Danny Donnelly
East Antrim · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“I thank the Minister for that answer. It will not satisfy the people of the area. The completion of the 3 km distributor road was planned to be a key part of the development, linking hundreds of houses to the wider road network, but, due to a planning issue by her Department in the 1990s, it never happened.”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. Minister, as you mentioned in your statement, the inquiry was highly critical of what it describes as "an adversarial and oppositional approach" by the Belfast Trust to the inquiry.”
“The Minister mentioned the need to reform the health service. In light of the recent startling figures that show that half a billion pounds was spent on locums over the past three years, does he agree that investment in attracting permanent doctors may be a more prudent use of Department of Health resource?”
“<BR /> <BR />As a nurse, I condemn the attacks in the strongest possible terms and highlight the specific impact that they have had on people who care for us when we are at our most vulnerable.”
“Every day, they treat patients with skill, compassion and professionalism. Let us be absolutely clear: when a nurse is intimidated on her way to work and chased by masked men into the Ulster Hospital, that is an attack on our health service.”
“I will speak today about the attacks on our international healthcare staff. I begin by saying that my thoughts are with the victim of the brutal attack in north Belfast and his family. I hope that he recovers well. <BR /> <BR />Violence has no place in our society.”
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“You mentioned two constitutional preferences. There is another group of Members who have no constitutional preference and designate as "Other", although they have been branded by others in the Chamber as having a preference.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. At the start of your remarks, you talked about what you regarded as sneering from Members. There was quite a bit of sneering, chuntering and Members shouting from their place from the DUP Benches as well. During one of the first speeches, we were referred to as "quislings". There were several references to the vote on the motion having been rigged, and a jibe was thrown at one of my colleagues about the EU identifying as a plug and his accepting that. Do you think that those comments were out of step with the tone of the rest of the debate?”
“Given the list of issues that the Member has with the framework, is he now sorry that he and his party were such staunch cheerleaders for Brexit?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. There is a lot to digest in it and, like Mrs Erskine, I have a lot of questions. The Minister will be aware that the number of people in Northern Ireland recorded as waiting for an appointment with a hospital consultant recently reached its highest ever level. As of the end of September, 506,612 people were waiting to be seen. The statement mentions a decrease in waiting times, but the trajectory appears to be going in the opposite direction. How many of the people mentioned in the decrease in the statement have left the lists altogether in order to go private or for some other reason rather than being seen? When will people in Northern Ireland who are on those waiting lists start to see a difference in waiting times?”
“Given that there are many renewable energy projects in the planning system and that our planning timelines are significantly longer than those of other UK nations and the Irish Republic, how will the Minister work to accelerate renewable energy developments?”
“Has the Minister had any engagement with disability organisations such as the Centre for Independent Living to determine how we can best support people with disabilities to live independently in their own homes?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. The funding is very welcome. I noted the Minister's enthusiasm for young people's involvement in sport. I want to tell him about fantastic work that is being done in Larne High School despite shocking dilapidation levels. The sports hall has holes in the floor. There are gaps in the roof and walls. As my colleague Nick Mathison asked yesterday: will the Minister accompany me on a visit to Larne High School to see the fantastic work that is being done in that area?”
“I look forward to engaging with other Members and continuing to engage with the relevant sectors to develop the proposal. I encourage everyone to read and respond to the consultation.”
“While the UK has been a signatory since 2009, it has not sought to fully incorporate the convention, and political instability here has resulted in a widening gap in equality legislation between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. <BR /> <BR />Today, I am launching a public consultation on a Member's Bill that would introduce a new "due regard" principle on public authorities in respect of our obligations under the UNCRPD. Such a Bill would represent a positive first step towards recognising the importance of the UNCRPD and improving the conditions for people with disabilities in all aspects of life. Given the shortened time that we have to legislate, equality for people with disabilities cannot be postponed any longer or delayed until the next mandate.”
“It is right that we seek to amplify the voices of the many passionate and determined campaigners who improve the lives of people with disabilities in Northern Ireland. Organisations such as Disability Action, the Inclusive Mobility and Transport Advisory Committee (IMTAC), My Way Access, Mencap and many more have been working here for years to support and advocate the rights of people with disabilities. <BR /> <BR />Last week, we debated the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into our local law. It was encouraging that the Assembly endorsed that essential legislative change. The UNCRPD is recognised as the gold standard for equality rights.”
“As has been mentioned, today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It is appropriate that we take time to consider the continuing barriers that people with disabilities face in our society. The theme for this year is:”
“The issue is important and under-discussed. We encourage the Minister to act by introducing a legislative framework similar to the precedent that we have seen set in England.”
