Sian Mulholland
North Antrim · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“Members from different parties recognised that our justice system must continue to evolve and continue to have children, young people and victims at its heart. What, we know, works to reduce offending and create safer communities has that support. <BR /> <BR />Not every contribution reflected that approach.”
“I will use my final Member's statement before recess to reflect on the work of the Ten is Too Young Coalition and all those who have worked so passionately to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR), including Voice of Young People in Care, the Children's Law Centre, NIACRO, the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Childre…”
“We so often hear calls in the Chamber for legislation that is evidence-led, data-driven and compliant with our human rights obligations. Those are principles that I wholeheartedly support, but they cannot be principles that are applied only when they are convenient. Children's rights are human rights too.”
“<BR /> <BR />The triggering of the petition of concern mechanism was a misuse of a mechanism that was designed to protect minority rights. Here it is, blocking change designed to protect those who are most vulnerable.”
“Safeguarding falls within your remit, Minister. We know that, but we also know that it is the responsibility of each and every one of us. That is part of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. Faith-based counselling is not subject to the same regulation as other clinical counselling services.”
“Thank you, Minister. I am glad to hear you say that the role played by social workers is "complex and challenging". From what I hear from those who have contacted me, social workers are stretched to capacity. What is the Department doing to address that?”
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“I thank the proposer of the motion. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the matter. <BR /> <BR />For me, it is unsurprising that, when we talk about mental health, we also have to talk about poverty. It plays a significant role in exacerbating the mental health challenges that we have discussed today. Around one in four children in Northern Ireland live in poverty, and those children are far more likely to experience anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. A recent survey found that children from low-income families are nearly twice as likely to suffer from those conditions than their more affluent peers, yet many families in those situations find mental health services completely inaccessible, perhaps because of physical transportation barriers.”
“I was going to say that there are not that many landslides in Northern Ireland, so hopefully I will not be rebuked for talking about a different landslide. <BR /> <BR />Minister, as you know, an entire farming community was cut off owing to a landslide on the Glenshesk Road. It has been nearly a year for that community, so can the Department provide any updates? Sorry to Rostrevor and Kilkeel. Much as they are of interest to me, I will focus on the landslide in North Antrim.”
“I hope that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Hilary Benn, will be tuning into this debate online. I hope that he plans to progress the extension of the franchise, as he indicated recently to me and my colleague Kellie Armstrong. I will write to the First Minister and deputy First Minister to ask that the Executive consider writing to Westminster to ask that those powers be devolved to Northern Ireland, because it is right that we make decisions for ourselves in the House. Hopefully, the one- and two-year-olds in 2012, when the Chamber last discussed the issue, will be able to, in the 2027 Assembly election, select who will sit in these seats.”
“In essence, our amendment strengthens the original motion by linking the right to vote at 16 with the educational tools needed to foster lifelong political engagement. I hope that Members will support it. <BR /> <BR />I will leave any Member who wants to vote against the motion with the views of some of the young people whom we met this morning from NUS-USI, the Secondary Students’ Union of Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Youth Forum, Politics in Action, the Shared Island Youth Forum and One Young World. This is what voting at 16 means to them:”
“By doing so, we would not only lower the voting age but ensure that young people are prepared to participate meaningfully in our democracy. While there will always be naysayers, this is the right thing to do. <BR /> <BR />The Minister of Education has advocated autonomy at school level, but I believe that there is a duty on his Department to create a consistent approach to nurturing the civic journey of this generation. Enfranchising all young people without equipping them with the tools to fully acknowledge their rights, responsibilities and the political system would be a missed opportunity. Civic education should go beyond the basics of how elections work. It has to foster critical thinking and understanding of the issues that affect society.”
“I now want to address the amendment that we have tabled. The amendment builds on the motion, which rightly calls for the voting age to be lowered. However, we have to recognise the need for all young people to be equipped with the knowledge and understanding to fully engage in the process. While there will always be young people who are knowledgeable and engaged, we need to make sure that we deliver an equitable opportunity for understanding. The amendment endorses a key recommendation from the Institute for Public Policy Research's 2023 report, 'Out of Kilter', which highlights the importance of combining votes at 16 with high-quality civic education in all schools. It calls on the Minister of Education to consider:”
“By empowering young people, we ensure that our democratic institutions are truly representative, inclusive and forward-looking.”
