David Honeyford
Lagan Valley · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“Ten years ago, the UK voted to leave the EU, and Northern Ireland was removed from the EU against its will. People will have voted for many reasons, but people were lied to.”
“Many families have spent the past decade worse off, and the loudest supporters of Brexit have punished them, while we have the likes of Farage appearing to be prospering personally. <BR /> <BR />Ten years on, the question is not whether Brexit was right or wrong, because the evidence is clear for everyone to see.”
“<BR /> <BR />The biggest cost of Brexit has been instability, which scares off investment. Since the Brexit referendum, the UK has had seven Prime Ministers, and we have had the Assembly collapse twice. Political uncertainty has become normal. However, when politics becomes unstable, ordinary people pay the price.”
“We need to see more happening, because east-west collaboration is already happening. We need more collaboration to grow our economy further, but talk is cheap. People say such lines on the news but then come to the Chamber and vote against collaboration.”
“Two and a half years into the term of this Executive, much of that remains missing. The same applies to waste water infrastructure and planning reform, with delays continuing to block growth and investment. We should do much more to collaborate North/South, as we do east-west, to improve people's lives.”
“The Executive are failing to provide certainty and follow-up on their commitments. My colleague Andrew Muir having had his green growth strategy blocked for over a year is just one example.”
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“I congratulate the Finance Minister on her new role and wish her all the best. <BR /> <BR />I support the Bill. It is unfortunate that we do not have time to scrutinise it thoroughly, but I acknowledge the need to move forward apace after the past two years of suspension. As has been said, the Budget that we are discussing is for the current year and there are only a couple of weeks left of that year. However, I must mention a couple of things that are important now and will be essential in future. I speak as the Alliance Party's economic spokesperson and a member of the Economy Committee. <BR /> <BR />This morning, we heard the Economy Minister's statement, which contained some good news but also some really large economic challenges. I want to focus on our growth and opportunities, as well as those challenges.”
“I welcome the Minister's statement. It is the first time that I have spoken to him as Minister, so I congratulate him on his new role. Having run my own business for many years, I have learnt that it is easy to get caught up in the focus on yourself and your business rather than on selling your product. I associate myself with the comments that we have some highly skilled Invest NI staff, but, following the independent review and the substantial reform that is needed in Invest NI, can the Minister reassure us that Invest NI is able, is capable and has the resources available to focus on selling Northern Ireland and its dual market access around the world?”
“The funding that we get for our sports clubs at grassroots level is less than that received across this island. We need to balance that up, and I ask the Minister to do that. <BR /> <BR />I congratulate Daniel, his family and all the coaches and staff around him who have delivered this achievement.”
“I also congratulate Daniel Wiffen, the new world champion. Not only did he become the champion at 800 metres last week but, yesterday, he won the 1,500 metres, which is an incredible achievement. Daniel is from Magheralin, which comes into Lagan Valley. He started in Lisburn, and he is now at university in Loughborough. <BR /> <BR />Daniel is an example of our grassroots sport, and I call on the Minister for Communities to increase the funding that is delivered to grassroots sport across the board and to take the first opportunity that he has to speak with the Irish Government and the Shared Island unit. Most of our sports — nearly all of them, in fact — are constituted on an all-island basis. Daniel is from Magheralin and is representing Team Ireland and Swim Ireland in Doha at the World Aquatics Championships.”
“Instead, the immediate help would be that, during the approval of local development plans, consideration would be given to allowing an actual grace period to allow for applications that are already in the system, some for many years, to be dealt with.”
“<BR /> <BR />I need to put on record that, in my view, the wording of PPS 21, and CTY8 within it, has been stretched and misinterpreted, where tree houses, domestic garages and garden sheds have been used as buildings to apply for infill permissions. We have seen a string of judicial reviews against this policy in my area, and that has led to vast expense and frustration. Unfortunately, lots of innocent people have been caught up in this. It has caused considerable anxiety and the planning system has been delayed dramatically. That is an obvious reason why reform of that policy has been required for some time to clear up any ambiguity. <BR /> <BR />As reform is introduced, the motion does not provide enough detail to address the hurt and real-life issues that ordinary people are suffering right now in my constituency.”
“A large part of Lagan Valley, which I represent, is in that community. It makes it easier for the next generation to stay in the rural community, to live on the land that they farm. <BR /> <BR />In my office, I deal with a huge number of planning applications for constituents in Lagan Valley, from major business applications to rural countryside dwellings. A large number of those have been caught up in the countryside infill change in the conditions of COU8 in the adoption of Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council's local development plan. We heard from a Member about a similar issue in Fermanagh. Therefore, as a Member for Lagan Valley, I am well aware that public trust in our planning system has been damaged over the past number of years. Substantial legal bills have had to be paid by the local ratepayers.”
