services that exist and the organisations that are doing incredible work. Those are organisations like Women's Aid and others, which have lost core grant funding in the past year. That does not mean an inadequate level of funding; it is a cut, plain and simple.”
“Of course, the issue goes much wider than simply funding. For me, it is about culture, our society and the value that we attach to women's lives. That culture is writ large by newspaper headlines about femicide. It is right that our reaction to each and every one of those murdered women is profound devastation and that we say each time that they deserved to live and that their murder is unforgivable. The same culture that drives our most extreme violence happens around us each and every day in passing comments and the quiet acceptance of misogyny and sexism. It starts with phrases in schools like, "Boys will be boys" or jokes in workplaces, but we know that those examples are part of a pyramid of escalating violence. That culture can be addressed only from the earliest possible days in children's lives.”
“I commend the work of Claire Archibald and those whom she has worked with. The strategy has the voices of women right at the centre of its creation. I know that, at the conclusion of the process, we can hope for a financial package to accompany its implementation and the immediate action plan, but the Assembly must state unequivocally that a strategy without funding to go with it is not worth the paper that it is printed on. The women who are affected by it deserve so much more than that. <BR /> <BR />We know what we need to do in order to hold perpetrators to account and ensure that survivors have the support that they need, but, as the UN Women executive director said:”
“I welcome the opportunity to once again be here, debating the issue, yet I do not think that anyone in the Chamber disagrees with implementing the strategy. We are here, in essence, to put our agreement on the record. That is no bad thing, and I applaud the sponsors for tabling the motion and demonstrating the consensus that exists in the Chamber, yet this is too important an issue for us to debate in the Chamber and satisfy ourselves that we have moved the needle. <BR /> <BR />Today, I want to discuss a number of issues that the Assembly must address. The first is funding; we have heard it around the Chamber this afternoon. As we stand here, there is still uncertainty about the funding for the strategy to end violence against women and girls. The strategy has been painstakingly crafted, and I pay tribute to the team that did that.”
“We have all been here before. Violence against women and girls is a crime, and it has become endemic in our society, in our homes and on our streets. The violence has been fuelled by the toxic legacy of our past and the deeply misogynistic culture in our society. The violence has gone unaddressed by government here, whether through sheer dysfunction, the inability to agree or the stop-start nature of our politics.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Does the Member agree that early intervention is critical to outcomes later in life, including predictions about interaction with the justice system? That is particularly important for people with speech and language communication needs. It is another reason why we need to invest in our early years education and childcare.”
“I want to get this finished, sorry. <BR /> <BR />I hope that the motion is supported across the House and, more importantly, that it leads to change for patients who are desperately in need. <BR /> <BR />Finally, I thank our healthcare workers across the Province who do amazing work in difficult circumstances. I call out to our community and voluntary sector, which has lost funding over the years, for stepping in.”
“In my city and region, we have a crisis of addiction and poor mental health, driven by poverty and the failure of government to address that poverty. It appears that our health service provision has been regionally blind, failing to step in to address disadvantage. No weighted deprivation formula has been apparent, and that has fuelled the poor health outcomes. We need a different approach that prioritises disadvantage and directs investment where it is most required.”
“It will not solve the crisis overnight, which is the product of decades of underfunding, political collapse, dysfunction and poor accountability, but it will make a difference to some patients. <BR /> <BR />The motion rightly draws attention to regional disparities in access to our health service. It is true to say that there are huge imbalances in our health outcomes. Although the crisis affects almost everyone, it does not affect everyone equally. In recent years, the figures have shown that male life expectancy has declined in the most deprived areas of Belfast and Derry. In the Western Trust, male life expectancy is almost seven years lower than the trust average, and 24 of our health outcomes are worse than the Northern Ireland average.”
“Thank you. <BR /> <BR />I absolutely agree with the Member. It is self-sabotage. It is unbelievable that any Minister would take that tone and direction when the health service is in complete disarray due to the Tory Government. That is all I can say. <BR /> <BR />In the Western Trust alone, more than 700 patients benefited from the Republic of Ireland reimbursement scheme. Restoring it is common sense, and I hope that Members from across the Chamber will support that. Of course, that is just one measure that we can take while we grapple with the longer-term transformation of our health service so that we can bring down waiting lists once and for all.”
