Peter McReynolds
East Belfast · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“I start by sharing my condolences and those of my party colleagues to the family of Kourtney McCormick on her tragic passing. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the important next step in the introduction of the graduated driver licensing scheme as Alliance spokesperson for Infrastructure, a Policing Board member and chair of the all-party group on r…”
“<BR /> <BR />I commend those from the driving instructor industry, the DVA and those in the Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership for all their work in preparing for the smooth introduction of the GDL measures. They have been proactive and thorough in ensuring that they understand what is expected of them to make GDL a success story.”
“We have already had 33 road deaths this year alone, and more than 150 since 2024. It is clear that more needs to be done to improve road safety.”
“The revised restrictions will include a mandatory minimum learning period of six months; a programme of training; a logbook; passenger restrictions; new R-plates; the extension of the post-test period to 24 months; and removal of the 45 mph speed limit on motorways.”
“First Minister, the Institute of Directors and the Construction Employers Federation are still calling for the establishment of an independent, expert-led infrastructure commission some five years after it appeared on page 27 of the previous Executive's COVID recovery plan, to which you were a co-signatory.”
“<BR /> <BR />East Belfast and Northern Ireland as a whole have huge potential for aviation development, and the master plan is just one part of a larger move towards sustainable and environmentally friendly travel.”
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“I look forward to the Minister's response and to working on the issue more in the Infrastructure Committee.”
“The motion is practical, ambitious and would deliver real value and impact for constituents across Northern Ireland. I appreciate that the Department's capacity and available resources are limited and that it has a multitude of competing priorities, so it will be difficult to allocate funding in the immediate term to the adoption of roads and sewers. However, several focused recommendations in the 2012 report would reinforce the process of adoption in order to mitigate loopholes that developers are exploring. <BR /> <BR />The Assembly is in a better place. The fact that we are talking about these issues should remind us all of the importance of long-term, sustained government, with Ministers being able to drive issues for residents across Northern Ireland.”
“As a former Belfast city councillor, I am always proud to talk about the council. I completely take your point, David.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. I thought that it was going to turn into a Belfast City Council love-in.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. I completely agree with her. Having spoken to the estates team at Belfast City Council on several occasions, I know that there are a lot of historical issues. With ownership probably being recorded around 100 or 125 years ago, it is difficult to establish. It is important that the Department comes on board to ensure that we are able to find a way forward, because issues remain when no solution is in place.”
“One of our councillors tried to address the issue at the time, but, four years on, I am conscious of several alleyways and roads near where I live that remain littered from fly-tipping and are a health hazard to the public.”
“As we look to increase housebuilding to accommodate demand, it is important that the issues that we see with unadopted sites are not replicated. Not only do we need to ensure that new sites are not left unadopted but we need to tackle the long list of legacy sites that have remained unadopted for several years. <BR /> <BR />That is why it is incumbent on the Department, alongside statutory partners, to develop a strategy for the adoption of private infrastructure. On that note, I add that we will support Mr Carroll's amendment, which pragmatically includes councils. When I saw it come though in my emails, I was reminded of taking part in a debate a number of years ago, when I was a councillor on Belfast City Council, on unadopted alleyways.”
“Street lighting, pavements, pedestrian crossings, speed restrictions, parking enforcement and proper sewerage and drainage infrastructure are all completely unusable. Not only is that an issue of equality in the provision of services, it is a risk to physical safety and public health. I am aware of residents who are consciously navigating those sites to avoid injury. That becomes even more difficult for those who live with disabilities, which raises equality-of-access issues. <BR /> <BR />At the moment, there is a lot of talk about building more homes. That will require access to waste water treatment, which is linked to the underfunding of Northern Ireland Water. The sites that we are talking about cannot be allowed to be maintained at present levels or to degrade further.”
“<BR /> <BR />For that reason, and given that he is here today, I would be grateful to hear the Minister's thoughts on reviewing the bond limit, with inflationary pressures built in, and on the process for invoking a bond. I know that the previous Minister spoke about that in 2021, so I would like to hear from the current Minister and his Department about where we are at with that. That is essential because a house on an unadopted site is almost impossible to sell, which leaves the owner stuck where they are, with a house that is unlikely to reach its full market value and represents a loss on their investment. Moreover, it is surrounded by infrastructure that they cannot use.”
