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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“I thank the Minister for his responses so far, and I congratulate him on his appointment to the role of Minister for the Economy. I look forward to working with him in the near future. <BR /> <BR />Regional balance is very much at the heart of what I want to see for my region. Certainly, however, the potential for the loss of 300 jobs in Fermanagh would have devastating consequences right across the county and the west. I look forward to the Minister's proposals in and around regional balance in the coming weeks. It is the duty and responsibility of the Government to make sure that we have the policies in place in order to attract investors.”
“We know what works and what does not. We can look at the failure of the free hours model in England and at the promise of models in countries like Norway and Sweden that invest from a child's first days to transform outcomes and cap costs. Let us stretch our ambition and acknowledge that this is an investment rather than a cost. More importantly, once and for all, let us get this done.”
“One year on, parents and providers need that support from the Executive more than ever. That should include investing in the sector to freeze costs, ensuring that all parents are aware of the support that is available and making a collective approach to the British Government to expand access to tax-free childcare. We also need urgent progress on the review of the minimum standards for registered childminders. There is no time to waste, and those solutions are on the table. Today, the Minister of Education should walk out of here and pull the right stakeholders together in an advisory group, with the voices of parents front and centre, and get about the business of delivering support. If we truly prioritise the issue, it will be action, not words, that parents are looking for. <BR /> <BR />There is enormous potential.”
“Absolutely. Childminders are fundamental to the childcare infrastructure. We have over 2,000 registered childminders watching in excess of 12,000 of our children, and they are key to delivering quality, accessible and flexible childcare. <BR /> <BR />It is really time to deliver. Yes, let us agree a strategy without delay, but the truth is that a strategy will take time, and that is time that we simply do not have. Let us recognise the immediacy of the crisis and act now. Every day we hear news of more providers shutting their doors and employers struggling to retain and recruit their staff. We all said that this was a day-1 priority, so let us keep to our word. More than a year ago, the SDLP published proposals to invest in the sector and bring down costs to families.”
“We all have constituents who have told us of the pressure that they are under from eye-watering costs. They are absolutely horrific costs to the home. Indeed, I have no doubt that we are being watched right now by many parents, some of whom are here in the Gallery, who have sat around kitchen tables and had that conversation about whether it is even worth it to stay working at all. We all know parents who could not make the sums add up and have reluctantly left their jobs. Moreover, we know that it is predominantly women who are locked out of the workforce as a result. Our childcare providers also cannot make those sums add up. They struggle every day to keep the lights on. Faced with those truths, everyone should recognise that the status quo of economic self-sabotage is totally untenable.”
“Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I take the opportunity to congratulate you on taking your position. <BR /> <BR />I will start by acknowledging the common feeling across the Chamber that the need for a childcare strategy is universally accepted. While I welcome the debate, the issue is not the lack of consensus on the question but the lack of delivery on the commitment. That commitment was first made in 2011's Programme for Government. Thirteen years later, we are still only at the debating stage, and our childcare sector is now on the brink of collapse. <BR /> <BR />We can all clearly see the societal impact of our failure to see childcare as a sustainable part of our infrastructure that helps to keep the wheels turning in our workplaces, homes and schools.”
“We have heard and seen them all before. Let us get this done.”
“Even commitments in the Programme for Government will not be enough.”
“We need to change the approach if we are to rebalance the economy. Warm words alone about regional balance just will not cut it.”
“It requires deliberate and proactive policies and interventions. It requires affirmative action to address the decades of neglect. It requires positive discrimination to tilt the balance of the economy and ensure that everyone has a fair chance to succeed. <BR /> <BR />That positive discrimination must take the form of legislation. Therefore, I will propose a new law that will change the way in which this place works so that we finally prioritise regional balance in jobs, skills and investment. The legislation will create binding targets for Departments and provide accountability for our Government. It will finally reform Invest NI and expand higher education provision in the north-west. <BR /> <BR />As the mandate starts, let us resolve that it will not be the same as the last.”
“Derry and the wider city region is the only metropolitan urban area of scale outside Belfast that is able to compete with cities across this island, but, more than that, to invest in Derry is to invest in the whole of the economy, since it is there that special intervention will have the most transformative impact. <BR /> <BR />The opportunity before us is huge. Making the most of that opportunity will not happen overnight, but neither will it happen by accident.”
