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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“I am not disputing that, but the fair share must be measured against the money that has gone to other sports such as football and rugby. Unless and until the GAA cleans up its act regarding the naming of cups and grounds after terrorists — I think of Thomas McElwee as an example — it should not be taken by the hand and treated as having priority for public funds. Now it is not the time to double down on planning and building Casement but the time to reassess it. I certainly would not want to be known as the unionist Minister who built Casement for the GAA.”
“Having repeatedly refused to put more than a mere £15 million towards the project, the GAA, in many ways, has only itself to blame. <BR /> <BR />There are others who have not covered themselves in glory either in this saga. Chief among them are the top brass in the IFA, who refused to listen to fans and instead backed the Casement project, even when the chants of opposition were echoing around Windsor Park. Then, of course, we have the DUP, which just last week sought to tell us that the Programme for Government, which committed it to make progress on Casement, was wonderful. I say this to Minister Lyons: it is time to find reverse gear on this issue and listen to the unionist people who entrusted you with their votes and their transfers. Yes, the GAA deserves its fair share.”
“I welcome the news that His Majesty's Government have finally called time on the much-sought-after fairy tale that is building Casement in time for the Euros. This is a project that was ill-conceived from day 1, with huge opposition from local residents, which resulted in years of delay. The project lost the run of itself, and, in recent years, the estimated cost of the build also lost the run of itself at £400 million, which would have dwarfed the money awarded to other sports. This would have then led to a festering within the unionist community that it had been taken by the hand. We constantly hear from the Executive and Westminster that pressures exist on the public finances. It would have been madness to have committed £400 million to fund the cash cow of the GAA.”
“— will the Minister confirm that the current robust science-led approach will remain in place until the new strategy is announced, thus ensuring that those who have their planning applications in the system already will not see the goalposts moved again?”
“We have been assured that the current method that DAERA uses to assess planning applications, which was announced on 19 December 2023, is now fit for purpose and informed by science and evidence. As the emerging ammonia strategy is to be published shortly —”
“First, the framework does not hold the UK Government to the Wales precedent in that it does not clearly fund Northern Ireland to the £124 baseline from 2022, so we are denied the clarity afforded to Wales.”
“The UK Government cannot have a UK definition of need and then deploy it to protect some UK Welsh citizens while refusing to protect UK Northern Ireland citizens. Northern Ireland was badly let down by the fiscal framework negotiated by the Government at the end of last year. <BR /> <BR />While we do not argue that Northern Ireland should be funded at £19 above the need like in Scotland, we are equally clear that the trauma of being funded below that need is so serious that we insist on nothing less than that, and the same protections afforded to other parts of the UK threatened by funding below need must now be afforded to us. The fiscal framework denies that on two counts.”
“Thank you very much for the intervention. Indeed, Westminster rule is certainly my preference, but we have to work with what we have. <BR /> <BR />The UK Government embraced the Holtham formula in 2012 when they committed to intervene to ensure that the block grant funding to Wales would not fall below the Holtham definition of need at £115, and that is something that they started doing every financial year from 2017-18 and have continued to do ever since. The funding of Northern Ireland was £3 below the UK definition of need in 2022-23 and 2023-24, even as the UK Government intervened to make sure that block grant funding to Wales did not fall below need. That constituted an arrangement that was obviously unjust and indefensible.”
“In that updated context, the definition of need for Northern Ireland has increased to £124. Go on ahead.”
“<BR /> <BR />Holtham's calculations took place before the devolution of justice in Northern Ireland, and the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council has since made appropriate adjustments to apply the Holtham formula.”
“<BR /> <BR />Holtham explained that the only way that he could develop a meaningful metric was on a UK-wide basis, assessing how funds should be allocated across the whole of the UK, mindful of local need, with the objective that, regardless of where people lived, we should all have access to broadly comparable public services. The Holtham formula demonstrated that, in order for people in Wales to enjoy the same level of public services as people in England, the Government, because of the higher need in Wales, needed to spend £115 per head for every £100 spent in England. The equivalent figure for Scotland was £105 per head, and in Northern Ireland it was £121 per head.”
“<BR /> <BR />In order to have a sensible discussion about those developments, we need to review them in the context of appreciation of the development of UK policy around need. The first part of the UK to really struggle with the Barnett squeeze was Wales during the noughties. In 2007, the Welsh Government appointed Professor Gerry Holtham to review the impact of the squeeze and to develop a metric for measuring what Wales needed in order to justify intervention to make sure that the squeeze did not take Wales below that level.”
