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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“Not only does it make no sense to pay MLAs more for doing less but the House has chosen to act recklessly by voting in a way that agreed to laws being made for our constituents by a legislature that they knew would not represent our constituents.”
“Those constituents are represented in neither the European Parliament, the lower chamber, nor the Council of Ministers, the upper chamber.”
“Thank you very much, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker, for reining me in and bringing me back to where we should be. However, I am talking about the amendment. My amendment touches on the protocol, so I believe that what I have said is in scope. If other Members try to take me away and distance the debate from the amendment, I hope that you will pay close attention to what they say. My amendment gives me the opportunity to open up a debate about the protocol and make it clear that, while Members want a pay rise, the Assembly decided to give away power on 300 areas of law. MLAs voted for that arrangement, knowing that it would result in their constituents being subject, in 300 areas, to laws that are made by a two-chamber legislature in which they are not represented.”
“You miss the point that Mr Allister has taken up the role and is being paid to do the job that he is doing. My goodness, look at what we have here: in annex 2 of the protocol, there are 300 areas of law — laws that should be governed by either this House or Westminster — on which you have given away power.”
“MLAs will still have a more limited legislative role than would otherwise be the case because of the wretched protocol. That is an argument for not increasing MLA pay at all. MLAs voted —”
“Had the vote been treated like every other significant vote that has been held in the Chamber in the past 50 years, it would not have passed. The sacred Belfast Agreement states that nothing controversial or significant can be decided without the consent of both communities, yet, for that vote — arguably, the most significant vote in any Parliament or Assembly in Northern Ireland's history — that was dispensed with, was set aside and did not come into the equation. Today, in spite of surrendering 300 areas of law to our colonial masters in Brussels, which has not happened in any other legislature, some in the House want us to benchmark ourselves against those legislatures. Well, here we go. It makes no sense to pay people 19% more for doing less work.”
“It would be one thing for MLAs to ask for additional pay if they were taking on additional responsibilities, but the reality is that Stormont has, by virtue of a vote by the majority of MLAs, decided that, in 300 areas of law, we should not be governed by the Assembly. They do not want to be governed either by the other place to which they should send elected representatives, namely Westminster. Instead, in 300 areas of law, the Assembly decided to be governed by Brussels. When asked the question, "Do you want to hand over control of something like 60% of the laws that govern your economy to a colonial power?", the answer from the Assembly was yes. To set that in context, it was not a resounding yes, but it was a yes nonetheless.”
“Clause 3, which insists that MLA pay be benchmarked against pay from legislative bodies that is higher than that which is currently obtained by Members of the House, makes that clear. The dice has been loaded before it has even been rolled. The dice has been loaded in favour of MLAs receiving a pay rise, and it has been loaded by the same people who are so anxious to introduce the word "Independent" to clauses 1, 7, 8 and 11. Members, that fools no one; it does not fool the electorate. <BR /> <BR />I will now deal with my amendments to clause 3, which are on the Marshalled List.”
“That was back in December, and it paved the way to where we are today. To whom was that helpful? Indeed, it was helpful to the MLAs who sit in the House. I have no issue with the semantics of the amendments tabled by the Assembly Commission. If the parties on the Commission want to call the board "independent", they have the numbers to vote that though. Go on ahead, because I have no plans to oppose amendment Nos 1, 9, 10, 12 and 14. If you sleep better at night because you have inserted the word "Independent", that is for you to clear with your conscience. However, I want to be on record as making it clear that there is nothing independent about the decision on whether MLAs should get a pay rise.”
“Since the Bill first came before the House and, indeed, before that, I have been clear on the matters on which it touches. Back in December, when I saw the briefing that was prepared to assist the Audit Committee in its scrutiny of the Assembly Commission's budget for 2025-26, I made clear my position on the reason for the Bill: a pay rise for MLAs. I will read out paragraph 28 to remind Members:”
“The public record now contains a serious slur on my character that was made without evidence and left to stand without withdrawal. What recourse is available to me through the Speaker's Office to have the record corrected? Are such remarks open to investigation by the Commissioner for Standards?”
“— published on the Assembly website and left uncorrected.”
