Timothy Gaston
North Antrim · Traditional Unionist Voice · Northern Ireland
“I begin my remarks by putting on record, once again, my thanks to the victims and survivors who have campaigned for many years to bring us to this point today, where the Bill will pass its Final Stage.”
“There is an onus on the Assembly in the next mandate to ensure that the work continues, with a second phase of redress that will consider individualised acknowledgement of the harm and trauma that the birth mothers and adult adoptees experienced.”
“I trust that those who have worked diligently in the background on the terms of reference will reflect the requests of the Committee and those who have given evidence to ensure that they are victim-centred and that truth and justice will be pursued.”
“Throughout the process, the Committee has taken steps to ensure that victims and survivors of religious institutions, state homes and private homes see themselves reflected in the Bill.”
“At a recent meeting of the Committee for the Executive Office, the Migrants' Rights Network complained that, in the second half of 2025, the UK Government increased raids focused on illegal working. When raids increased by 76%, arrests increased by 169%.”
“The revelations that have come to light since dirty Donaldson's conviction and the red flags that his colleagues ignored raise profound and troubling questions for the DUP, but for Sinn Féin generally and Deirdre Hargey in particular to come to the Chamber and pontificate about safeguarding is utter hypocrisy.”
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“— joined the rest of nationalism and made sure we did not get Brexit.”
“Does the Member recognise that Northern Ireland did not get Brexit and that that is the problem that we face today? Many businesses face large problems because of the rigorous implementers and because the Alliance Party —”
“<BR /> <BR />While I welcome the fact that all unionists in the House will join me in the Lobby, I remind them that the continued existence of the protocol means that they should not be in the Executive. At the last Assembly election, all unionist parties stood on a platform in unalterable opposition to the protocol, yet, today, we find the DUP and the Ulster Unionists in the Executive, where, by law, they must implement the protocol. Indeed, I notice that the text of that declaration from the DUP campaign has quietly disappeared from the party's website. Thankfully, promises are not so easily removed from the minds —”
“Northern Ireland is subject to large swathes of EU law that we do not make and cannot change and that are overseen by a foreign court. That is a fundamental assault on democracy. The call for an EU office in Belfast is about entrenching the protocol. The motion does not seek to reduce Northern Ireland's separation from the UK internal market; it seeks to embed it. It does not seek to restore sovereignty or consent; it seeks to normalise rule taking. The proper response to the challenges facing business is not a bigger EU footprint here in Belfast; it is the removal of the barriers within the United Kingdom. That is what we need. We need the restoration of democratic control.”
“Also last week, during the snowy weather, I was contacted by a Ballymena business that was trying to buy in more sledges to allow weans to have fun in the snow. The supplier replied that it no longer supplies Northern Ireland and cited red tape arising from the protocol. That is what dual market access means in the real world, and the reach of that regime does not stop there. My party has highlighted how EU-derived regulation is now tightening its grip even on tray bakes, dragging small producers into the regulatory framework that was designed elsewhere by legislators whom they did not elect. From baby cots to children's sledges to tray bakes made and sold locally, the pattern remains the same. <BR /> <BR />That brings us to the heart of the motion.”
“Well, there we have it: the man who said that Northern Ireland's car industry was facing the "worst of every world" under the Windsor framework is trying to reverse out and quote figures to dispel the nationalist myth that he likes to peddle. <BR /> <BR />Let me ground this debate in real, everyday examples. Just last week, I was contacted by a constituent who attempted to order a cot for their newborn baby from a mainland supplier. The response from the company was blunt: shipping not available to the selected address. That was not because the address was wrong or because the product was unavailable but because Northern Ireland is treated as a different regulatory and customs zone.”
“Goods coming from Great Britain into Northern Ireland are treated as suspect and are burdened with checks, paperwork and regulatory divergence. That is not an advantage; it is a penalty. <BR /> <BR />I am happy to give way to my friend in front of me here, who, just for the record, said that Northern Ireland's car industry was facing the "worst of every world" under the Windsor framework. I am interested to hear what he has to say.”