“Initial scepticism about lowering the voting age was based on assumptions drawn from low political engagement of the slightly older 18-24 age bracket, leading to fears that younger teens are even less likely to be engaged. However, data from Austria, Germany, Argentina and Scotland shows a different picture. Studies reveal that there is often a higher turnout among 16- and 17-year-olds than 18- and 19-year-olds, partly due to the former's being in more stable environments, such as living at home and attending school. In the likes of Austria and Brazil, enfranchising young people at 16 has been shown to establish long-term voting habits. <BR /> <BR />This debate is not just about extending the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds and not just about fairness; it is about strengthening our democracy.”
“<BR /> <BR />Another argument is that young voters are more likely to be swayed by emotional appeals or lack of experience than older generations. If we are being honest, this place knows more than most about that in respect of our adult generation. The idea that more experience guarantees better decisions is unfounded. As a young person said this morning:”
“At 16, they can leave school, start full-time work, pay taxes, join the military and even make critical life decisions such as getting married or consenting to medical treatment. If we trust them with those responsibilities, why should we deny them the right to have a say in who governs them? <BR /> <BR />Research from the countries that have already lowered the voting age shows that 16- and 17-year-olds are just as capable of making informed choices as older voters. In fact, studies show that young people who are engaged politically at an earlier age tend to carry that civic engagement into adulthood, which is what has been shown in Scotland. By giving them the vote, we nurture lifelong democratic participation. That is a habit that we should be encouraging not postponing.”
“It is so patronising to tell a young person that they are not mature enough or educated enough to understand the world of politics. The cohort of young people in this generation is the most politically engaged and connected generation ever. They have immediate access to their representatives through social media or email, unlike past generations, like mine, who had to wait until their school visited this Building or they saw an elected representative out in their community. <BR /> <BR />Young people today grow up in a world where information is more accessible than ever, and many are deeply aware of the issues that affect them, whether it is climate change, education, housing or the economy.”
“As a young person told me this morning, Scotland did not just create an army of rebellious teenagers overnight. More's the pity, I say. <BR /> <BR />The evidence that we have should encourage us to seriously consider extending the franchise. The potential benefits to political engagement and to our democratic system, particularly among younger generations, are hard to ignore. Before I get into the amendment, I want to address some of the main arguments that we hear regularly against extending the vote to those who are 16 or 17, because I believe that they deserve careful scrutiny. I do not believe that they stand up to the evidence or the principles of democracy that we uphold. <BR /> <BR />First, some argue that 16- and 17-year-olds are not mature or informed enough to vote. Let us not underestimate our young people.”
“We now have a wealth of evidence, particularly in Europe and South America and, closer to home, in Wales and Scotland, where 16- and 17-year-olds have been granted the right to vote in various elections. The experiences in those countries offer us really invaluable insights. <BR /> <BR />Empirical research shows that, by and large, the participation of young people has been really positive in respect of both their political engagement and their civic attitude and change to that. Importantly, there is no indication that lowering the voting age has any negative consequences; in fact, in many cases, it has sparked a new and vibrant discussion around politics, democracy and what it is to be a citizen. The sky did not fall in by allowing young people the chance to have their say.”
“If you have that phrase in your speech, please delete it. All that does is disenfranchise young people from their place in society here and now. It tells them that they are good enough, just not right now. I want any young person who is listening to the motion and who is up in the Gallery today to hear one thing above all else: your contribution to your community is valued and worthwhile now. <BR /> <BR />As we consider the possibility of lowering the voting age to 16, it is important to acknowledge that, in the past, particularly in the debate on the issue, first, in November 2012, much of the debate around it was speculative. There simply were not enough examples around the world to guide us, but, over the last decade, that has changed significantly.”
“I feel that speaking on the motion is a bit of a full circle moment for me. As a youth worker in 2009, I came to the Building with groups of young people from Belfast YMCA's Youth in Government programme and then with young people from the Where is My Public Servant? programme to advocate and lobby for votes at 16. The only Member who is still standing that I interviewed at that time is Patsy McGlone, so fair play to him for his sticking power. Fifteen years later, I am honoured to stand in the Chamber to speak on behalf of the 16- and 17-year-olds who deserve to have a say in who represents them. Quite a few of them are sitting in the Gallery behind me, so thank you very much. <BR /> <BR />I will start by laying down a challenge to any MLA who is speaking on the motion today: please, please do not refer to young people as "the future".”