“The implication is clear: I have acted in a sectarian or prejudicial manner in the Assembly or on its Committees. I utterly reject that allegation. <BR /> <BR />I wrote to the Committee to request that that slur be rejected or that Ms Bradshaw provide evidence to back up her claim. Ms Bradshaw declined to do so. That failure is now recorded in the appendix to the Committee's report. Her unfounded accusation —”
“On a point of order, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Last Friday, the Committee on Standards and Privileges published its report on the complaint that was made against me. The Committee found that I had not breached any Assembly standards. All who value free speech and proper scrutiny in the House should welcome that finding. However, a serious concern remains. <BR /> <BR />As part of that investigation, a transcript of an interview with the Chair of the Committee for the Executive Office, Ms Bradshaw, was published. In it, she said:”
“Our open border with the South and the Irish means that immigrants can be stopped at the border when travelling from the Irish Republic to Northern Ireland, but, for some reason, they are not being stopped when travelling from the South up here to Northern Ireland. That issue needs to be addressed urgently. <BR /> <BR />More alarming still is the possibility that the Bill could go the same way as the Rwanda Bill and be found by the courts to be incompatible with the protocol. If that happens — this is a stark warning — Northern Ireland will face the very real prospect of becoming a dumping ground for illegal immigrants, with no effective immigration law. I trust that the Labour Government will not inflict that on Northern Ireland and will take steps to ensure that that will not happen.”
“The Bill that saw its Second Reading in the Commons yesterday was a welcome one; indeed, it has annoyed all the right people in this House this morning, namely Sinn Féin, the SDLP and their helpers in the Alliance Party, which shows me that it is a step in the right direction. <BR /> <BR />TUV wants to see boats crossing the channel stopped and immigration tightened up. TUV wants to see a Government that are serious about border security. However, I observe that this is only happening now because of the Mayday, Mayday alarm that was sent to the Labour Government at the local elections when Reform, which has a clear policy on immigration, swept the boards. The issue that concerns me is how this will apply to Northern Ireland.”
“— is that anybody can go into the toilets that they want.”
“— and the policy that we have in this Building —”
“— that a ladies' toilet is indeed a ladies' toilet, and what we have in this Building —”
“What you are referring to is somebody taking a photograph showing —”
“— I will vote against the motion and the amendment. Go on ahead, Sinéad.”
“<BR /> <BR />I am not saying for one moment that Minister Lyons is going to swallow all the ideology in the report, but in a situation where that is all that I can go on to determine what a sexual orientation strategy is likely to contain, I am unable to support the amendment. I wonder whether the signatories to the amendment have read the expert advisory panel report. The Assembly should be protecting women's rights, not rewriting them. It should be supporting parents, not sidelining them. It should be standing with the Supreme Court, not attacking it. Because I believe —”
“Who are the members? TransgenderNI, the Rainbow Project and HERe NI. Just last week, HERe NI put its name to a document attacking the Supreme Court ruling. We know what TransgenderNI's position is, and, indeed, as we speak, the Rainbow Project is having an event in this very Building calling for the ruling of our Supreme Court to be ignored. <BR /> <BR />Page 48 of the report on the Department for Communities website attacks the Supreme Court ruling in terms of its recommendations on single-sex spaces like toilets. On page 16, it champions gender-affirming care. On page 37, it affirms the Education Authority's transgender guidance — guidance that belatedly, eight months after I raised the issue with him, the Education Minister now seems prepared to act on.”
“I looked at the official website for that movement, which is may17.org. It contains a trans rights map that tells me that the UK has not yet lived up to the goals of the campaign, because it has not banned conversion therapy. Is the DUP happy to support a campaign that calls for preaching on Corinthians 6 to be banned? Furthermore, on the basis of evidence that is available today, the Department for Communities cannot be trusted to produce gender and sexual orientation strategies. <BR /> <BR />Today, the information on the Minister's departmental website says:”
“Shame on the BBC for suggesting otherwise and for claiming that transgender people are banned from football and cricket while, in fact, they are simply being asked to play in the correct category. <BR /> <BR />I will not stop at opposing just the motion. I also oppose the DUP amendment. I believe that the Alliance motion is unamendable, in that someone with my political and religious convictions cannot support it in any shape or form. The motion states:”
“I oppose the motion and the amendments. Behind the soft-sounding words of inclusion and affirmation lies a hard reality, which is the erosion of women's rights, the undermining of parental authority and the silencing of common sense. No man, regardless of how he identifies, has the right to enter female-only spaces. Whether that be a changing room, a prison or a domestic violence shelter, women and girls have a human right to privacy, safety and dignity. To deny that right is not progressive. It is regressive, dangerous and wrong. <BR /> <BR />In Scotland, a rapist was housed in a women's prison. That is where this ideology leads. No man has a right to take part in women's sport — not now, not ever. It is not banning anyone to ask them to compete in their own category. It is fairness, science and basic equality for women.”
