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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“They were never asked whether they wanted the changes. They were never consulted. They were simply told that it was happening. <BR /> <BR />The House must decide whether it will keep running from those conversations or finally have the courage to speak for the people whom it is meant to represent.”
“I care about respect: respect for the values, identity and traditions of the people who built the communities that I am proud to represent in the Chamber. <BR /> <BR />Yesterday, we debated the Budget. Only I pointed out that almost £5·5 million has been allocated specifically to address immigration issues, yet the Assembly will not even introduce the legislation that our Budget guidance states should underpin that spending. Why? It is running away from the very issues that are being talked about in every working-class street and housing estate in the Province. That is not just procedurally wrong; it is a dereliction of duty. It is political cowardice. It fails the Protestant and Catholic working-class communities who live beside the hostels and who send their children to the same schools and wait in the same hospital queues.”
“Some in the House may not want to hear it, but you cannot say that you have not been warned: there is deep concern in parts of Ballymena about the significant demographic change in recent years, particularly due to the resettlement of Roma families, with their often having arrived in large numbers from the Republic of Ireland. Those changes have created tensions that have not been acknowledged, addressed or discussed. Those tensions have often been ridiculed in the House. They have been allowed to fester. The tragic events of the past weekend have brought them to a head. <BR /> <BR />Let me be absolutely clear: I deplore racism, and I abhor violence, but I care about community. I care about cohesion.”
“My party has been in contact with the family, and we were acutely aware of their concern in advance of the protest that violence must not overshadow the legitimate outrage and heartbreak that the local community feels. They wanted people to have a way of expressing their anger peacefully. I stood last night on the streets of Ballymena with thousands, including women and children of all ages. It is a matter of deep regret that the actions of a few individuals, many of them not from Ballymena, it must be said, have caused further pain to innocent people.”
“Last night, I attended a peaceful demonstration in support of a young girl who was the victim of a serious sexual assault.”
“<BR /> <BR />This Budget wastes too much on vanity, duplication and unaccountable bodies. Too little is spent on things that matter. At the centre of it all, the Assembly absorbs millions while too many working families struggle to access basic services. I began by pointing out the figure of £30 billion in the Budget, but now consider this: if the public ever ask, "Where did our £30 billion go?", what will you say as an MLA or a Minister? They will not find the answer in a hospital ward or a classroom. Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker.”
“Last week, I commented on the fact that TEO has spent over £126,000 on foreign travel, including flying a civil servant out to brief the First Minister when she was on holiday instead of using a video call. I will conclude with some observations on the expenditure of the head of the Civil Service, which is addressed at line 24 on page 27 of the Budget (No. 2) Bill. The head of the Civil Service sails around the US in a private car, and the deputy First Minister uses another vehicle, while lowly Ministers such as Minister Nesbitt and Minister Lyons get by using public transport. Last week, the 'News Letter' revealed that the head of the Civil Service's budget has increased from £487,891 in the year before Mrs Brady took up her post in 2021 to a staggering £848,586 in the last financial year.”
“Thank you very much, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, for acknowledging the work that I have put in to ensuring that I am staying within the remit of the Budget Bill and this debate. <BR /> <BR />I will bring my remarks on those matters to a close. One must ask oneself whether all this money that is being spent is being well spent. Is it delivering? Look at the actions that happened in Ballymena over the weekend. I believe that that is a problem. We are pouring money into strategies that are simply not delivering. <BR /> <BR />I will move on to my next point and bring my remarks to a close. I want to make some observations about the efficiency — rather, the lack of it — in the Executive Office.”
“It is an issue that is contained in the Bill. I have referenced —.”
“We are not, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker.”
“The Minister's guidance states that the authority of the Budget Act should be relied on only in certain limited circumstances, and normally for expenditure of no more than £1·5 million. Yet, here we are approving a Budget containing more than three and a half times that figure — an amount that is explicitly marked for issues relating to immigration. Quite apart from all the hidden costs, there is no legislation in place for it. <BR /> <BR />Why is this place, and specifically our First Minister and deputy First Minister, so anxious to avoid debate on those serious issues, which have been caused by immigration? Stormont needs to face the reality that, while immigration policy is not devolved, the task of dealing with it falls largely to the Executive Office.”
“During the debate on the Main Estimates last week, I highlighted the fact that a number of schemes within the scope of the Executive Office rely on the sole authority of the Budget Act. Five of the 10 schemes listed across the entire sector relate to issues associated with migration: the full dispersal asylum seeker scheme, costing £750,000; the Homes for Ukraine scheme, costing £1,965,000; the strategic migration partnership scheme, costing £37,000; the Northern Ireland refugee resettlement scheme, costing £200,000; and the Afghan citizens resettlement programme and Afghan relocation and assistance policy, costing £1,750,000. Taken together, the cost of those schemes comes to a grand total of almost £5·5 million.”