“I remind the House that, when Invest NI was asked to cite a single example of inward investment directly attributable to the protocol, it could not name one.”
“At its core, this latest Europhile motion asks the Assembly to do two things. First, it asks MLAs to endorse the protocol. Secondly, it asks MLAs to institutionalise and normalise EU governance in Northern Ireland by calling for an EU office in Belfast. Let us be clear on what that means. The phrase "dual market access" is repeatedly deployed by enthusiasts for EU rule without consent. Slogans are not substitutes for scrutiny, however. The UK's internal market is Northern Ireland's primary market. The protocol removes Northern Ireland from the practical operation of that internal market for goods and places us, for trading purposes, in the EU's regulatory and customs orbit. That creates the border in the Irish Sea. Dual market access is a nationalist myth.”
“This Sinn Féin Minister has shown, once again, that he would rather prioritise Casement Park over front-line services.”
“Minister, your draft Budget earmarks over £100 million for the Casement Park project. That a sum could pay around 2,400 band 5 nurses for a year. Can you explain to my constituents who have been waiting years for an operation or an offer of a house why that level of certainty is being guaranteed for a single stadium project? Our hospitals are understaffed, our schools are crumbling, and we cannot build in many of our towns across Northern Ireland because of infrastructure needs.”
“I urge the Minister to take every option and opportunity open to him to ensure that the money is recouped and that the names of those responsible are publicised.”
“Thank you very much for the answer. The premises were funded by public money, so at what stage will the names of those who are responsible for paying the money in the name of Ballymena Advice Centre be publicised? I have constituents the length and breadth of North Antrim who are hounded by LPS to pay their debts and their outstanding rate balance, yet it appears that this special case has been given undue leeway.”
“That exposes the reality behind Sinn Féin's outrage. We are witnessing not principled opposition to violence or injustice but selective outrage shaped entirely by far-left, anti-Western ideology in which tyrants are excused so long as they mouth the correct slogans and hate the correct enemies. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the removal of Nicolás Maduro. I commend the United States for a job well done.”
“The party opposite spent years campaigning for the release of three IRA men who travelled to Colombia to train FARC in methods of murder and terror. Sinn Féin figures were content to hobnob with the Venezuelan dictatorship, attending events, ceremonies and inaugurations after Maduro clung to office following an election that the world knew to be fraudulent. While they now rush to condemn the actions of the United States, delivering lectures about bombings, forcible removal and detention, my mind inevitably turns to a great contrast between their words today and their record yesterday. <BR /> <BR />Jean McConville never stood before a court. She was never afforded legal representation. She was never given due process. She was abducted, murdered and secretly buried when the Provisional movement chose to act as judge, jury and executioner.”
“Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The actions of the United States in Venezuela were not taken against a legitimate, democratically elected Government. In 2020, Maduro was federally charged in the United States with crimes including terrorism and international drug trafficking. Those charges alleged direct involvement with global trafficking networks and collaboration with the Colombian terrorist organisation, FARC. His removal from power has not been met with mourning or protest by the people of Venezuela; it has been welcomed with open celebration by those who lived for years under his jackboot. That, of course, has not been the reaction of some closer to home, and that is small wonder, because we do not need to travel to Venezuela to find people with links to drug-trafficking and Marxist terrorism.”
“We now know that there was a brief chat, part of which was about the resignation. Will you commit to releasing all the information on the matter? It is a huge matter of public confidence in your Department and in you as Justice Minister. Essentially, the resignation was received by your Department. Why was it not passed on? If you say that it was not for your Department, why was it not passed on through the correct processes so that it could be acted upon and, indeed, accepted at that time, as it should have been?”
“We now know that the ombudsman did, indeed, tender her resignation to the Justice Minister's Department. The Justice Minister is a caretaker Minister and, indeed, her answers have proved, once again, that she wants to take only some, not all, the responsibility.”
“Minister, the farming community is often used by Northern Ireland Water as a convenient scapegoat for the pollution in many of our loughs and waterways. Will the Minister update the House on what immediate steps she is taking to get her own house in order and stop millions of tons of raw sewage being dumped into our loughs and waterways annually by Northern Ireland Water?”