“I urge the Minister to consider our ideas and to work with DWP in Westminster to deliver them.”
“<BR /> <BR />We want to see a two-week run-on of child tax credit for people migrating to universal credit, as exists with other legacy benefits. Over half of universal credit claimants in Northern Ireland are parents. It makes no sense that the system of run-on support would explicitly exclude support for children. Finally, we want to see a system backdating the payments introduced for new universal credit claimants' first assessment period, so that those who are eligible can receive much quicker, sometimes even immediate, payments when they first apply for universal credit — rather than being forced to wait five weeks with no payment and, potentially, little or no alternative sources of income. <BR /> <BR />Our proposals could finally address the five-week wait and deliver the responsive benefit system that UC claimants here deserve.”
“<BR /> <BR />Today, my party has published our own solutions to address the problem. Our paper sets out a detailed series of proposals to mitigate the worst impacts of the five-week wait in the short term and to eradicate it as far as we possibly can for new claimants in the long term. We call for an increased budget for the Universal Credit Contingency Fund and steps to extend the eligibility criteria for that fund to ensure that people who need help are aware of how they can apply to get it. We call for a longer repayment term on the universal credit advance payments and a minimum floor on deductions, so that those monthly deductions do not leave local claimants struggling to put food on the table or stuck in a cycle of debt from the beginning of their universal credit journey.”
“I rise to talk about an issue that has impacted over 185,000 people in Northern Ireland to date: the five-week wait for the initial universal credit (UC) payment. As I have highlighted before in the Chamber, that five-week wait is not an inadvertent issue; it is an explicit feature of the universal credit system that is forcing people into poverty, into hunger and to live in cold homes. Hopelessness is around every corner in Northern Ireland. We have known about this issue for years. We have had countless reviews, research papers and column inches highlighting the devastating impact of the five-week wait on some of our most vulnerable families, yet successive Communities Ministers in Northern Ireland have made negligible progress on fixing it. Universal credit claimants have no more time to wait.”
“Does the Minister intend to bring that forward as part of the early education and childcare investment?”
“Minister, you referenced 'A Fair Start'. Some of the report's recommendations are in your portfolio, including the provision of a”
“My question is on the collaboration with the Ulster-Scots Agency around the cultural piece. Will the Minister give us a wee bit more detail about what was discussed and what initiatives are planned going forward?”
“Without those protections, many families will face drastic cuts to their income. I want the Executive and the Department for Communities to act decisively now. We urgently need a comprehensive and multidimensional poverty strategy that prioritises our children, supports our working families and commits to reducing the staggering human and financial costs of poverty in Northern Ireland.”
“The wait is devastating, and it forces people into debt, leaves them dependent on food banks and even drives some into the hands of paramilitaries for loans. It is more than a delay: it is a flawed design that throws families into crisis. <BR /> <BR />The challenges keep coming. In six months, the welfare mitigations that so many rely on, such as the benefit cap, are set to end, leaving families exposed to the harshest realities of welfare reforms.”
“Children who live in poverty are four times more likely to develop mental health issues by the age of 11, setting them up for a lifetime of disadvantage. Without a strategy in place, we are failing our children, and the consequences will only snowball as they grow older. We need to ask ourselves this: what will it cost to do nothing? That should be at the forefront, underpinning every policy decision that we make. <BR /> <BR />One of the most urgent issues driving poverty in our community is the five-week wait for universal credit. It is not just a bureaucratic hiccup; it actively pushes people deeper into hardship. Imagine losing your job, leaving a difficult or abusive relationship or becoming unwell, only to hear that you have to wait more than a month for any financial support.”
“<BR /> <BR />The absence of a dedicated anti-poverty strategy is a glaring failure to address the needs of those who need our support most. The previous child poverty strategy ended in May 2022, and, since then, we have seen a significant rise in child poverty. In 2022-23, 24% of children lived in relative poverty, and that was up from 18% the year before. Those are not just numbers; they represent thousands of children in our communities who are going without the basic necessities of life. The Northern Ireland Audit Office's report on child poverty highlighted that the annual cost is estimated to be between £825 million and £1 billion per year. <BR /> <BR />It is not just a financial burden; it is a human crisis.”