“That is a question that none of the Executive Office officials has been able to answer to date. <BR /> <BR />The next topic that I want to touch on is addressed in line 38 on page 28 of the Bill, which refers to:”
“Thank you very much, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Across the water, the same religious institutions are required by statute to contribute to compensating victims. To date, we do not have that in statute in Northern Ireland. I am passionate that that needs to change. I ask the Minister of Finance, as the guardian of public money, for an assurance that the legislation that is brought forward will have that requirement built in. <BR /> <BR />On Communities in Transition, we are beginning to fund phase 3, and we are still funding the same areas as we did in phase 1, which were identified in data that was collected in 2016. We are told that new areas have been identified but will be supported only if additional money becomes available. One must ask oneself: when do communities in transition become transitioned?”
“I have a second concern about that upcoming Bill: it cannot make the same mistake as the Historical Institutional Abuse Act, which, again, unlike the legislation in Scotland, failed to build in any provision to require institutions to contribute to compensating victims for the abuse suffered while in their care. We have a farcical situation whereby we have a mediator acting for the Executive Office who, apparently, has the job of sometimes asking the institutions nicely if they would mind terribly contributing —”
“The Committee will shortly begin looking at a Bill dealing with mother-and-baby institutions and Magdalene laundries. The approach in that Bill is in stark contrast to the approach in Scotland, where they started with the child and looked at how common child abuse was and sought to address the problem from there. In Northern Ireland, we are again looking at the buildings in which the abuse happened rather than at the child who suffered the abuse. As one expert in the area asked me, why should a child who suffered abuse in an institution get redress and the child who suffered abuse in a foster home be excluded? Abuse is abuse.”
“The Committee has asked all councils for the criteria under which they have awarded the grant money. From the responses received to date, it is a bit of a scattergun approach, with no individual themes or criteria, it appears, being set by TEO. It sounds good that we are spending £2 million to tackle that issue, but surely a collective strategy is required to target problem areas and deliver better outcomes going forward. Take a step back: surely, instead of the Executive's Office's current approach, that money could be better spent by the PSNI and women's sector organisations such as Women's Aid <BR /> <BR />That section of the Bill also deals with the money required for redress for historical child abuse. I want to make two points about that. The House previously passed a Bill dealing with historical institutional abuse.”
“Let us think about it. Ninety MLAs and all that goes with us, or a couple of thousand classroom assistants? I know what parents would choose. <BR /> <BR />I will spend a short time focusing on a few issues related to the Executive Office. As a member of the Executive Office Committee, I have been able to probe that Department a little more. I want to get the Finance Minister's view on how some of the money for ending violence against women and girls is currently being spent. That is a flagship policy of TEO and is referenced in the Executive Office spend on line 13 of page 29, yet, when we on the Committee drill down into how that money is being spent, we find that a lot of it is simply being doled out to councils — bodies that have, at best, a limited role in stopping violence against women and girls.”
“That organisation is based in County Cork and does not employ a single person in Northern Ireland, yet we fund it out of the Health budget — according to the Estimates, which we debated last week, to the tune of £2,117,000. That is enough to fund between 47 and 59 band 5 nurses. <BR /> <BR />Members, I could go on and on, but I will concentrate my next remarks on the Assembly Commission. On page 31 of this Bill, that body is getting funding of £62·6 million, according to the Estimates, so that MLAs can award themselves a pay rise and, while doing so, recruit a media monitoring service to type up the transcripts of anyone who dares be critical of this Assembly on 'The Nolan Show' and other shows. What would Northern Ireland do with £62·6 million if we did not have a Assembly? Well, you could get over 2,000 full-time classroom assistants.”
“No one asks what better use could be made of £44 million than giving it to a body with a poor enforcement record, almost no prosecutions and excessive spend on PR and money for scientific work that could be done elsewhere. That £44 million would fund between 176 and 220 GPs a year: 200-odd GPs or the Loughs Agency? I know what I would rather the money is spent on. <BR /> <BR />Let us look at the Department of Health's allocation in this Budget. Minister Nesbitt is constantly telling us about the challenging financial position that he faces. I certainly do not dispute that, but, when I look at his budget, what do I find? In line 8 on page 20, I discover that our Health budget includes money for the Food Safety Promotion Board.”