“I will state these but will not force a Division on it. <BR /> <BR />As we know, PPS 21 sets out planning policy for the countryside. However, although I agree with the principle of planning reform, I cannot agree with the motion in its entirety. The Alliance Party's relatively straightforward amendment to the line, "by opposing policies that further constrain development in the countryside" was not accepted. I accept that, but how can you call for a fundamental appraisal of a system if your starting point is to oppose any change that it will bring? I acknowledge that the proposer of the motion said in her speech what she meant, but we have to go by the words in the motion. PPS 21 made the process based on the principle of development for farmers much simpler, and that is overall a good thing and important to our farming community.”
“I want to pay tribute to my predecessor, Pat Catney. It is not difficult to pay tribute to Pat. When I was first elected, my first comments were to say that I was sorry that it was Pat who was missing out. He is one of life's really good guys, and I wish him well. I know that he will do a first-class job representing Lisburn North in Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council. <BR /> <BR />On the motion, our planning system needs to be reformed to assist our economic growth, our rural applications and growth in renewables, as has been said. Those are just a few of the issues around planning. The process needs to be reformed to bring applications to a conclusion much more quickly and it must be much less onerous on applicants. We support the principle behind the motion, although I have reservations about some of the details in it.”
“I have gone from being a teenager in a manse to a development officer in a GAA club. I try to live out what is a truly shared society, a society that I want to see.”
“I like to think that I represent a Northern Ireland where we no longer need to be constrained by the traditional fault lines.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. First, congratulations. This is my first time speaking since you have taken your new role, and I wish you well in it. <BR /> <BR />I want to start with a sincere thanks to everybody in Lagan Valley who put their trust in me and my party colleague Sorcha Eastwood. We are both committed to working every day for everyone across Lagan Valley. I moved to Lisburn at the age of 13, when my dad, a Presbyterian minister, was posted just outside the city at Magheragall. I met my wife Elaine in that small country church, and we have lived and raised our family around the area ever since. <BR /> <BR />Lagan Valley is an increasingly diverse constituency, and that change is fantastic to be a part of. To help lead change and to push for better is the reason that I am here.”
“Shamelessly, DUP Members have sat, today, nodding along, laughing at times, but there is an elephant in the room: I suspect that the majority of you do not even agree with the decision that your leadership has inflicted on our people. How could you agree with that? It is disgusting, at a time like this. It is shameful, at a time like this. It is embarrassing. Please, think of your constituents, our constituents and everyone's constituents. Call your strike off. Get on with your job. Do the job that you are paid for and let us get this place working.”
“They are the people who are caught up in your political games. <BR /> <BR />In Lagan Valley, I met the local PSNI. We were chatting about crime rates in the area. I was shocked at the PSNI's stats, and there is one that I still cannot get over. I repeat: this is 2022. In Lisburn, stealing food from supermarkets and shops to survive is up 53%. That has become the highest crime in the area. <BR /> <BR />It is time to end ransom politics, where the rest of us sit here, powerless to get financial support to the very people who need it most. No one should be left behind. These people are our neighbours; they are our friends and our families.”
“Does he pay his mortgage? Does he put petrol in his car? Does he heat his home? Does he feed his family? Those are the real choices that people are having to make, here in Northern Ireland, and this is 2022. <BR /> <BR />I often visit the local food bank in Lisburn. Food banks have been mentioned by other Members. I was informed recently that, in Lisburn, there was a more than 100% increase in the use of the food bank in this month of October alone, and to date. The highest increase was from low-income working families. Those are hard-working people. They got through COVID, and now they are being broken by this crisis. It is working people, such as Paul and Esther, whom you are hurting through the non functioning of the Assembly and its inability to offer help or give direction or stability.”
“During COVID, they had no choice but to take a mortgage holiday, due to furlough, and they are now paying that back. Paul drives in his job and has seen his fuel costs increase massively, and, like many families, they now have a huge increase in their monthly mortgage payment. They are struggling to pay their bills, heat their home and feed their kids. Here they were, calling for help: in tears, embarrassed and broken. They were at their wits' end. They are not entitled to a payment of universal credit, and, OK, they will get the £400, sometime, for their electricity, and they will get the pitiful £100 oil payment, but that is such little support at a time when they need it most. The House should be providing tailored help for our people: that is why we were elected. Paul does not even know how he will get to work in the next few weeks.”
“A grown-up party of government does not behave like that. <BR /> <BR />It has been said that we must get real, so let us get real. I want to tell you about a family in Lagan Valley whom I dealt with recently. It is a typical hard-working family, like many in all our constituencies. This is Paul and Esther's story; they are from Lisburn. Paul works full-time — he earns 24 grand a year — and Esther works part-time because of the costs of childcare. She works her hours around her two children. They both work hard, and their world is their two kids and their home, which they purchased several years ago. They are a young family with young children. They have their whole future ahead of them, yet Paul and Esther are struggling — really struggling.”
“Those are some of Jeffrey Donaldson's words from yesterday. We all agree with you, Jeffrey. We also all agree that your continued strike will not hasten the day that the protocol is sorted out either. That is a matter for the UK Government and the EU to resolve, and both have agreed to resolve it. Since the DUP walked out last February, we have seen the steady and mounting decline in circumstances through which ordinary people are living.”