“We are all aware, however, of developments that are not finished, not finished on time or not finished to a financially reasonable level for DFI to adopt. That is key to the argument, with one of the issues highlighted being that the value of the bonds is not adequate to cover the costs of the remaining works, should a developer default. That leads to developments not being constructed as expected, the developer going bust and the responsibility for unfinished work reverting to homeowners, and that presents a major dilemma for families and homeowners, with their largest asset facing increased expenditure and an uncertainty that did not exist at the time of purchase.”
“I welcome the motion and thank the Chair of the Infrastructure Committee for proposing it. As we have heard, it is not a new issue. To my knowledge, it was discussed here in 2012 and 2021, in councils and at the Infrastructure Committee, so the Minister and his officials will be acutely aware of the issues faced by homeowners across the country who live on those sites. I find it frustrating that we are today discussing something that has gone before. <BR /> <BR />From what we heard from the proposer of the motion, it is also clear that the developer-led process for the adoption of roads and other associated infrastructure falls short of its intended purpose. Bonds, which are almost like a deposit for a developer and insurance for the homeowner, should be an incentive for developers to complete construction.”
“In August of this year, we saw racism and violence on our streets. I had friends and colleagues who were affected by what they saw, heard and experienced during that period. What bids have been made to address the ongoing increase in racist attacks since those scenes took place?”
“As you know, Minister, sport plays an important role in building community cohesion. I am advised that East Belfast GAA wrote to you on 18 September to request a meeting but has not yet received a response. What actions are you taking urgently to meet East Belfast GAA to demonstrate your support in the face of ongoing intimidation in east Belfast?”
“Minister, what update can you give us on the pollution reported at the Loop river in East Belfast earlier this year?”
“It will not remember angry people in the darkness, those shouting on social media or the criminal gangs that agreed with them.”
“I see it every year in East Belfast, and I have already been involved in debates in the Chamber about unhelpful antagonism from a small minority being reflected as a majority view. I saw it when Turas first started operating out of the Skainos Centre on the Newtownards Road. <BR /> <BR />As someone who studied languages before becoming an MLA, I can say that no one owns a language. Languages are organic. They are for everyone, and those who try to control languages or limit access to them are the ones who miss out in the end. We have seen that across history. We are seeing it today, and we will see it in East Belfast. Integration and bilingualism offer hope for the future, and I commend Linda, her team and the parents who want the school in East Belfast. History will remember them and their positive impact on Northern Ireland.”
“I am fortunate to have met, on multiple occasions, the driver for that, Linda Ervine, who, in 2021, was recognised by the Queen with an MBE, no less. Her passion for education and reconciliation is clear for all to see, and she regularly says to me that our children will be the future. <BR /> <BR />Members will be aware of the recent intimidation that has unfortunately plagued the school, with banners erected by unknown people and cheerled by the usual voices on social media platforms. That is despite the school having gone through a rigorous public consultation in the Belfast City Council planning process. Two objections were received: neither was from the immediate area. It is, sadly, nothing new, and I have seen it before with projects in which Linda has been involved.”
“I support and encourage the large number of local parents who have registered interest in their children attending Scoil na Seolta in East Belfast. The school will offer integrated education in East Belfast for the first time, bringing together communities and healing many of the divisions that we still see today. It will also do that through the medium of the Irish language, increasing bilingualism in young people from an early age. Research has well established that bilingualism improves critical thinking, creativity, memory, focus and problem-solving skills and helps children to think beyond themselves and see the world from a different perspective. Those are important and welcome values for children in Northern Ireland in 2024.”
“Minister, what do you say to those who raised concerns with me recently that they fear that developer contributions to address our waste water system capacity risk creating a two-tier system for development and passing costs on to house buyers?”
“We must all be strong and united in our condemnation of the continued existence of those criminal gangs, and I hope that the motion passes unanimously.”
“<BR /> <BR />We are now in 2024, which, as we heard today, is 26 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. It was never meant to be plain sailing or without bumps in the road. However, groups representing paramilitaries having a seat in the room with Ministers at their request is stunning, and the defence that I have seen of it and heard in the media in recent days is even more so. Those groups destroy lives and hold Northern Ireland back, and they belong in the dustbin as relics of our troubled past. <BR /> <BR />I want to normalise the normal here and have a society that is free from paramilitary control, built on reconciliation and based on making this place work for everyone. That includes working alongside all of you in the Chamber today.”