“Brexit was a serious blow to our health service, not only because it removed the cross-border healthcare directive but because, under freedom of movement, we had the ultimate cross-border healthcare directive for our medical professionals. That is something that we all feel and all regret, and it has added to the waiting times. The very least that we can have is an arrangement again with our closest neighbours. That is a sensible and practical step that could make a real difference to people across our communities. I know that it has served many of my constituents really well.”
“I welcome the urgency of the motion, but, with the greatest respect, never mind six weeks from now, we should have been here to deliver two years ago. The consequence of the latest collapse and, indeed, the one before it, has been that we have let more people wait in agony in a two-tier system, where only those who can afford to be seen get through the door. Those are the human consequences of constant collapse. It is yet another reason — in case we need any more — why we should commit to never collapsing this place again. <BR /> <BR />The transformation of our health service will take time and much longer than it could have otherwise taken. In the meantime, we need to follow what works, and that includes restoring the cross-border healthcare directive. We are one island, and we all know that health problems do not stop at borders.”
“That is a moral outrage in 2024. It is a fundamental failure of government.”
“I imagine that everyone in the Chamber knows someone who is waiting on a health procedure, whether they are a family member, a friend or a colleague. We have all seen people waiting for an interminable time for operations that they should be able to expect in a matter of months. I have lost count of the number of constituents whom I have met who are wrecked with stress and anxiety from waiting for years on an appointment that could be life-changing but which feels like it may never arrive. <BR /> <BR />Last week, we debated the priority that is given to women's health. One area of waiting lists is for gynae services. Responding to a survey that I delivered last year on women's experience of accessing care, a woman told me about her long wait. She said:”
“Scrutiny and accountability must also be improved through the proper and full Budget process later this year. The Budget must be linked to an agreed Programme for Government and closely aligned with clearly measurable strategies and policy objectives. Now that we are back at work, we must get on with demonstrating delivery. Everyone in this place wants to see that take place, and we must put in place the structures to ensure that it is able to take place forthwith.”
“From the patients waiting in chronic agony for their first appointment with a consultant to the parents waiting for their child's special educational needs assessment, families rightly wonder what their Government are achieving and what progress we are making on the issues that they care about. <BR /> <BR />In this new mandate, we must change how we do business. From the state of our school estate to the quality of our roads, Northern Ireland faces a multitude of challenges that have their roots in poor government, chronic underfunding and political dysfunction. The least that the public should be able to expect from their politicians is accountability and the ability to judge delivery against objectives. That accountability is undermined when the processes are rushed, especially when it comes to public spending.”
“Looking at any area of public policy, we see report after report being issued but a lack of serious accountability for delivery. Just in my constituency, there have been promises, reports and strategies but no delivery. It appears that the Executive's homework simply never gets marked, and our public debate never seems to get round to interrogating the impact of our public policy decisions. Some of that, of course, is because this place is up as much as it is down, but, whatever the reason, the public are losing faith in our ability to deliver outcomes.”
“<BR /> <BR />That lack of scrutiny and accountability is totally perverse. Indeed, the whole process of this Budget Bill is a symptom of the dysfunction of our politics and a consequence of the failure to govern this place over the last two years. Those of us who believe, as I do, that any new fiscal framework must include greater fiscal devolution should also recognise that it is harder to make that argument in a convincing way when the constant threat of collapse threatens to undermine the ability to properly manage our finances. That is another reason why fiscal sustainability is dependent on political sustainability. <BR /> <BR />The process is also symbolic of the perverse lack of transparency and opaque decision-making that has clouded this place for so long. For too long, outcomes from our politics have been muddled.”
“I feel like I am in a twilight zone after that, but anyway. <BR /> <BR />I am glad that we are here debating this step to release funding for Departments. That our financial allocations are being made here, not in Westminster on the whims of a Tory Secretary of State, is good news and will be sheer relief for people in communities across Northern Ireland. However, a point that has been well made many times today is that this is not the way that any of us want to do business. Rushing a Budget Bill through by hyper-accelerated passage, however necessary that may be, is by no means good for governance, nor is it appropriate for the proper understanding on the part of MLAs or of the public of the financial plans of the Executive and of how we will spend money in the first few months of the year.”