“Indeed, the motion and the amendment reference another important aspect of the debate, which is the growing pressure of social media. Part of that pressure comes from unethical advertising, with social media posts offering such treatments with little further detail or presenting them as online raffles or other gambling advertising. That connects to a concerning trend on social media of encouraging unrealistic and unattainable beauty standards through, for example, the use of filtered images. That can have a significant impact on young people's physical and mental health, and any regulation of the use of aesthetic medicines should consider the threats posed by social media in that regard. <BR /> <BR />I thank the Sinn Féin Members who tabled the motion and the DUP Members who tabled the amendment.”
“It is important, however, to clarify that there are legitimate medical reasons why someone may be injected with Botox. For example, as a treatment to help with hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, it is an approved medical treatment that is carried out by professionals in a professional setting. That is an important distinction, which the amendment acknowledges. It states that it should be illegal to administer such procedures:”
“That further reiterates the need for a modern and comprehensive licensing framework. As I mentioned, such a framework was legislated for in England earlier this year, and the Welsh Government launched a consultation on the mandatory licensing of special procedures in Wales. The Scottish Parliament held a similar debate recently. It is concerning that unqualified and unsupervised individuals can handle Botox and dermal fillers for the public without the oversight and insurance policies that we would expect for most other medical procedures. We must act to fill the void in regulating the medical aesthetics industry. <BR /> <BR />I also welcome the amendment. We will support the call:”
“In particular, a licensing scheme would ensure that those who offer specified procedures are suitably trained and qualified, hold appropriate indemnity cover and operate to the highest standards of hygiene, cleanliness and infection control. <BR /> <BR />The motion notes that the Save Face campaign:”
“According to the British Beauty Council, it is estimated that, in 2022, the cosmetics sector supported a total GDP contribution of £24·5 billion and tax contributions of £6·8 billion to the UK Treasury. <BR /> <BR />With new procedures come new responsibilities, and the Department of Health here has a responsibility to ensure that any such procedures are safe for the public. In Westminster, the Health and Care Act 2022 gave the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care the power to introduce a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England that ensures that people who choose to undergo such a procedure know for certain that the treatment that they are receiving is safe and of a high standard. Such a regulatory framework would be appropriate for Northern Ireland as well.”
“I thank the Sinn Féin Members for tabling the motion and the DUP Members for their amendment. We, in Alliance, are content to support both. <BR /> <BR />In recent years, we have seen an increase in the use of aesthetic medicines in non-surgical cosmetic procedures as a result of new technologies and products in that field. The procedures, all of which are growing in popularity, include botulinum toxin, more commonly known as Botox; anti-wrinkle injections; cosmetic fillers; chemical peels; and energy-based treatments. They provide a boost to the local economy and are important to small- and medium-sized enterprises. That is especially important as the majority of business owners in the industry are female.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. Will the action plan end the practice of treating SEN pupils as supernumerary for placements and ensure that children with statements are placed in school on an equal footing with their peers?”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. I will declare an interest, as my wife is a teacher. Will the Minister make a pay offer in order to deliver pay parity for teachers in Northern Ireland?”
“Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a tidal research facility at Strangford lough to see the benefits of tidal energy here in Northern Ireland. What conversations has the Minister had with his Scottish counterpart concerning potential investment in hydropower and tidal energy?”
“Yes, certainly. <BR /> <BR />As has been mentioned, the costs have spiralled out of control. Clearly, there are serious questions about the process by which the water infrastructure was checked and cleared prior to handover to the trust. We need to understand how the process works. It is right that the Health Committee gets the opportunity to re-examine that and question those involved. <BR /> <BR />We, in Alliance, are happy to support the motion. We encourage the Health Minister to prioritise the completion of the maternity and children's hospital project and to do what he can to resolve the water problems at the site in order to ensure its completion.”
“While we would obviously like the Health Minister to do more on those issues, he is limited by the loss of 40% of this mandate and nearly 60% of the previous one. I ask the Members who tabled the motion to consider the damage done by their party's previous boycott of the Assembly and the Executive and to commit to reforming these institutions to ensure that one party cannot walk away again and leave our health service without any leadership.”
“It is for that reason that we support the call for an inquiry into the handling of the maternity and children's hospital project to date. Those facilities, when finally opened, will be state of the art and will bring huge benefits to families across Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />However, it is important to address one issue with the motion. The first line of the motion states:”
“It is extremely concerning that the opening of the new maternity building at the Royal Victoria site has been delayed over water contamination issues and that the construction of the new children's hospital on the same site will not begin until next year at the earliest, meaning that it will likely not be open until after 2030 — more than a decade later than anticipated. It is essential that the Department works with the Belfast Trust to urgently resolve the contamination of the water system, which, if not addressed, would represent a significant public health risk. It is right that the hospital is not opened until it is clinically safe to do so. We must learn from the mistakes to ensure that those failings are not repeated and, in particular, that we do not see such lengthy delays in future hospital projects.”