“Can the Minister confirm that the Supreme Court judgement did not change the law but merely clarified it? Has he ever sought legal advice on the issues that I have raised with him over the past eight months about the use of school toilets and of pronouns?”
“Single-sex protections remain in place, and Stormont must reflect that. The policy is not inclusive: it is intolerant and illegal and must be withdrawn immediately.”
“The equality screening form that I have unearthed claims that the policy does not affect people of faith or those with differing political views. What about Christians who believe that God made male and female? Well, our concerns are simply disregarded and brushed to the side. Those of us who are not on the transgender bandwagon are referred to the commissioner for investigation. Most gallingly of all, the screening form claims that the policy positively impacts women. Where are the voices of women? Who asked them whether they agreed to the scrapping of female-only spaces in this Building? Was legal advice sought? If so, it must have been pretty poor advice. The Supreme Court ruling has not changed the law; it has only reaffirmed it.”
“In plain language, that means that a man can use the ladies' toilets. <BR /> <BR />It gets worse. The policy demands that official records reflect a person's chosen name and gender identity, regardless of biological reality. That guts our system of accountability and undermines basic scrutiny and security. What good are records if anyone can change their identity on a whim? Even more disturbingly, the policy allows complaints to be filed against anyone who fails to affirm a person's gender identity. This should be a place of free speech, but that is a policy of compelled speech. <BR /> <BR />The Stormont guidance came into effect in 2023, seemingly without meaningful consultation, except, it seems, with the LGBT lobby groups.”
“Like the Member who spoke earlier, I am deeply troubled that Parliament Buildings is hosting an event this afternoon entitled 'Nothing About Us Without Us — Trans Voices In The Halls Of Power'. Let me be clear: I do not object to debate or fear disagreement, but I do object to the forced endorsement of radical ideology under the guise of inclusion. To attend the event, individuals must accept the Rainbow Project's so-called code of conduct, a code that reflects the Assembly's own deeply flawed transgender policy, which explicitly states that biological males:”
“— just as Sinn Féin long supported the IRA —”
“Yes. It is worth remembering that, while the Member now speaks about protecting life, he once risked taking it. <BR /> <BR />I also want to comment on the recent calls from RTÉ to have Israel banned from this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Those calls are not only misguided; they are morally confused. The Israeli contestant whom they seek to silence is a survivor of the Hamas massacre at the music festival on 7 October — a brutal act of terror and the largest mass killing of Jews since the Holocaust. Were it not for that atrocity, there would be no war in Gaza today, yet, in typical Sinn Féin fashion, it cries foul over Israel while backing the use of council land for a Kneecap concert, a group that publicly declared support for Hamas —”
“We all share the deep sympathy for the innocent people of Gaza — men, women and children caught in the midst of a terrible conflict not of their choosing. However, it is hard to take seriously the hand-wringing of the Member for West Belfast when, in 1978, he took part in the bombing of a cash and carry, an act that showed no regard for innocent life. There were few concerns for civilians that day.”
“They jumped on the process train some years ago without any thought for the fact that it was a one-way trip to Dublin. However, on behalf of my party, I certainly will not be supporting the motion or the process that has led us to this place. No doubt we will hear more nationalist demands, aided and abetted by their friends in the Alliance Party, through these non-binding motions in the weeks and months ahead.”
“Thank you very much. The Member usually comes in and gives something valid to the cut and thrust of the argument, but he has lost me with his intervention today. I see that he is smiling. He thinks that it was a good intervention. He has got it on the record in Hansard. <BR /> <BR />I will move back to the thrust of my speech. The Belfast Agreement was never about a settlement. It was always about a process. Some sought to dress it up by calling it the peace process — hmm, hmm — but any process always has an end point. There is always an objective to a process, so what is it? Members, it is a united Ireland, and all the Belfast Agreement is about is getting unionists to the point where there is minimal fuss. The TUV has always recognised that. Some who once said the same sold their principles for the baubles of office.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, I have read the motion — I accept that it is different in other people's Order Paper — and it notes and talks about the Belfast Agreement and elections in the South. That is the basis of my take on the wretched Belfast Agreement. Just to reinforce the issue about the Belfast Agreement, what we had last week was, again, the protocol and the noose tightening with the commencement of the parcels regulations. <BR /> <BR />I will move on, Mr Deputy Speaker. Today, we have a motion that calls for the people of this part of the United Kingdom to be given the right to elect a foreign head of state. If voting rights for election of the president of the Irish Republic were involved in the Belfast Agreement, I would like someone to spell that out to me this afternoon, but, of course, that is not the case.”