“This Executive are set to continue on their course of squandering money on things that the people of Northern Ireland see no benefit from. In recent days, I have highlighted the fact that the money allocated on page 6, line 11 to the Loughs Agency is of questionable value. That body could disappear in the morning and no one would notice, as its functions could be adequately performed by existing agencies in the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The truth, of course, is that this place is not interested in finding efficiencies when it comes to the sacred cows of cross-border bodies. No one in this Chamber questions the fact that this Budget, when cross-referenced with the Estimates from last week, will see the Loughs Agency get £44,444,000.”
“I fear that, once the "Made in Stormont" stamp is applied, that is when the squandering starts. We always have to bear in mind and think to ourselves: did we make the best use of that money? Well, my belief, going by the Budget that is before us today, is that we certainly did not.”
“Every time I open a Budget Bill, it strikes me that even the most nationalist of MLAs in the House must appreciate our place in the United Kingdom and the financial advantages that it brings. <BR /> <BR />Since coming to the House, we have all — me included — made the case for a more appropriate financial settlement for Northern Ireland based on our unique circumstances. I welcome the appointment of Professor Holtham and look forward to what he has to say ahead of the spending review. However, all that should not blind us to the reality of the eye-watering figure in clause 1(2) of the Bill: £30,772,659,000. Every time a Minister comes to the House and tells us that they have no money for front-line services, that is a figure that every MLA should bear in mind. What did the Executive do with their £30,772,659,000?”
“Minister, time needs to be called on the ability of biological men to compete in women's sports, full stop. In the event that sporting bodies fail to respect the law, what ramifications will there be for funding coming from the Department and its arm's-length bodies to ensure that there is full compliance with the law?”
“Minister, last Thursday, in Greenmount, I stood with over 900 farmers who are concerned by the apocalyptic cuts that will result from your nutrients action programme proposals to destock farms. How can you morally put forward proposals that will destroy farming and rob the next generation of their right to inherit a viable family farm? Minister, I urge you to do the right thing by withdrawing those proposals before you destroy the industry.”
“<BR /> <BR />I will finish by saying that I want to put pressure on the Executive. We have the Programme for Government and the Budget. When the Programme for Government was laid out in front of us, it was hailed as a new dawn for the Assembly and for how we would get things done in the House. The Budget does not stack up. It does not meet the commitments in the Programme for Government. We have already seen how 50% of our social housing will not progress this year because of a lack of funds. This place needs to get its house in order. I hope that, when I stand here in future years, we will have a Programme for Government and a Budget that match what has been committed to.”
“As I learned recently, it is also to fund the media monitoring service, so anyone who dares to be critical of the Assembly and how it operates should know that, when they are on the radio or TV, their every word will be transcribed at the public's expense. Last month, the Commission tendered for such a service at a cost of £35,000 to the public purse that, I assume, is included in the figure of £62·6 million. I ask the Minister, whose Department operates the media monitoring service, this question: is he content to spend that money on that contract? Is it a prudent use of public money? Why do we have two sets of civil servants or contracts, as it will be in the case of the Commission, monitoring the media at public expense? Who benefits from that service? I had never heard of it until I came to the House.”
“That is a body that, as I spelt out last week, could disappear in the morning and no one would notice, as its functions are performed by other bodies and it offers only duplication. On page 118, I read that £2,117,000 of resource spending will go to Safefood. I am sure that its employees in County Cork will be grateful, but not one person in Northern Ireland will be employed with that money. That is a scandalous waste when our health budget is under severe pressure. <BR /> <BR />I turn to page 192 and the spend on the Assembly Commission, which is over £62·6 million. Why is that so generous? It is partly because of the Assembly Members (Remuneration Board) Bill that the establishment is so keen to rush through the House in order to give MLAs a pay rise.”
“Let me spell out what that means: it means that the institutions in which children suffered abuse, usually but by no means exclusively at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, have failed to contribute a penny to their victims. That is a scandal, and it was a shameful failure of the Assembly not to build into legislation a requirement for them to contribute to the scheme up front. I hope that that lesson has been learned for future redress schemes that go through TEO. In Scotland, money is paid up front, but not in Stormont. <BR /> <BR />I will move on to one of the sacred cows of the Assembly: the North/South bodies. On page 14 of the Estimates, we are told that the resource spend on the Loughs Agency is £44,444,000.”
“However, here we are again, voting on giving over £13·3 million to Departments with no bespoke legislation in place. The Department of Finance document says that the authority of the Budget Act should be relied on only in "certain limited circumstances" and normally for expenditure of "no more than £1·5 million". Yet, in the case of just one Department — the Executive Office — we are approving not one but four such schemes. With over £12·5 million of services being delivered without specific Assembly legislation, the Executive Office is acting in a fashion that is arrogant and disrespectful to the Assembly. <BR /> <BR />I will stay with the Executive Office for a minute. I note that, on page 168, no income is listed under resource connected to historical institutional abuse.”