“However, I share the concerns expressed in the motion that the framework lacks detail. Given the years that we have already lost in this and the previous mandate, we cannot afford further delay. We all know the pressures that our health service is under, and we know that people in our families, in our communities and across Northern Ireland are suffering.”
“I support the motion, and I thank my DUP colleagues for tabling it. I am sure that all Members will agree with the key points that the motion raises, particularly the concern that we have seen little progress on reducing waiting lists, which remain the longest in Europe. On 30 June 2024, the median waiting time for an inpatient or day case admission was 47·6 weeks, with over 52,000 people awaiting admission. Those numbers may be lower than the peak levels that we saw during the pandemic, but they are still unacceptably high. That cannot be solved simply through additional funding: fundamental transformation of our hospital network is required. To an extent, I welcome the Minister of Health's recently published framework, 'Hospitals: creating a network for better outcomes' as an early step towards that necessary transformation.”
“I thank the Minister for giving way. Will the Minister confirm something that he said about the disability strategy that he will present in 2025? Will it contain the opportunity for people to support the UNCRPD being implemented in Northern Ireland law?”
“Is the Member aware of the 2008 joint statement by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities? That stated:”
“I am sorry, Deputy Speaker. I did not see the clock.”
“Just recently, we saw the Scottish Parliament take the lead on another important human rights treaty, the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), and incorporate it into its domestic law. It is possible for devolved legislatures to seek to legally incorporate treaties to which the UK is party. <BR /> <BR />Christine McClements, who has been campaigning for years for the provision of changing places and bathrooms in public spaces across Northern Ireland, stated:”
“However, as we have seen in the rest of the UK, it is more appropriate to address the inequalities faced by people with disabilities in a single equality Bill. A Bill seeking to incorporate the UNCRPD into our domestic law would be a positive step in that respect. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the progress that we have seen to date on the development of a disability strategy, and I look forward to the hearing the comments of the Minister for Communities. I am hopeful that the strategy and its next steps are a key priority for him and the Department. In particular, I hope that, as part of that work, consideration is given to the benefits of incorporating the UNCRPD into legislation here in Northern Ireland.”
“<BR /> <BR />Concerns raised by people with disabilities in response to the report included the regression of rights, including the continued impact of welfare reform; reductions in social care funding; the closure of the independent living fund to new applicants; the continued lack of accessible transport and public services; the impact of Brexit; the impact of COVID-19, including the collapse of services, inappropriate use of do not resuscitate notices and withdrawal of medical treatment; the reduction of public finance budgets and impact of austerity on public service delivery; and the under-resourcing of disabled people's organisations. Some of those could and should be addressed without direct reference to the UNCRPD.”
“The authors were Nuala Toman, Tony O'Reilly, Michael McConway, Andrew Hamilton and Emma O'Neill. The report is remarkably detailed and provides strong examples of how Northern Ireland policy and legislation are out of touch with the UNCRPD and each of its substantive articles. I do not have time to discuss every section, but I will highlight a few examples and encourage all Members to read the report.”
“With the Executive now restored, bringing forward, in conjunction with DDPOs, a disability strategy that addresses the UNCRPD recommendations must be an absolute priority. Without the Equality Act 2010, disabled people in Northern Ireland have no legal protections. As Dermot highlighted, the inquiry report highlights the point that political instability, especially the absence of decision-making when the Assembly was not functioning for five out of the past eight years, has a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities. That is a strong reminder that institutional reform is needed to prevent the Assembly from collapsing ever again because of one party's withdrawal. <BR /> <BR />In 2022, the Equality Commission and Disability Action published a report titled 'Progress Towards the Implementation of the UNCRPD in Northern Ireland'.”
“In some cases, that can lead to disabled people being targets for financial exploitation and illegal lending, as happened during the recent economic crisis. That reiterates the urgent need for legislative action to protect people with disabilities in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Dermot Devlin from My Way Access told me:”
“<BR /> <BR />The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) conducts reviews of signatory countries and assesses the extent to which they are following their obligations under the UNCRPD. The most recent review of the UK, which was published in March this year, found that it had failed to make any significant progress on delivering its recommendations. Those were outlined in a previous review in 2017. The review specifically found that Northern Ireland faces huge pressures from the loss of EU funds and the austerity policies pursued by the then Conservative Government. It highlighted how disabled people here are 50% more likely to live in poverty, yet the existing disability benefits often fail to cover the costs of the consequences of disability.”