“<BR /> <BR />The difference in the level of employment and economic inactivity between the highest-performing regions and the lowest-performing regions is around 10%, and there is still a huge disparity in the levels of earnings and disposable income between people in different places. In places like north Belfast and west Belfast, the levels of poverty are the highest anywhere in Northern Ireland. Places like Fermanagh are starved of infrastructure development, and, yes, Derry and the north-west city region are still without a university of the size that was promised, without the investment that has been pledged and without the jobs that are so badly needed. <BR /> <BR />However, I did not get involved in politics because of how bad things are in Derry; I got involved because of how good things could be.”
“Last week was a period of profound and historic change in Northern Ireland, yet, for all the change that has been brought to the Assembly, the change that I will focus on is the change that is needed for our economy. I was glad to hear the First Minister note the importance of regional balance last week, because the truth is that the effect of the Government's economic investment strategy over the past two decades has been to let the areas that have done well do even better. That has resulted in profound imbalances in our economy and a postcode lottery for jobs and opportunity.”
“The truth is that our finances will never be sustainable until our politics are sustainable. Fiscal sustainability needs political stability. Parties that entered the Executive need to fight for a fair deal for Northern Ireland, and, where we can, we will support the Government on that issue. I support the motion and the amendment. Now, let us get on with the job.”
“<BR /> <BR />We need to see plans from every Department that detail how the same public services that have been decimated in the past few years can be revitalised and transformed. Those plans must include helping parents to deal with the crushing costs of childcare that put so much pressure on so many parents, particularly mothers. That is the responsibility of the Government. <BR /> <BR />In the interests of the public sector that the Executive parties claim to be fighting on behalf of, I will make another point: this mandate, we need a different approach to government, particularly from the two largest parties, which have taken turns at tearing this place down when the going got rough. That is not acceptable, and it is not a recipe for fiscal sustainability.”
“Immediate and durable changes are undoubtedly needed, and the truth is that we are already years behind when it comes to implementing the changes that we need to see. <BR /> <BR />The British Government must listen to the united voice of the parties in the Chamber. However, we need to be very clear on that point and on the responsibility of the Executive parties. After years of chaos and collapse, people want to see delivery. It is often easy to write a letter, but the public do not just want to know that we understand that there is a problem; they want to see solutions, and they want to see results. The Tories have been absolutely catastrophic for people and public services here, but the failure of government here does not end there.”
“In that work, the SDLP has always made it clear that we will be a constructive Opposition and that we will work with parties in every corner of the House on the issues of common cause. That includes coming together to make the case for a better deal for Northern Ireland, recognising that our public services need to be properly funded to meet the level of urgent need across the region. The British Government have already admitted that they have failed to fund us properly for many, many years, and we agree that the current deal on the table does not go far enough. We cannot allow Northern Ireland to be trapped under a fiscal ceiling and permanently disadvantaged. Short-term funding will go only so far before we see this institution lurch into another crisis.”
“Mr Speaker, I congratulate you, the Deputy Speakers, the First Minister, the deputy First Minister and all the Ministers in our new Executive on their positions and wish them good speed in their work. <BR /> <BR />As the Assembly begins its work, it is clear that the Executive have a huge job ahead when it comes to our public finances. Over the past two years, public services have been allowed to crumble and collapse. Services that were already overstretched were tipped to breaking point, and families and workers paid a heavy price from the boycott of the institutions. I am glad that we are back in the Chamber. It has been a long time, but the hard work starts now.”
“The DUP might be content, for now, with whipping up fear over a new Ireland that would, supposedly, be hastened by a nationalist First Minister or by a protocol. The truth is, however, that the real impetus for constitutional change is the arrogant boycott that you will no doubt continue today. Happy Christmas.”
“I absolutely agree with the Member. It should be the impetus for all of us, if we even needed any, that we need to reform this place to take away the veto over progress that the DUP is so cruelly wielding against our people. <BR /> <BR />In the twenty-fifth year of the Good Friday Agreement, our party stands ready to do that hard work. With each day that passes, we preside over failed politics. Our young people lose hope for their future and for this place. I still believe that investing in the mechanisms of inclusive democracy, where we share power rather than carve it up, is the only way to deliver for the people and the only way to give hope and honesty to the Good Friday Agreement. <BR /> <BR />More and more people are looking at the dysfunction that you are creating, and they are turning towards something different.”
“It is about how you are willing to stand idly by while people lose their jobs, or struggle to pay their mortgage or meet their childcare bills. People are rightly furious about that, but what angers them more than anything is that they can see that one party is able to hold up the rest of us. The most basic test of our politicians is just to show up, yet one party is preventing us from doing that.”
“<BR /> <BR />This is not about us; this is about the leverage of ordinary people who the DUP is now exploiting.”