“The motion attempts to rewrite the COVID inquiry to absolve the Alliance Party and direct attention away from its role in propping up this broken system. The people of Northern Ireland deserve better than a system that allows rule-breakers to walk away untouched. They deserve better than motions designed to protect political friends and narrow the blame to suit political and party narratives. They deserve institutions that work, and, quite frankly, the people of Northern Ireland simply do not have them. <BR /> <BR />The House must be honest. The Storey funeral scandal showed us that the system is broken. Sinn Féin's behaviour showed us that it is still unfit for office. The Alliance motion shows us that political convenience still trumps honesty.”
“The rules were broken, the police investigation became political theatre, and the system — this very system — made sure that nothing happened.”
“Where is it? What have you achieved? What has your mandate produced? Nothing. We are still where we are here today. <BR /> <BR />The Storey funeral scandal was not only a disgrace from Sinn Féin but a case study in how the Belfast Agreement, the flawed institutions and their design make accountability optional.”
“Ministers can act without collective responsibility. No sanction is applied when rules are broken. Accountability evaporates the moment that party political convenience demands it. Who helped to deliver and sustain that system? The Alliance Party.”
“It tries to narrow the scope and blame only the two largest parties. That phrase does not occur in the report. It was the Executive, of which Alliance was part, that failed the people of Northern Ireland. It was the Belfast Agreement that produced a system in which all Executive parties are trapped in structures that reward vetoes and political theatre. The dysfunction is not selective; it is structural. What the Alliance Party cannot escape is this: the system that failed us during COVID is a system that it championed, defended, supported and still clings to, as its two ministerial posts and the trappings that come with them are more important than the accountability and reform that it talks about. <BR /> <BR />We have a system in which a single party can collapse the Executive at will.”
“Today, we still have no accountability, no resignations and no genuine remorse other than from one Member who travelled to the funeral in their Executive limo. <BR /> <BR />Sinn Féin behaved as though the rules did not apply to it. The evidence suggests that it was right, because nothing has happened. That is a consequence of the peace process. The COVID inquiry states plainly that the Executive's response was undermined by political dysfunction, rule-breaking and a failure among Ministers to put public interest above party interest. Yet, astonishingly, the motion, tabled by Alliance, tries to airbrush that reality by making it sound as though certain parties were uniquely responsible while others were perfect models of moral excellence. <BR /> <BR />The motion rewrites the inquiry for political convenience.”
“I will maybe think about it later on. Two Alliance Members have already spoken; you have missed your opportunity. <BR /> <BR />If one moment crystallises the failures that were identified in module 2 of the inquiry, it was that day. While the people of Northern Ireland were burying their dead — their loved ones — alone, and while families could not come together and restrictions were still being enforced on ordinary people, senior members of Sinn Féin, including the current First Minister, flouted the law in broad daylight. They did so deliberately and without consequence, and they should never be allowed to forget the hurt and pain that they caused to many families right across Northern Ireland.”
“Neither one of them mentioned the Bobby Storey funeral, and that is telling and there for all to see.”
“As we speak today about the COVID inquiry's findings, we must begin with the most catastrophic failure of leadership. That failure of leadership brought an end to the public paying attention to anything that the Executive had to say about the health messaging around COVID restrictions. That breaking point came for many on the day of the Bobby Storey funeral. How could any party bring a motion to the House on the failures that the COVID inquiry exposed without making a single direct reference to the shameful spectacle that was put on for all to see?”
“I welcome the Minister's statement and the confirmation that the forum will work closely with the various Departments. That is key to delivering for the deaf and disabled community. Mid and East Antrim Borough Council recently established a lived experience group made up of councillors and members of the public with disabilities. It meets for the first time tomorrow, and I wish it all the best as it moves forward. Is it envisaged that the forum will work closely with local councils and groups such as the one I have outlined as well as the various Departments in Stormont?”
“A genuinely humane society would champion the truth that every human life is worthy of protection. I commend organisations such as Precious Life and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which continue to do that. It remains my deep conviction that abortion is the greatest moral evil of our lifetime. While others may prefer to look the other way, I will ensure that no one can say that they were unaware of the quiet holocaust taking place in our Province.”