“Today, on International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, I want to address the desperate lack of an anti-poverty strategy in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Despite the urgent need, we still have no clear plan to tackle poverty, especially child poverty. I am tired of hearing vague promises, such as, "We are progressing at pace", or "Actively considering the development and delivery of the strategy". They are just words on a page. For us, it is about real people who are struggling to make ends meet, children who are going to school hungry and families who are living with anxiety because of poverty. Our failure to prioritise a comprehensive poverty strategy in the Programme for Government sends a devastating message to the 24% of children and 18% of working-age adults who currently live in relative poverty.”
“If £1 from every stadium and arena show in the UK were to go into a fund to be distributed across the grassroots music sector, safeguarding our future, it would serve everyday music fans so much more positively than spending three times the amount on a ticket simply because it is seen to be in demand, whether it is falsely inflated because of bulk buyers, ticket scalpers or secondary ticket platforms. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the motion, and we will support it.”
“A recent report to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee outlined several key recommendations to support the live music sector, particularly grassroots venues. No band or artist starts out playing the SSE or Croke Park, and you can be sure that dynamic pricing is not happening in our grassroots venues. Look at the Oasis gigs: £200 million-plus was spent on tickets; £20 million-plus was spent on ticket charges; and £2 million-plus was spent on facility charges and fees. Not a penny of that went into future-proofing our venues. I want to see something brought in. The Music Venue Trust put an idea out before the election.”
“In the spirit of the Oasis hype, I encourage them: 'Dig Out Your Soul' and end the practice. I promise that that is the last album name that I will drop in. <BR /> <BR />During a highly publicised and greatly anticipated tour by a global star, I heard of parents taking out loans and getting into financial difficulties simply to afford tickets to those gigs. Those artists are exactly the ones who can well afford not to engage in the practice, so as legislators and consumers, we should be vocal in discouraging them from doing so. <BR /> <BR />As chair of the Assembly's all-party group on arts, it would be remiss of me to not bring up the future-proofing of our live venues and the music sector in general.”
“It does not matter who is overcharging or where the money goes: if a person is having to fork out an inflated price, it limits the number of live music events that they can attend. <BR /> <BR />I have to admit that I was misinformed about one element of this until I spoke to promoters. I thought that dynamic pricing was done at the demand of the ticket-selling platform. Whilst those platforms benefit greatly, especially as their booking fees normally rise pro rata — the more expensive the ticket, the more they receive — that practice is solely down to the artists and their management, with ticket sales making up approximately 95% of the artist's fees in some cases. Those huge artists who rely on their diehard fans and fair-weather fans being caught up in the hype to sell out arenas need to realise the impact that it has.”
“Thank you very much. I will not get into a tit for tat of —.”
“<BR /> <BR />I welcome the fact that UK Ministers have committed to including dynamic pricing in a consultation on ticket resale websites that is due to start this autumn, with an emphasis on transparency and the technology around queueing systems that incentivise price hikes. <BR /> <BR />While I was speaking to promoters over the weekend about this debate, they told me that they cannot fault the likes of Ticketmaster. Although Ticketmaster holds a 90% market share in this space, I have been told that that is due to its efficiency, scope and ability to handle high volumes, which is why so many promoters, like MCD and Aiken Promotions, use them. However, we need to have transparency, oversight and proper communication with ticket buyers.”
“A major issue in the selling of tickets for big, arena-sized events is the secondary market, with the likes of Viagogo and other secondary ticket-selling platforms. I want to see more regulation of that element of ticket sales. Scalpers and bulk-buying ticket platforms can falsely inflate the demand for tickets. They need to be called to account and to be heavily regulated, because it is not the band or artist that benefits from that type of ticket sale. Indeed, the only entity to benefit from that type of ticket sale is the platform itself and the bulk-buying platforms that buy tickets with the sole purpose of selling them on at a massively inflated price.”
“It was exacerbated by the fact that 50 million people were vying for 1·5 million tickets. <BR /> <BR />Let us be clear: fans seeing ticket prices rise from £148 to over £350 is not right, and that is less about 'Standing on the Shoulder of Giants' and more about standing on the necks of your working-class fans. The practice prices out the everyday fan and removes their ability to attend multiple events. It begins a slippery slope of making live music totally inaccessible, which is the antithesis of where we want to go in promoting and sustaining our live music sector. We need to see caps on the percentage of seats that are being dynamically priced and a cap on how high a price those seats can be sold at, if we cannot get a total ban.”
“That is one of a number of puns that I will use in this speech.”