“The truth is, as the Estimates show, that it is great to be British — I am sure that the Minister will agree — and all the moaning from this place about an alleged lack of money does not obscure that reality. If only the Executive would spend our funds more wisely and efficiently. It seems that, once the "Made in Stormont" logo is attached to the Budget, the wastage begins. If Members want evidence of that, they need only turn to table 5 on pages xxii and xxiii. There we have a summary of our expenditure that rests on the sole authority of the Budget Act. When we last debated the Estimates, I drew Members' attention to a document on the Department of Finance website titled, 'Managing Public Money Northern Ireland'. Paragraph 2.5 of that document deals with securing adequate legal authority and states:”
“Fundamentally, that expenditure is possible because of the grant to Northern Ireland from Whitehall, which is approved by Westminster in His Majesty's Treasury Northern Ireland Office Main Estimates 2025-26.”
“I begin by drawing Members' attention to the total resource and capital expenditure on page vii of the Main Estimates document. It amounts to some £30·8 billion for services in Northern Ireland. Leaving out the non-cash items, the net requirement is some £27·4 billion. We should keep that figure in mind every time that a Minister comes to the House and laments the lack of public money coming from Westminster.”
“Minister, do you recognise that many people will regard that comment as hypocritical, when Stormont Departments have run up a bill of nearly half a million pounds on foreign travel since the return of devolution, including by Minister Muir and his officials, who spent £11,134 on a trip to Climate Week NYC?”
“Thanks to today's 'News Letter', we know that the head of the Civil Service was sailing about in a private car, as was the deputy First Minister, while lesser Ministers made do with public transport and Ubers. <BR /> <BR />Ministers are parading on the world stage while hospital waiting lists grow, budgets in the House are slashed and people at home cannot pay their bills. My goodness, ministerial egos should not be subsidised by struggling families.”
“What was so urgent that a transatlantic trip to California was necessary when so many community services here are barely staying afloat? <BR /> <BR />Of course, the biggest spender is no surprise: the Executive Office, which is the Department of Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly. They burned through over £126,000 on foreign travel, including the six-person trip to New York for St Patrick's Day last year, which cost a staggering £38,000. That is over £6,300 per person.”
“The Department that enforces rigid environmental rules on farmers apparently does not stop to consider its emissions or the cost of flying thousands of miles to talk green. It is hard to take the green rhetoric seriously when it comes wrapped in business class boarding passes. <BR /> <BR />Then there is the Department of Education. The Minister himself spent £8,128 on overseas travel, including visits to Washington DC and Iceland. On his watch, officials made costly trips, such as that to Tokyo, which cost £3,366. The extravagance does not stop there. The Department for Communities managed to spend over £2,280 on a single trip to Los Angeles for one official. That included nearly £1,200 on a hotel stay and nearly £1,000 on flights.”
“Through a series of questions for written answer, I have established that, in little over a year, Stormont Departments have spent over £470,000 on travel outside the British Isles. That is nearly half a million pounds of public money being spent in just over 12 months on foreign travel. More than £52,000 of that was spent personally by Ministers. What I have exposed is a culture of lavish long-haul junkets that are disconnected from the everyday realities that the people whom we are supposed to represent face. <BR /> <BR />Let us look at the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. It spent nearly £78,000 on overseas travel, including £11,134 on a trip to New York for Climate Week NYC, where three officials, including the Minister, flew across the Atlantic to discuss sustainability.”
“Members, that is the real-world impact of the protocol. That is the reality of the divergence that, the Executive Office officials, claimed did not exist. Let us be clear: the motion is not pro-business. It has a pro-Brussels, pro-border and pro-break-up-of-the-United-Kingdom agenda. The motion and the amendment should be rejected in their entirety. They speak for Europhiles and border builders; they do not speak for the businesses that are impacted by the very thing that they champion.”
“One official even claimed that there is no real issue with EU tariffs on GB goods entering Northern Ireland, because businesses can claim the money back. Really? Tell that to Richard Snape, owner of the Wooden Floor Company in Belfast. Speaking on 'The Nolan Show' last month, he outlined how a 49% anti-dumping tariff on wooden flooring from outside the EU has hammered his business. He runs shops in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland but can no longer move goods freely from GB to Northern Ireland. Yes, he can reclaim the tariff through the duty reimbursement scheme, but what does he have to say about that? He says:”
“Regulation (EU) 2017/625, which treats Northern Ireland as EU territory and GB as a third country, remains untouched. EU tariffs and checks still apply: why are the UK Government still spending £190 million on Irish Sea border infrastructure? The parcels border remains. Non-food goods face the same red tape; and there has been no removal of the Irish Sea border, only more PR and deception. <BR /> <BR />On Wednesday, at the Executive Office Committee, we were briefed by Executive Office officials who said that regulatory divergence from GB is not an issue any more. Is the DUP happy that that nonsense is coming from civil servants under the direction of the Department led by the deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly?”