“It is intended to shift the conversation on disability rights to viewing people with disabilities as full and equal members of society. It notably includes a social model of disability that does not seek to define specifically what a disability is, which is appropriate, given that there is a wide range of disabilities, not all of which are physical or visible. The UNCRPD also includes a wide range of civil and political rights, such as the right to independent living, equality before the law and access to justice, and economic and social rights, such as the right to education, the right to health and the right to work and employment on an equal basis with others.”
“While the new Labour Government have committed to strengthening equality legislation and enacting certain parts of the 2010 Act, including the duty to reduce socio-economic disadvantage, there was no reference to the UNCRPD in Labour's manifesto. That was disappointing. <BR /> <BR />We cannot ask Westminster to consolidate our equality legislation. We in the Assembly should take responsibility for doing that. One way of achieving that would be to incorporate the UNCRPD into domestic law, which Mr Dickson referred to. The UNCRPD is an international agreement that was introduced by the UN in 2006, signed in 2007 and ratified by the UK in 2009. Countries that have signed the convention are required to promote, protect and ensure that people with disabilities enjoy full equality in all aspects of life and full enjoyment of human rights.”
“Thank you for that. I absolutely agree with the Member. That it what we are directing the Assembly towards. <BR /> <BR />In Great Britain, the Equality Act 2010 consolidated the previously mentioned Acts in a single framework. That is important, as it allows individuals in GB to bring cases of dual discrimination, whereas cases here can be brought only on individual protected characteristics. The 2010 Act also provides a greater range of protections for individuals, whereas the 1995 Act, which continues to apply in Northern Ireland, is more closely linked to employment rights and reasonable adjustments and is narrower in scope than the 2010 Act.”
“In Great Britain, the Equality Act 2010 —.”
“The Northern Ireland Act 1998 introduced a wider range of protections for specified groups under section 75, which was rightly recognised at the time for its innovative approach to equality policy. We also have the continuation of EU non-discrimination law as a consequence of the Windsor framework, article 2 of which commits that equality laws must not be diminished as a result of the UK's leaving the EU. We have the European Convention on Human Rights, which, despite what some Conservative MPs in Westminster have said, is a fundamental part of our peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. All of those attempts to legislate for disability rights have come from elsewhere, mainly Westminster, Brussels or Strasbourg. The Assembly has failed to maintain parity with the rest of the UK on equality legislation.”
“In the 2021 census, 463,000 people in Northern Ireland stated that they had a long-term health problem or a disability that limited their day-to-day activities. That is 24·3% of the population of Northern Ireland, and it represents a 25% increase from the 2011 census. To date, the Assembly and the Executive have failed to legislate adequately to improve the lives of people with disabilities, while previous Assemblies did not address the growing gap in equality legislation between Northern Ireland and the rest of these islands. <BR /> <BR />Equality legislation in Northern Ireland is covered by several pieces of legislation, most of which precede the creation of the Assembly. They cover equal pay, sex discrimination, race relations and fair employment, but the most significant of them is the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA).”
“The UNCRPD is regularly raised as the gold standard of disability-based rights, and its incorporation would have a profoundly positive impact on deaf and disabled people in Northern Ireland. Local disability activist Joanne Sansome stated:”
“I rise to propose the motion, which calls for the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities into Northern Ireland law as an important step towards a more equitable legislative framework for people with disabilities. <BR /> <BR />I am aware of the huge amount of work that has been done over many years by disability rights activists and deaf and disabled people's organisations (DDPOs) in Northern Ireland. The principle of "Nothing about us without us" was at the heart of the UNCRPD when it was forged in 2006 by deaf and disabled people from around the world. I have had the privilege of meeting and discussing disability rights with many of those passionate and driven activists and groups.”
“I thank the deputy First Minister for that answer. How will the public and, indeed, Members be reported to? Will there be regular reports to the Assembly, or will reports be released?”
“Thanks to the Minister for that answer. Is the Minister considering more immediate interventions for high-risk victims?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement. We are all aware that, under the previous UK scheme, households that did not need the winter fuel payment received it anyway, as the Minister mentioned, rather than its being targeted at real need. What is his assessment of the concern that his approach simply replicates the issues with the previous scheme but with everyone receiving less?”
“What engagement has the Minister had with Bowel Cancer UK on the creation of a register for Lynch syndrome?”
“— to ensure that patients have the correct number of staff to deliver safe and effective care for them.”