“Thank you very much. I am just going back to the Belfast Agreement, as that is belt and braces —.”
“Members, thankfully, unionism is starting to waken up in increasing numbers, having worked out that the constitutional guarantee in the wretched Belfast Agreement was a con. <BR /> <BR />Before Christmas, the nationalist and republican Alliance Party joined forces with Sinn Féin and the SDLP to support the Union-dismantling protocol, and I see from the contributions today that —”
“It is there in black and white, and it states:”
“In many ways, the motion in the Order Paper today sums up the problem with the wretched Belfast Agreement. The Belfast Agreement was sold to unionists as a settlement. We were told that, if you swallow the pill of murderers being released from prison, if you accept that the IRA's political wing will have a place at the heart of government forever in Northern Ireland, if you tolerate our getting rid of the RUC after it sacrificed more than 300 officers and if you give the Irish Republic a say in how Northern Ireland is run through powerful cross-border bodies, that will be all. After that, you unionists can have peace. We will have an agreed basis on which Northern Ireland can move forward. <BR /> <BR />In case there be any doubt about the constitutional position, well, just look at paragraph 1 of annex A to the agreement.”
“I thank the Minister for his answer. The answers to recent questions from me have exposed the fact that the Loughs Agency maintained three boardrooms yet secured zero prosecutions for illegal netting in 2022 and 2024 and very low numbers in other recent years. The commercial salmon fishery has been suspended for many years, yet the Department that once regulated that has a wage bill for 2024 of almost £1 million and other costs for that year of over £500,000. Is it the case that, even by the low bar of cross-border bodies, it is hard to justify the existence of the Loughs Agency?”
“Like other MLAs, I welcome the statement. Minister, your statement lays out the fact that you are reintroducing the waiting list reduction reimbursement scheme, which will permit people who are on a waiting list for at least two years to seek certain treatments in the Republic from June, and that the scheme will be rolled out later to permit people to seek treatment across the EU. I welcome the announcement, but can you enlighten us as to why a similar scheme cannot be deployed to utilise space in the NHS in the rest of the UK, which does not have the same waiting list problems that we have? That would save people having to travel as far for their much-needed treatments.”
“I understand that the report is to focus on domestic trade developments, namely Brexit, the Northern Ireland protocol and the Windsor framework. Some unionists said that they returned to the Chamber because the Government said that the all-Ireland economy was no more. Minister, will you spell out how trade has changed on the island of Ireland because of the protocol?”
“Minister, I am surprised to see nothing in the statement about the semiquincentennial of US independence. What is Tourism Ireland doing to promote the Chester Alan Arthur ancestral home in Cullybackey or that Dervock was home to the paternal ancestors of William McKinley, the 25th president of the USA?”
“To Northern Ireland Water, I say this: get out of the way of progress when it comes to these sites, get out of the way of builders who are willing to invest in our country and get out of the way of ordinary people who want nothing more than a roof over their heads. Minister, it is your arm's-length body: it is time that you got a handle on what it does.”
“The latest from Northern Ireland Water is that it is struggling to get a contractor to dig a hole in the road to survey the levels and that it will be July before it can provide the contractor — my constituent — with a price for the works to bring the tails to the site. Then, once that payment has been received by Northern Ireland Water, it will be a further three months before Northern Ireland Water will commit to bringing the tails to that site. To recap, it will take 16 months from the time that the £12,000 was paid to Northern Ireland Water to provide a design and a costing and 19 months to provide a design, a costing and bring the necessary infrastructure to the site. <BR /> <BR />Planning permissions expire. Housing need grows.”
“The second case that I want to highlight relates to a site in Connor, which was passed in February 2023. That development is for 24 houses in another highly sought-after area. The contractor has paid Northern Ireland Water the requested £10,000, plus £2,000 for VAT, non-refundable fee to redesign his drainage scheme. That was back in April 2024. Twelve months later, the contractor is still waiting. To put that in context, the work could have been carried out in a morning by one person in the private sector, but it has taken Northern Ireland Water 12 months and still there is no final product.”
“That would be built to an adoptable standard at no cost to the public purse. It is perfectly viable and ready to proceed at a fraction of the cost outlined in the report that, NI Water says, a connection will incur, but NI Water says no. Bureaucratic stubbornness reigns supreme in that organisation. Logic, reason and common sense are all set aside. Sites lie dormant as a result.”
“Nine of the 10 possible solutions outlined in the report were ruled out as not appropriate or simply not viable for the site. Only solution 10 remains:”