“The only aspect of the motion that I welcome is the public falling out that we have seen between the SDLP and the nationalist and republican Alliance about who can beat their chest the most and say that they are biggest Europhiles in Stormont. By all means, the comedy is good and the crack is good, and I hope that they continue it in the weeks and months ahead. <BR /> <BR />The very fact that the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal is between the EU and Great Britain is confirmation that Northern Ireland has already been captured by the EU. The SDLP may try to spin that as a positive step forward, but the facts remain. Northern Ireland is still wholly subject to the EU's customs code. There is no reduction in the customs border or its expensive bureaucracy.”
“Can you enlighten the House about that? Is it solely down to funding, or are there restrictions on that number because of an inadequate sewerage network to allow for connections? I have massive concerns that the targets that you have set for new housing will be held back by the lack of sewerage connections. Can you update the House on what discussions you have had with the Minister for Infrastructure on that issue?”
“I join others in welcoming the statement. There are plenty of positives that you have outlined, Minister, for your year ahead. <BR /> <BR />I want to pick up on the housing issue, and I note that you said that we are:”
“We should not be afraid to ask whether the cross-border bodies are delivering for the people who fund them, and, when the answer is no, we should not be afraid to act. One cannot help but notice that, while the nationalist and republican alliance is happy, as usual, to push a motion like this one, it is not concerned about the fact that Intertrade UK operates without offices, an independent staff or even a budget. My goodness, that sums up how Stormont values unionist concerns.”
“Its science team cost £322,000 last year, yet that work could be done by existing public bodies. Its aquaculture directorate employs six people, but the Department retains the licensing role. It is not a structure with purpose; it is a structure without function. If the Loughs Agency were to cease to exist tomorrow, its core functions would continue without disruption.”
“On the Erne and the Blackwater, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) and the inland fisheries inspectorate do the job without the costly duplication. Pollution investigations are already done by the NIEA and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI). Scientific advice is another one for AFBI. Aquaculture licensing is still handled by DAERA, not the Loughs Agency. <BR /> <BR />Again, what are we paying for? Despite all its staff, the agency spent £172,000 on external PR and media contractors over the past three years. Why? It claims that it does not have in-house expertise. That begs the real question: why do we have a stand-alone agency that cannot even explain and promote itself?”
“The answers confirm what many already suspected: that body is bloated, it duplicates and it is surplus to requirements. It currently employs 68 people, which is 15 more than its authorised complement. Of its employees, 21 are temporary, and three work on externally funded projects. Where is the accountability? <BR /> <BR />In 2024 alone, nearly £1 million went on salaries for the conservation and protection directorate. Another £590,000 went on office costs. After spending that vast amount of money, what was the result? There were zero prosecutions for illegal netting in 2024. There were only three in 2023, and there was none in 2022. We are funding a fisheries enforcement regime with no active fishery to enforce. Worse than that, the functions that the agency claims to perform are already carried out elsewhere.”
“We were told that child protection was one topic that was discussed, so I asked the Minister whether he raised the issue of the contribution of Irish institutions to child abuse redress in Northern Ireland. He said that that was a matter for the Executive Office, and washed his hands of it. Who sat beside him at that very meeting? Junior Minister Reilly, but she said nothing. That was a missed opportunity. <BR /> <BR />The second body that I will look at is the Loughs Agency. Members have been at pains this afternoon to promote the activities that it carries out. I have submitted numerous questions to the Agriculture Minister — sorry, that was a slip of the tongue; he is no friend of agriculture. I should have said "Environment Minister".”
“The debate up to this point has focused on whether we should accept additional funding from Dublin. I will focus some of my remarks on the money from our Budget that we already spend, and what we get in return. <BR /> <BR />I will take Safefood as the first example. That is a body that we in Northern Ireland fund to the tune of £2 million a year, but it does not employ a single member of staff here in Northern Ireland. Despite what Ms McLaughlin said, no one in the Chamber represents people living in Cork. That is simply outrageous. The Health Minister recently made a statement to the House following the 26th North/South Ministerial Council meeting in the health and food safety format.”