“Thank you very much. While it is safe to assume that Alliance did not have this as a consideration when tabling the motion, it does come at an opportune time for the TUV, as my party will today be submitting proposals on the matter to the Treasury, where these decisions are actually made. <BR /> <BR />Between the mid-1970s and the later parts of the 2010s, Northern Ireland was funded relatively generously by Westminster. During 2020, however, the block grant funding to Northern Ireland fell to the UK Government definition of need. Then, in April 2022, Northern Ireland became the first part of the UK to be funded below the UK Government's own definition of need since its adoption in 2012.”
“Minister, you have thrown down the gauntlet to MLAs today to identify what we would cut or what services we should postpone. Stormont is able to find £9 million annually for an Irish language Act, £1·6 million annually to maintain prison buildings at the Maze as a shrine to terrorists and over £35 million a year on useless North/South bodies and the North/South Ministerial Council. Those are cuts that I would happily make to ease the burden on our most vulnerable. Did the Minister or any of his Executive colleagues press for those revenue spends to be cut in order to cover the cost of maintaining the winter fuel payment?”
“That is the Member's personal view. Members from the unionist community have a different take on that, Mr McNulty. <BR /> <BR />We all want to see the chronic underfunding of the PSNI addressed, but my party and I also want to see the police putting their current resources to better use, as well as addressing, as a matter of urgency, the crisis in confidence that widely exists.”
“I suspect that there will be those in the House who will not want to hear this, but it is nonetheless true that it is inconceivable that a PSNI officer would fly a Union flag or an Orange standard out the window of their squad car. Yet, when that happened with a GAA flag, it was not only excused but positively welcomed by some in the Chamber. A PSNI squad car cannot perform doughnuts in the road while using the siren inappropriately and waving a divisive flag out the window one day without undermining the authority of officers to pull over a young lad for similar driving offences the next.”
“Staggeringly, the network has been permitted to use the police's internal email system to promote revision classes, notes and interview preparation for promotions that are available only to officers who identify as LGBT+. Unsurprisingly, when asked about that, the Equality Commission reminded us that it is unlawful for any employer to discriminate against its employees on the grounds of sexual orientation. I welcome the fact that the PSNI found reverse gear on the issue, albeit only after it came under pressure. <BR /> <BR />Also, the PSNI needs to be mindful that continuing to pander to certain groups is increasingly creating a crisis of confidence in the unionist/loyalist community towards the police.”
“Likewise, I hear the frustration from PSNI officers who simply do not have the resources to deliver the service that they want to be able to offer the public and that the public rightly demand. Throughout my time as a councillor, I worked closely with the police on many issues. Indeed, I frequently raised the issue of rural crime, which is a blight and a scourge on many of our communities. <BR /> <BR />I would be failing in my duty as a public representative if I did not take this opportunity to highlight the fact that there are a number of things that the PSNI spends its money on that, I believe, are not prudent. I think, for example, of the LGBT+ Network that receives funding from the PSNI budget.”
“The motion raises a number of important questions for the Justice Minister. Chief among them is why, when questioned by any Member about any aspect of the PSNI, the Minister decrees that it is an operational matter and that the question should be directed to the Chief Constable. Yet, when the Chief Constable takes the case for funding for the PSNI to the head of the UK Government, he is reprimanded by the most senior official in the Minister's Department. Does the Minister agree with what her permanent secretary wrote? We are looking for a simple yes or no answer. <BR /> <BR />Before coming to the House, I served for five years on my local PCSP, and I know all too well about the pressures that the policing budget is under. I hear the frustration of many constituents who tell me that they cannot get police officers when they need them.”
“<BR /> <BR />I turn to my predecessor: the new honourable Member of Parliament for North Antrim, Mr Jim Allister, the "dead-end unionist" who brought 54 years of the Paisley dynasty in North Antrim to an end and a man of principle who stood the test of time and has been dead right in his analysis of the sinking sand on which Stormont is built and the dangers of the protocol. Whilst many in the Chamber will not want to admit it publicly, Jim leaves the House a poorer place. He will be missed for his attention to detail and the level of scrutiny he has brought to the Chamber since first being elected in 2011. Yes, it is a daunting vacancy to fill, but I take refuge in and rely on the verse:”
“Certainly, I will take the opportunity in my maiden speech to highlight two seismic events that have taken place in my constituency of North Antrim since the Assembly last sat in July. Our tourism pull has been greatly strengthened after the hidden jewel of Gracehill's Moravian settlement was awarded UNESCO world heritage status, joining the Giant's Causeway in being awarded that prestigious title. I pay tribute to Dr David Johnston and the Gracehill Trust. Their vision and years of dedication and work towards preserving and restoring the 1759 Moravian settlement has led to that historic award for the village.”