“Thank you to the proposers of the motion. I really welcome the opportunity to speak on it. This is an issue that I am really passionate about, having worked in a grassroots music venue for years. I welcome the CMA investigation. <BR /> <BR />Dynamic pricing is not a new phenomenon. It is far more common than people realise. Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish have all used the practice, but it 'Definitely Maybe' came to light because of the Oasis reunion tour”
“Thank you, Minister. Given the comments by other parties, I find the creation of a hierarchy of urgency when it comes to the four different deals really problematic. The heads of terms for the Causeway Coast and Glens growth deal has already been signed with the NIO. It is not quite as far along as others, but that is the fifth-most-deprived council area in the UK, so there is a sense of urgency. It is a particularly rural area. Minister, is there anything around the rural aspect of these deals? Is there anything that we can do to protect rural communities from being disenfranchised by the decisions to pause the deals in the two most rural areas?”
“Minister, given the deadline that you have spoken about — we had it in our DFC key deliverables plan for 2024-25 — are any initiatives being discussed to combat rising poverty levels?”
“I thank the First Minister and deputy First Minister. I am keen on outcome 3 about women and girls feeling safe everywhere, with a particular focus on creating a safer night-time economy for audiences and artists in our arts venues and spaces . I am keen to understand how, on an ongoing basis, all Departments will feed into the strategy when it comes to changes to policies or regulations, such as licensing regulations or mandatory training for entertainment venues and licensed premises.”
“Does the Minister intend to increase or introduce additional levies to target single-use plastics?”
“— an anti-poverty strategy. When can we expect an anti-poverty strategy, and will there be anything targeted at older people in it?”
“Thank you, Minister: I really appreciate you outlining your lack of knowledge and forewarning of the cut, unlike others who sit on the same Government Benches as those who are driving the change in Westminster and then criticise the change at the Assembly. We want to see solutions. We want to see things that will make a tangible difference, and we want to understand what wider, targeted support measures for older people there are going to be, particularly in the absence of — I know that I harp on about this —”
“Thank you, First Minister and deputy First Minister, for the release of the draft Programme for Government. <BR /> <BR />I am fully aware that not every issue can be a priority, but I cannot help but be disappointed that addressing the crippling levels of poverty experienced by more and more people in Northern Ireland was not made a priority, especially given how cross-cutting the issue of poverty is and that the cost of not addressing our levels of poverty puts even more pressure on our financial position. <BR /> <BR />At first glance, I can see that a fuel poverty strategy is expected in 2025, but I cannot see a specific Executive-led anti-poverty strategy. What are the key actions in the plan that will tackle the issues at the heart of poverty in our societies?”
“Myself and other members of the Committee have echoed the need for something more thorough and substantive that mirrors the Building Safety Act 2022 in England. I welcome the engagement of the Minister and his officials with me and other members regarding concerns that we have had, but I would like the Minister to outline the engagement that he has had with stakeholders. The Committee has been involved in a substantial amount of communication in that regard, so it would be good to get a wee bit of an outline on that. I welcome the fact that we are, once again, bringing our tenants and owners in line with those in England and Wales.”
“I thank the Minister. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Defective Premises Bill during its Final Stage. The principle of parity is what has driven us from the get-go, so I welcome the opportunity for owners, tenants and residents of homes here in Northern Ireland to be afforded the same rights as tenants and owners in England and Wales. I echo the Minister's acknowledgement of the quality of our construction industry and design professionals. That has not been much of an issue until this point. <BR /> <BR />What I took most comfort from in your statement, Minister, was your acknowledgement of the need for a wider, substantive piece of work around our building and construction industry. Protections within the sector to ensure that safe and fit-for-purpose homes are built and lived in are essential.”
“Thank you, Minister, for your thorough statement. Will you outline further what your engagement with the Earl of Shaftesbury has been to date on the ownership of Lough Neagh? What exactly is holding up the long-awaited Lough Neagh action plan?”
“Does the Minister agree with the assessment of the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY) and the Children's Law Centre that, while the CSCA framework and guidelines exist, the Act is underutilised without established regulations from the Department of Finance? Will he give his assessment of work that can be done to improve the utilisation of CSCA?”
“I asked that with indulgence; I know that it is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Office. Will the First Minister commit to writing to whoever the new Secretary of State is post 5 July to ask that the power to bring in votes at 16 here be devolved to the House?”
“How up to date is the list of capital projects on which the Strategic Investment Board (SIB) is currently advising the Executive?”