“The nerve to call for a £600 payment scheme to be delivered from outside this Chamber while they refuse to take their seats inside this Chamber. The nerve to hold up government because they do not like the consequences of the political decision in 2016 that they campaigned for. The nerve to stand for election, sign up for their wages but not take their seats. <BR /> <BR />Let us really cut to the chase, however, and get to the truth for once. I accept that the DUP has not been well-accustomed to the truth in recent times, but some of us still believe that it is important. To anyone with eyes, the plain truth is that the DUP has whipped up its people into a frenzy because it cannot stomach finishing in second place. The truth is that the DUP holding to ransom those of us who actually want to get on with our jobs.”
“Therefore I am unable to fully represent and serve the people of Foyle. Each time that we have to meet to nominate a Speaker, the DUP refuse to act. <BR /> <BR />There is very little Christmas cheer around Stormont today and certainly no Christmas miracle. Today, the DUP will leave this Building having refused once again to do their job and expecting once again their constituencies to foot the bill. I have no doubt that, in the days ahead, we will hear DUP politicians on the airwaves to defend their decision — defending how they stopped government here because they were not getting their own way. I do not know how they have the nerve, but, then again, I do not know they have the nerve to do a lot of things.”
“As we meet here for the fifth time to try to elect a Speaker, this is not the meeting of the Assembly that I or any of my party colleagues want. I want to be standing here today to hold the Education Minister accountable for helping childcare providers that are struggling to stay open and the parents who are struggling to pay. I want to be questioning the Health Minister about how we can address the spread of strep A throughout our communities and about the tragic circumstances around the emergency department in relation to little Stella-Lily. I want to be asking the Communities Minister how they might be able to intervene to prevent the potential closure of Radio Foyle. I want to be questioning the Economy Minister to explain why over 1,600 jobs were created in Belfast last year and only 67 in Derry. However, none of that is possible.”
“— to work together: it can make their lives better. That is why I am in politics, and that is what the SDLP will continue to work and fight for. This place is worth fighting for.”
“However, that will be possible only if we put the hard yards in to make peace work. This place works only when you work for it. At this moment of crisis, we should fulfil that commitment by coming together to show the people of the North that there is a reason across our history and traditions —”
“Will you tell people who cannot make ends meet through their jobs that you will continue to boycott yours? Will you tell people languishing on waiting lists that you will continue to let their waits get longer? <BR /> <BR />Next year, we will celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. It was not then and is not now a document that guaranteed peace on this island, but it was a commitment to future generations that a different way forward was possible and achievable and that we could leave the painful memories of the past behind and look forward to a future.”
“They want us to introduce childcare that does not cost the earth but gives their children the best start in life. They want us to fund services, like Northlands, that can deal with the addiction crisis that plagues our people. They want us to finally deliver a university of the size that was promised. That is the least that the people of Derry deserve, and it makes me furious that it has been denied. <BR /> <BR />Next week, we may well ask for votes again — asking people to put us in a job when those who should be helping to make this place work are not doing theirs. I ask the DUP to reflect carefully on its election pitch at the doors in the weeks ahead before it votes on whether to elect a Speaker today. Will you tell people — freezing pensioners — that you will continue to do nothing to heat their homes?”
“An Executive will not solve all our problems, but they have the power to set our priorities, and that is the very least that people should expect of us. I cannot meet my responsibilities to my constituency without an Executive, and neither can any of you. <BR /> <BR />It is hard to adequately convey the frustration of people in Derry when you ask them about the current paralysis. They are angry that our politics is not working. It is forcing more of our young people to leave, and they are sick to the back teeth of the division that holds us back. However, they do not want pity; they just want representatives who will be on their side and speak up for their needs and who will work with and for each other to get something done to bring the jobs and opportunities that are owed to our city.”
“<BR /> <BR />Jeffrey Donaldson, a man who will not even come here to sit in the seat to which he was elected, is too busy listening more to wee Jamie Bryson than to the majority of people in Northern Ireland. The truth is that one party refuses to accept the verdict of the electorate just six months ago. That is why the rest of us cannot elect a Speaker today to allow us to do our full jobs. <BR /> <BR />Right now, we can give out vouchers for food banks, but we cannot tackle the reasons why people need to go to them. We can raise cases with the health trusts, but we cannot bring down our waiting lists. We can ask questions of Ministers, but we cannot hold them accountable for their answers.”
“I got involved in politics for simple reasons: to stand up for the city that I love and its people; to help to bring jobs and investment to a place starved of both; and to break down barriers for everybody on our island, especially for women, who were denied a voice for so long. I am sure that every Member of the Assembly had their own reasons. It might have been to improve our schools, to get more people seen in our hospitals, to tackle sectarianism or to end divisions between our people. I believe, however, that none of us got involved in politics to hold our society to ransom or to force the vulnerable to pay the price of our political dysfunction in refusing to elect a Speaker today. Yet that is the shameful situation in which we find ourselves today because of this obscene boycott of power-sharing.”