“Whatever the circumstances leading to those procedures, whether elective or in situations where the mother's health or life was in danger, the stark fact remains that those children were born alive and, sadly, later died. Each one represents a tragedy. <BR /> <BR />The headline statistics demonstrate that the way that the issue was framed by many media outlets before the change in the law was deeply dishonest. We were told repeatedly that legal change was required for so-called hard cases, yet 8,000 abortions in four years did not occur because of the exceptional situations promoted by those with an anti-life agenda. <BR /> <BR />As abortion becomes more common, it is anything but compassionate to ignore the social pressures — economic, familial and cultural — that push women towards ending a pregnancy.”
“In response to my question asking how many death certificates had been issued for babies who were born alive after an abortion procedure, the Minister stated that a search of death registrations for the category of termination of pregnancy affecting fetus and newborn identified 32 deaths up to the end of 2024 where that cause was recorded on the death certificate as either contributory or underlying. We should all reflect on what that means. Those were living children, infants who had taken their first breaths. They are 32 little boys and girls whose deaths were officially recorded as being affected by a termination of pregnancy.”
“Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Since abortion was decriminalised through the legislation imposed on the Province as part of the package that facilitated the return of Stormont, the number of abortions carried out has risen year on year. We now know that, between 2020 and 2024, more than 8,000 lives were taken through abortion in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />An answer that I received yesterday from the Finance Minister raises further questions.”
“Will the Minister give an assurance that, during the search for a new chief executive of Sport NI, consideration will be given to finding someone who will strive to ensure that people from Northern Ireland can compete for the United Kingdom at an international level in all sports if they want to?”
“Does the deputy First Minister agree that it is a disgrace that the Equality Commission has enough money to take an action against the Supreme Court to try to get men into girls' bathrooms? Does that not suggest that her Department is giving the commission far too much money if it can waste it on a futile challenge such as that?”
“Let us work together for unionism. The DUP brought this place back on the basis of the dodgy Donaldson deal. For that, you will pay the price. To the SDLP and Alliance I say this: all your cuddly relationship is doing is pushing you down and down in the polls, sitting behind the TUV. Let that sink in. You are cuddling up to Sinn Féin as part of your pan-nationalist and republican alliance. Whatever you want to tell yourself, come 2027, the people in this country will cast their views on everything that has taken place since the restoration of Stormont. Those who gave away their principles to become implementers will have to face the electorate, as will the Alliance Party and the SDLP, which have cuddled up to Sinn Féin over the past number of years.”
“The Members who support the motion today are the very ones who supported the motion on the protocol. You cannot complain about democratic deficits if you support the very arrangements that led to our colonial status. Why did they do that? Some claim that it was to protect the sacred Belfast Agreement, but their protocol destroys the basis of that agreement. The Belfast Agreement states that Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom until the people of Northern Ireland say otherwise. If that promise means anything, it means that I have the same rights as anyone else in the UK to take part in national referendums and have the result respected. The agreement says that no significant or controversial decision can be taken without the buy-in of both communities. <BR /> <BR />We have the petition of concern; that is good.”
“That sounds very official. Let me be clear to the SDLP: Northern Ireland does not need a European Commission office; it needs full restoration of its place within the United Kingdom. What is an EU office in Belfast supposed to achieve? Is its purpose to normalise EU oversight of laws that we do not make? Is it to entrench a system in which Northern Ireland is treated differently from the rest of the country and the Union to which we belong? <BR /> <BR />After all the talk about democratic deficit, I remind the House of what happened when the Assembly was asked to vote on the continuation of the protocol — the very arrangement that means that we have no say on vast swathes of the economic laws that govern us. What did it do? Ah, it did not want to know.”