“Minister, you have a tickle in your throat. Maybe you should have a moment or two to rest your throat and get some water without having to continue. Is that OK? I feel your struggle.”
“I thank the First Minister for her answer. Leadership is crucial, and the Executive Office needs to step up and put all support behind the North West Strategic Growth Partnership. Will the First Minister commit to ensure that the Executive take their leadership role, with the required level of funding allocated to this body, to agree a cross-border strategic programme to drive growth in the north-west cross-border city region?”
“Minister, I appreciate the prioritisation that you have given in your statement to regional balance. We in the north-west have seen many visions and have been promised prioritisation, but, unfortunately, we never get to the delivery point. Many countries across Europe put the provision of regional balance in legislation. Do you agree that we need to tackle regional, economic and social imbalance through legislation? Will you commit to such legislation?”
“I firmly believe that the work should be led at a senior level. England has appointed a Women's Health Ambassador, and we should follow their lead so that one person can lead on the implementation of the strategy. An ambitious, intersectional, regionally balanced women's health strategy has the power to improve women's lives and their outcomes radically, but women are literally sick and tired of waiting.”
“That means rolling out regional women's health hubs, where women from across the North can secure faster access to treatment. That includes abortion services. The Health Minister must fulfil his obligation in providing those services: abortion is healthcare. <BR /> <BR />A women's health strategy should also introduce better training for healthcare professionals, funded research on gender inequalities in healthcare and the collection of the right data to inform that policy. Our healthcare workers are dedicated, but they need to be supported by the right tools. The development of a women's healthcare strategy must incorporate the voices of all women, particularly those who are black and minority-ethnic, disabled and LGBT. Only by being fully inclusive can the strategy be fully effective.”
“While an action plan is under way — that is to be commended — there is no substitute for a strategy with meaningful timelines and funding attached that can address the inequalities that women face in their lives from puberty through to postmenopause. <BR /> <BR />I have engaged extensively with grassroots women's organisations across the north-west like Derry Well Women, the Women's Centre Derry and many more. They have been forced to plug the gap in statutory services, delivering programmes on the ground for women who are in desperate need. <BR /> <BR />Now is not the time to start small. Women deserve ambition. That is why a women's health strategy must end the postcode lottery for services through regional bands.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. Absolutely: it can take anything from 10 to 15 years to be diagnosed with endometriosis. I suffered my first symptoms of endometriosis when I was about 16, but I was 26 before I was diagnosed. That was back in a different decade — the 1990s — but, unfortunately, our diagnosis process has not moved on since that time; in fact, some of the gaps are getting larger. <BR /> <BR />It is long past time that the inequalities faced by women accessing healthcare were addressed by following the example of every other part of these islands and agreeing a comprehensive and fully funded women's health strategy.”
“For example, research shows that endometriosis affects 1·5 million women in the UK. A similar number of women are affected by diabetes. However, while diabetes services are well established, there is a devastating lack of support for women with endometriosis. It is long past time —.”
“Hopefully, the Minister will know that 90% of respondents felt that there was inadequate service provision for the biggest healthcare issues affecting women. They listed gynaecological health, mental health, maternal health, menopause support and many other issues, and I am deeply grateful to them for their personal stories. They were stories of pain that had been dismissed, of conditions that had been misdiagnosed and of a taboo that had set in when discussing menopause, sex education or periods. They were just some of the almost 10,000 women across the North who have been waiting more than a year for their first appointment with a gynae consultant. <BR /> <BR />That research adds to the mountain of evidence that differences in how women are assessed, diagnosed and treated add up to huge inequalities.”
“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and congratulations on taking up your position as Deputy Speaker. <BR /> <BR />The SDLP will support the motion and the amendment. Last year, a woman who was waiting for surgery for endometriosis came into my office. Debilitating pain had forced her to leave a job that she loved in the health service. Years later, she was still languishing on a waiting list, weighing up whether to remortgage her family home to pay for private treatment. She is not alone. That is just one of the countless stories from women who face barrier after barrier in accessing healthcare. <BR /> <BR />Last year, I carried out a survey of women's experiences. I had over 500 responses, which painted a stark picture of a broken and inaccessible service. I have delivered the full report to the Department of Health.”
“We cannot just put it on the long finger. I look forward to hearing your thoughts about legislating for regional balance.”