“Simply put, people will not buy it any more; instead, they will understand that you have abandoned people in their hour of need, leaving their fate to the whims of a Tory Minister. Shame on you. Absolute shame on you. <BR /> <BR />In closing, I say this to the DUP on behalf of the people of Derry: every day that you refuse to support the nomination of a Speaker is another insult to the people whom you are supposed to serve. Get back into your offices, and let us all get back to work.”
“People in my constituency have suffered the impact of devastating floods and have seen their livelihoods destroyed. They need a Government to be on their side and legislate to support them into their futures. I say this to the DUP: if you really think that the protocol Bill's full passage through Parliament should be your priority, I invite the MP for Lagan Valley to come to Derry, look my constituents in the eye and tell that to the people who have lost their home, their business and their savings. <BR /> <BR />Every one of us should put our shoulder to the wheel and work the common ground to find solutions to the issues that face the people whom we represent. That is our job. If the DUP continues to block democracy, the people of the North will conclude that our commitment to this place is entirely hollow.”
“To those people I say this: what could be a bigger stunt than going through six weeks of an election campaign, coming into the Chamber, signing up for your wages and walking out that door? That is a stunt, and the people of Northern Ireland know that it is a stunt. <BR /> <BR />On the basis of everything that you have heard from Members across the House, I implore you to support our nomination for Speaker. If you do not, I simply do not know how you can look your constituents in the eye: people who are choosing whether to heat their homes or put food on the table; parents who struggle to afford their children's school uniforms; pensioners who will sit in freezing cold homes this winter; and people who have been languishing for years on hospital waiting lists.”
“Since we last met here, the crisis faced by the people who put us in the Chamber has only got worse. More families are struggling than before. Almost half the people whom we represent now struggle with fuel poverty. Inflation is now over 9%, and it is rising. The crisis does not affect everyone equally. Low wages and high deprivation mean that people in my constituency are some of the worst affected. <BR /> <BR />Something else has changed in the time since we met here last. Since then, the protocol Bill has, regrettably, made its way through the House of Commons. The DUP has run out of excuses. When it comes to making this place work and electing a Speaker today, it has run out of road. There are those who have had the nerve to accuse us of stunt politics by recalling the Assembly today to elect a Speaker.”
“Once more, the Assembly has been recalled so that the majority of us can attempt to do what we promised voters we would do, which is to get back to work and help people who are struggling. SDLP Members are here today to roll up our sleeves, nominate a Speaker and get on with the jobs that we were sent here to do. In putting forward my colleague Patsy McGlone, we nominate someone with a lifetime of political service to his community. The time has now come for the Assembly to elect him as Speaker and start delivering for people, because the truth is that no one can afford for us to wait any longer to do so.”
“<BR /> <BR />I commend the Bill to the House.”
“I put on record my thanks to all the victim and survivor groups that have shown exceptional leadership. The Bill will support their fight for truth and justice by protecting documents that will give light and transparency to their identity. <BR /> <BR />Finally, Mr Speaker, I am glad that you are here to hear me say to you, in person, that you and your office have done tremendous work. Today is testament to that work and to your legacy. As you depart from the House, this evening, let today give you comfort and joy, because you have changed lives. You and your team have worked tremendously to get the private Members' Bills through. They are important to the whole of society. I thank you personally and wish you good health and well-being as you move on to a different part of your life. Thank you, and well done.”
“The Committee has called for an independent investigation into this aspect of a very, very sorry episode in our history. The preservation of documents to inform such an investigation is essential. We cannot undo what has happened to people and to their loved ones in the past, but we can do our very best to support those who are still with us in any way that we can. Preserving documents to ensure that those who want to know the truth can find it is one part of that support. The Committee for the Executive Office supports the Bill. <BR /> <BR />I will make a few comments or observations on behalf of the SDLP.”
“The Committee was contacted by people in despair who were fearful that these important documents would be imperilled. The answer lay in the introduction of this private Member's Bill. I cannot overemphasise the importance to victims and survivors of the Bill's becoming law. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Members who introduced helpful amendments. The circumstances and legacy of what happened to people in these institutions are broad and far-reaching. While others have been looking at the process by which babies were taken away from their birth mothers and given to others to bring up as their own, the Committee has been looking at what happened to them when they died. It has not been a comfortable journey, but it is one that needs to be embarked upon.”