“The deficit comes from the EU's continued grip on Northern Ireland. It will not be remedied by allowing the EU to tighten its grip even more. <BR /> <BR />We then have the SDLP amendment and its proposal on:”
“There were have the Alliance Party. The SDLP, Sinn Féin and Alliance were able to come together to cook up the fudges that were the protocol and the Windsor framework. When any business has problems in Northern Ireland, blame those three parties. They were the chief makers, pushers, movers and shakers. <BR /> <BR />What we now have is an arrangement that leaves Northern Ireland governed by laws that we do not make, that we cannot change and that are interpreted by a foreign court. If we want to talk about a democratic deficit, why not start there? That does not suit the narrative of the nationalist and republican alliance, however. The idea that the solution to Northern Ireland's problems and to the democratic deficit is somehow more EU involvement, more EU buildings or EU observer roles is frankly nonsense.”
“It should have been implemented in full. It should have restored the sovereignty of the nation. <BR /> <BR />I am happy to give way to Mr Dickson. Let me hear you.”
“That democratic decision should have been honoured.”
“We have heard a great deal today about democratic deficits and observer status in Brussels. Once again, we have witnessed the republican and nationalist alliance in the House fall over itself to see which party can stand up and say, "We are the biggest Europhiles". My goodness, we even got a Christmas card from the SDLP with its list of priorities. Matthew, I think that the SDLP takes the prize today for being the biggest Europhiles, having outdone Alliance very marginally. <BR /> <BR />When we strip away all of that, however, we need to remind ourselves of the simple democratic reality. In 2016, the people of the United Kingdom were asked a straightforward question: should the UK leave the European Union? The answer that came back from the British people was equally straightforward: "Yes, leave".”
“We all know what that is code for: the return of a discriminatory, sectarian, anti-Protestant policy that denies young people career opportunities solely on the basis of religion. The PSNI will reflect society only when every candidate is free to join on merit and because of their capability and not because of sectarian engineering.”
“Six years later, where are we? The number stands at just 6,278, which means a deficit of 1,222. The motion calls for:”
“When the draft Programme for Government was published, the Police Federation described its policing commitments as "woolly" and containing "no cast-iron promises". On page 7 of 'New Decade, New Approach' (NDNA), the commitment is unequivocal:”
“It does not need a headline-grabbing policy from the Executive Office that hands out money to councils, some of which literally do not know what to do with it. Instead, that money should be invested in policing numbers. You do not tackle this blight on society by handing some of the money earmarked for groups that deal with violence against women and girls to HERe NI, as happens in Belfast. That organisation, as it told my colleague Councillor Ron McDowell, includes trans women in the category of women. It is shameful that the Assembly and the Executive Office are using money that is supposed to combat violence against women and girls to fund groups that think men should have access to female-only spaces. <BR /> <BR />The motion regrets the fall in police numbers.”
“The ombudsman's report on the handling of the Alexander McCartney case concluded that the PSNI did not have capacity or capability to manage the risk posed by that offender, yet the motion before us somehow manages to take that difficulty and reduce it to a mixture of aspirations, vague comments and, regrettably, a suggestion that we should return to sectarianism in police recruitment. PSNI specialist teams were under-resourced, overwhelmed and unable to keep pace with the threat posed by high-risk offenders. The report does not say that the PSNI failed because it had too many officers who were Protestants. <BR /> <BR />The motion rightly expresses concern about violence against women and girls, but the only meaningful protection is an effective and robust police force in which vacancies are filled on merit by people who can do the job.”
“I remind the SDLP that the Executive have not functioned for 40% of the time since the sacred text of the Belfast Agreement came down from Mount Sinai. Rather than push for more powers, it is time to recognise that this place is incapable of even existing for the multi-year periods for which the SDLP wants it to budget.”
“We believe that Northern Ireland should be governed as fully and as integrally as possible within our United Kingdom. It should not be semi-detached, operating a separate economic model and drifting further down the colonial path imposed by the protocol and accepted by the Executive. The more that fiscal powers are devolved to Stormont, the more that Northern Ireland's economy and tax policy diverge from those of Great Britain. We already have to endure a border down the Irish Sea. We already suffer from having a different regulatory regime. Apparently, however, the solution is to give Stormont the ability to operate a different tax regime as well. <BR /> <BR />As for the idea of having multi-year Budgets, surely evidence needs to be produced that devolution can operate for multi-year periods.”