“Our constituency office on the Newtownards Road deals with the impacts of paramilitarism. That was evident a few years ago when paramilitary groups preyed on food banks to take advantage of vulnerable individuals and their communities — the same communities, we are now told, that they care about. Lastly, we have one of the most attacked and threatened sports clubs on these islands: East Belfast GAA. It is a positive, welcoming and inclusive club that has received threat after threat. That not only disrupts the club but impacts on our Police Service, disrupts the local community and impacts on children. It is my understanding that the Communities Minister has still not fulfilled the club's request to meet following the last hoax incident.”
“<BR /> <BR />We can all sit now and argue that the meetings brought groups along, gently coaxed them away from illegality and will not dictate to Ministers, but representatives of groups that the Home Office has proscribed as terrorist organisations are in a room with the people who can make society-changing decisions at the expense of the legal organisations that represent the hard-working, disadvantaged and moral groups in all our communities. I am an East Belfast MLA. We have our issues in East Belfast, with shows of strength from groups brought in from across Northern Ireland; drug dealing; coercive control; people being made homeless by paramilitaries; coercive murals, which a councillor from another party once described to me as more akin to street art in 2024; and violent murders.”
“and the recent meetings of not one Minister but two. I appreciate that there are only so many hours in a day and that our Ministers have long days, with multiple competing interests. However, it is only since becoming an MLA that I truly appreciate the importance of the Chamber and the opportunity to ask questions of Ministers on the issues that matter to me and to my constituents. If there is an issue, I will take that rare opportunity, if afforded one during the weekly ballot, to plant a seed or an idea in a Minister's head in the hope that, some day, it will bear fruit for the benefit of my constituents or for the issue.”
“We all know the importance of this place and the doors that a functioning Assembly can unlock for key policy decisions, but, for five of the past seven years, we have not had Ministers in post to make key decisions like those on the issues at Lough Neagh. I was in briefings on that last year, when civil servants knew the problems and the solutions but, without a Minister in post, were powerless to do anything about them, which delayed our ability to intervene. Thankfully, our AERA Minister is taking steps to address those issues today. <BR /> <BR />We come to the crux of today's motion, and it stuns me to even say these words out loud, but we have the:”
“Over the weekend, I was reflecting on what to say on the motion, and I remembered how, a number of years ago, when I was a deputy lord mayor, I was invited to give a welcome speech at a mental health conference that was taking place in Belfast. It was running all day, but I asked if I could stay on after the welcome to hear some of the speakers before making my apologies. One of the speakers used a phrase that, I feel, I now use on a weekly basis and that the leader of the Opposition used: in Northern Ireland, we have "normalised the abnormal." We educate our young people separately at an enormous cost — parental demand for that is higher than ever — and progress has been slow since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.”
“The Committee recently heard from the National Franchised Dealers Association, the Electric Vehicle Association NI and departmental officials, and we scrutinised the proposals significantly. I put on record my thanks to officials for their recent input on and clarification of concerns that were raised with us before we reached consensus in Committee.”
“I welcome the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes (Amendment) Order 2024. Earlier today, during Members' statements, I mentioned the climate emergency and the need for us all to think and act differently and to challenge and stretch ourselves with ambitious targets. Joining the vehicle emissions trading scheme does just that. It will deliver significant carbon savings; mean that Northern Ireland will play its part in the UK transitioning to a zero-carbon economy; and support the industry within that transition by increasing the share of new vehicle sales made by zero-emissions vehicles, reducing carbon input and improving our air quality.”
“<BR /> <BR />I will watch the development of the proposals and work with the active travel stakeholders to see whether it achieves its wildly optimistic aim of reducing congestion by allowing more cars to operate in some of our bus lanes, while ensuring that Translink is supported in its goal of offering sustainable and reliable public transportation in the context of the climate crisis, the impact of which we see across the world today.”
“During that time, we sailed past car after car that had a driver but no passengers. Obviously, people take their car for different reasons on their journey to different destinations. However, if we extrapolate that to the city centre, it reinforces a point made to me on social media over the weekend: individuals and taxis cannot take priority over a bus carrying significantly more people than that or over cyclists.”
“I am not saying that we should not support taxis or that they do not have an important role to play — we had taxi representatives present to the Infrastructure Committee very recently, and I recognise taxis' importance for tourists, older people and those living with disabilities and reduced mobility — but there has to be a reasonable limitation while we ensure that we have an efficient and supported public transport system in which the public can have confidence. <BR /> <BR />On Saturday, at around 11.30 am, I took the Glider into Belfast city centre. The journey took around 10 minutes.”