“The Bill has been of particular interest to the Committee, and I thank the Bill sponsor for bringing the legislation to this point. <BR /> <BR />It has been a particularly uncertain time for victims and survivors of mother-and-baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses. A key first step for those who are still experiencing the legacy of those institutions, for the groups that speak for them and for the truth recovery design panel has been the preservation of records. The First Minister and deputy First Minister stated that legislation would be put in place to ensure that records would be protected, then there was no Executive to bring the legislation forward. Imagine the consternation among victims and survivors at the prospect of the legislation waiting for a new mandate.”
“I thank Clare Bailey, her team and all the stakeholders for their hard work to bring forward this private Member's Bill. On Tuesday, Clare Bailey, you were pure scunnered by the naysayers, but, today, Clare Bailey, in my best Derryism, I am all lured for you. You have delivered protections and support for many years to come, and that is a legacy of which you should be very proud. I am proud of you. I commend the Bill and look forward to its implementation.”
“The reality is that patients and healthcare workers are routinely subjected to targeted abuse. The Bill will finally put the necessary protections in place to put an end to that kind of harassment.”
“The abuse of people who are seeking or providing care is always unacceptable, but it happens far too often, and it requires this intervention. Their rights and well-being will finally be protected. <BR /> <BR />It is also worth pointing out that many of the posters and leaflets that are distributed by those groups of protesters distort reality, are factually inaccurate and are often emotionally manipulative. Distributing that kind of unregulated, false information is dangerous. <BR /> <BR />On the topic of falsehoods, no matter what is bandied about inside or outside the Chamber, the fact of the matter is that existing legislation is not enough to prevent the intimidatory behaviour that is taking place outside clinics. Everyone who is accessing abortion services, to which they are legally entitled, must be allowed to do so in safety.”
“We women know that all only too well. I do not need to spell out the damage that that has caused to women throughout the centuries or that it continues to cause. Sadly, it is prevalent across these islands. <BR /> <BR />Attempts to interfere in personal healthcare choices also constitute an invasion of people's privacy and deny them confidentiality. Some women reported feeling forced to rebook later appointments to try to avoid the groups of protesters. That disrupts their treatment and can cause emotional distress. It particularly risks causing additional issues if they are approaching certain week limits. <BR /> <BR />The Bill will not only help to prevent that interference but will enable anyone to enter a healthcare building without fear.”
“Somewhat ironically, that persisted throughout what is now approaching a full year since the Western Trust's early medical abortion service was suspended as a result of the Health Minister's failure to commission services. <BR /> <BR />Attempts to influence personal healthcare and decisions at the clinic doors are unacceptable. Some women who are seeking abortions will have made their minds up as soon as they found out that they were pregnant. Others will take longer. No matter how easy or difficult the decision, if someone has made up their mind, made an appointment and is walking through the doors of a clinic, their decision has been made. How dare anyone suggest that they know better. Women are fed up to the teeth of that condescending attitude and of constantly being told, "I know what is best for you".”
“I am pleased to stand in the Assembly to support and, indeed, champion the legislation at its Final Stage. <BR /> <BR />The legislation is long overdue. It does not take away anything from anyone. It does not remove anyone's civil rights. It does not take away freedom of speech or the right to protest. It does not prevent anyone from praying. However, it does protect the right of passage for anyone who is seeking healthcare and assures them of a safe access zone. <BR /> <BR />Just down the road from my office, it has become a weekly routine for protesters to gather. That has been upsetting and exhausting for patients, staff and the local community.”
“I would like to say a very big thank you to Chris Lyttle, the Bill sponsor. Chris, it was a pleasure to work with you on the passage of the Bill. As you leave public life, as a legislator, you leave behind a legacy to the education sector and to teachers all over Northern Ireland. For those in our universities who are studying to become teachers — they will be the educators of the next generations — you have opened doors that were previously closed. I applaud you and wish you well in your future contribution to society, which I know will not stop when you walk out the door of the House. I commend the Bill to the House.”
“Those discussions will need to take place, and the Committees believe that the two years is sufficient time for them to happen. We have heard that schools will need time to implement the monitoring requirements of the Fair Employment and Treatment Order. Again, the Committee feels that two years is sufficient time for those arrangements to be put in place. With the exception of a small number of individual submissions to the online call for views, all stakeholders who came before or provided written submissions to the Committee agreed that the exception for teachers in the 1998 Order had to go. The only question was when. That time is now. The Committee for the Executive Office supports the Bill. <BR /> <BR />In closing, I will say a few words in my capacity as an SDLP MLA.”