“That will have four main effects: reduce the safety that we already give cyclists when they use an already limited cycling infrastructure; reduce the ease with which our public transport can complete journeys; reduce the appeal of public transport as a whole; and — this is the elephant in the room — impact on our responsibilities within a declared climate emergency and our need to commit to strategies and policies that we know work to reduce car dependency and the amount of carbon that we release into the air every day. <BR /> <BR />The pilot scheme to allow taxis in some bus lanes is something that I saw floated many times while a Belfast city councillor, and now I see it floated while an MLA for East Belfast.”
“I speak as chair of the all-party group on active travel in concern at an announcement last Friday afternoon by the Minister for Infrastructure that he will introduce an experimental scheme to allow class A and class C taxis to use yet-to-be-determined bus lanes in Belfast city centre. Class B and class D taxis are already permitted to use them, meaning that, for some bus lanes in Belfast, we are facing a move from bus lanes to bus/taxi lanes being in operation.”
“Minister, the families of the victims of Dr Watt have low confidence in the trusts as it stands. As someone who lives with multiple sclerosis, I am reminded of a meeting of the all-party group on MS and neurology in 2022 during which senior trust officials and families of the wronged patients attended, and officials then apologised the next day by email for their inaccuracies. That is another example of where patients feel that inaccuracies, mistakes and delays have compounded the hurt and damage already caused. What steps will you take today to ensure that individuals and families can have faith in the process moving forward?”
“Thank you, deputy First Minister. You mentioned some funding schemes: will you elaborate on how much resource has been set aside to facilitate that?”
“I thank the Minister for his statement and the timely speed with which we received it. Will the Minister outline the rationale behind proceeding with what is effectively the middle of the project first?”
“Will the Minister join in my absolute condemnation of the ongoing and sustained placement of objects at the Henry Jones playing fields in east Belfast and the disruption that that has on sports, education and the local community?”
“In order to improve our water quality, Northern Ireland Water will have to maintain its waste water treatment sites to an acceptable and high standard, and to do that, it will need to be able to spend above its resource departmental expenditure limit (RDEL) and capital departmental expenditure limit (CDEL) allocations. Has the Minister explored how it may be able to do that?”
“We know that there should be a cohesive and comprehensive approach, from GPs to hospitals, because many people fall through the cracks even after approaching the right people for support. We know that investing now will save money in the long term and, crucially, will save lives. <BR /> <BR />I end my contribution by acknowledging the work of former Alliance councillor David Armitage. He recently told me that, if it had not been for his church, his friends and Claire Curran from East Belfast Survivors of Suicide, an intensely overworked charity that does life-saving work, he simply would not be here. That is what government is for, and it shows the importance of having the institutions functioning as they should all year round, for 365 days a year, with Ministers in post for key decisions to be made for everyone in Northern Ireland.”
“ADHD is a more common condition in Northern Ireland than we think. It is treatable — medication is 95% effective — but the service that we offer here was recently described to me by a GP as "a pretend service". Unless someone pays to go private, our waiting lists are hitting eight to 10 years for a diagnosis, even if that person is lucky enough to get an appointment, as demand is surging. Unfortunately, that is another example of how we fail neurodiverse people and those living with mental health issues. <BR /> <BR />I outline those examples not for dramatic effect but because they are the realities that people have faced in Northern Ireland in recent years and face in the present day. We know the statistics. We know that prevention and early intervention work.”
“I was there for the vigil last year, and I encourage Members to attend it, if it is held again, for a truly humbling and insightful experience. <BR /> <BR />Asking the question, "Are you thinking about suicide?" is a sobering but important skill that can provide the right intervention at the right time, something that I learnt during a training session with the incredible East Belfast Survivors of Suicide in 2014. I did not expect to use that training the very next day with a constituent who walked into our constituency office to discuss housing issues when the conversation took a dark turn. <BR /> <BR />My work with the ADHD community is well documented. It will not surprise anyone to hear that people living with ADHD are three to five times more likely to attempt to take their life and, sadly, to be successful.”
“Thankfully, I have not had a friend or family member take their life, but, at one point in my brother's fourth or fifth year at school, sadly, four students took their life across one academic year. That had a profound impact on the school and the students. The gym that I go to is run by Rory Girvan, another person from north Belfast. He launched the 33 Til' Infinity campaign to raise money in honour of Michael Cullen, who, sadly, took his life in 2018. I remember being nudged during a Belfast City Council committee to be told that Michael had been found, after the community in north Belfast had rallied for over a week to try to find him. I echo Órlaithí's point about the families of victims of suicide.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion today, and I thank the Opposition for tabling it. It is not the most detailed or lengthy motion that I have seen — I do not mean that as a criticism — but it is probably one of the most important that the Opposition have tabled. It seeks to make sure that we in the Chamber never forget the high rate of mental health issues that many people in Northern Ireland live with and the need for the Assembly and our Executive to take mental health seriously. <BR /> <BR />I am an MLA for East Belfast, but I was born in north Belfast, which, tragically, has well-documented high rates of suicide and mental health issues.”
“My main takeaway was that the police play a crucial role across all our communities and that, yes, the resources are challenging. It was a reminder to me that, when the Assembly is functioning, we can do an awful lot more than when it is not. Like the police who support our communities and the group of neighbourhood watch coordinators whom I met the next day, let us — the Executive and Assembly — push on and support our police and all the Departments with consistency, diligence and an ability to adapt ourselves in order to deliver the safe, thriving and united community that Northern Ireland deserves.”
“I then watched them adapt in real time, establishing that a badly parked car was worth closer inspection. It had no insurance, and the owner, for a variety of reasons, should not have been driving. They were intoxicated while two children were passengers in the back seat. Throughout all that, those officers answered the questions that I asked from the back seat about the challenges in delivering policing in Northern Ireland. It was an eventful evening. I was able to head home, bleary-eyed, at 4.30 am, and they returned to the station to begin the paperwork from the events that had just passed before clocking off at 6.00 am or 7.00 am. <BR /> <BR />Many MLAs will have had the opportunity to observe the police in action. That was truly one of the most rewarding, eye-opening and impactful evenings of my time in politics.”
“We were then directed to a potential domestic violence incident and helped a deeply distressed woman who was covered in blood get back safely to her family in Lisburn.”
“I became a member of the Policing Board a few months ago. Since then, I have had the opportunity to hear from the police about their views on next steps on a variety of issues, to scrutinise officers and to hold them to account directly, all of which are essential functions of a Policing Board member. <BR /> <BR />On Friday, I arrived at 11.00 pm at Lisburn Road police station and had the opportunity to spend time with two local policing officers, Peter and Nigel. They impressed me with their diligence, empathy and desire to help, regardless of the situation. Moreover, they impressed me with their ability to adapt in real time to new circumstances. On getting there, I heard about the ongoing police response to a fatal car accident in east Belfast. We then left the station to assist with a potential missing person search.”
“It is about achieving a balance, yes, but, all too often, I hear that a logjam of applications is forcing the system to grind to a halt. <BR /> <BR />We have a responsibility to nurture the right environment for investment in and the roll-out of mobile infrastructure, and that extends across public perceptions, planning, costs, public assets and the barriers that the mobile action plan NI identified. I look forward to the Minister's update on the work that he has been doing in that area and how he is making sure that his officials are doing all that they can to ensure that the planning process plays its part in ensuring that our rural communities are not left disconnected.”
“<BR /> <BR />On the issue of mobile phone coverage, like the proposer of the motion, I was aware from responses to questions for written answers that the subgroup had not met as frequently as the Economy officials. I am keen to hear from the Minister why that is the case. <BR /> <BR />As has come up frequently in the Chamber, planning and planning reform are major concerns for developers, businesses and residents across Northern Ireland. I suspect that it will be a key area for discussion tomorrow morning when the Minister joins us at the Infrastructure Committee. We have to make sure that those involved in planning are doing anything and everything that they can to maximise opportunities for all who live here.”
“A planning application for a 5G mast is not considered regionally significant, so councils are central components to ensuring that telecommunications infrastructure does not become significantly delayed. It is largely under the remit of councils to adopt policies that address important planning considerations in their local development plans (LDPs). I would appreciate an update today from the Minister on the work that he has been doing with his departmental officials to aid the progression of the LDP process and on the engagement that he has had with the NI barrier busting task force planning subgroup — I had not said that out loud before, and it is a bit of a mouthful.”