“My office has been contacted by victims who have lost loved ones and been denied a pension because they did not see the body in the aftermath of the attack. We have a situation where widows are penalised because their loved one came back to them in a closed coffin. Surely that cannot be right.”
“From the brief opportunity that we have been afforded to consider the document, it appears to me that there is no mention of either the protocol or the Windsor framework. We cannot claim to be securing our economic future while implementing a border that cuts us off from the rest of our Union and, indeed, the sixth biggest economy in the world. My question to the Minister is this: Stormont came back on the basis that Jeffrey Donaldson told the unionist people that there would be zero checks and zero paperwork when it came to trade between GB and Northern Ireland. That has not happened. What, in this document, aims to deliver those promises that allowed Stormont to return?”
“<BR /> <BR />Mr Speaker, if you will indulge me for a moment, I will remind the House that it was because of the courageous stand taken by Sandy Row Boxing Club, which is in your constituency, that those issues came to light. Sadly, as things stand today, the club faces the prospect of ceasing to operate after more than a quarter of a century in the working-class heartland of south Belfast. Again, I urge the Minister to do all that he can on that.”
“A key finding of the report was that boxers from Northern Ireland should have the option, under the terms of the Belfast Agreement, of aiming to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games and other international tournaments. I regret the fact that, 11 years on, no progress has been made on that and that, when it comes to boxing and a number of other sports, no route is open for an athlete to compete under the Union flag on the world's biggest sporting stage. That is a scandal. Something that was identified in a 2013 report should have been dealt with years ago. As we celebrate our athletes' success, I urge the Minister to do what he can to get belated movement on the issue.”
“I thank Claire for tabling the Matter of the Day. We can all celebrate and be proud of the success of Northern Ireland's athletes. To have won only three gold medals in the history of the summer Olympics and then to win four along with a silver and two bronze medals is remarkable. I congratulate all those from Northern Ireland who competed for Team GB or Team Ireland. One hopes that their remarkable success acts as a catalyst to inspire many budding athletes to achieve Olympic glory in the years ahead. <BR /> <BR />I will, however, highlight an equality issue that comes from the Olympics. In December 2013, an independent working group that the then sports Minister established identified serious issues in boxing and highlighted examples of sectarianism and racism.”
“— from such measures as a result of the protocol.”
“Yes, years of underinvestment in this place and the Departments have played a part in that, but burying your heads in the sand will not make the issue go away. My goodness, all the rigorous implementers in the House who cheer every time the protocol separates us further from the rest of the United Kingdom, including on immigration policy, also have to take some responsibility for the mess in which we find ourselves. <BR /> <BR />Moving forward, it is highly likely that Northern Ireland will face greater challenges than the rest of the UK. While the Government in Westminster will look to grapple with the issue, we in Northern Ireland are excluded —”
“If the Member had listened to me, she would have heard me say that immigration has been a factor. I did not say that it was solely the cause of the problem. <BR /> <BR />There are also greater pressures in my constituency, like seeing a doctor or dentist, where — whether or not you like to admit it — immigration has played a part. There are pressures in schools, and immigration has been a factor, mainly due to a language barrier.”
“I have repeatedly heard it claimed that the number of people leaving Northern Ireland is greater than the number of those coming here. Data published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency proves that claim to be false. In fact, there was a net international flow of over 5,000 people in the year ending mid-2022. The reality is that many working-class communities, such as Harryville in my constituency, recognise that immigration has been a factor in the pressures on housing.”
“Honeyed words from the House, spoken while ignoring the problems, will not make the issue go away. The people who have legitimate concerns are fathers, mothers and grandparents. It is simply wrong to brand them as being far right, as many have tried to do. <BR /> <BR />It is only right to acknowledge that the tragic murders in Southport was the catalyst that sparked the current unrest, which is similar to the trouble that we have seen in France and, indeed, the Republic. Unchecked, unpoliced and illegal migration needs to be brought to an end.”
“Whether the House likes to hear it or not, there are legitimate concerns about legal and illegal immigration in Northern Ireland and throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />I welcome the statement from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner, Ms Donna Jones, who said:”
“You cannot say, out of one side of your mouth, that the violence directed at immigrants in recent days is wrong whilst defending, out of the other side of your mouth, the murder of a migrant who brought jobs to west Belfast. All murder was and is wrong, and all violence was and is wrong, and the very fact that there are people sitting in this place who cannot say that is a huge problem. <BR /> <BR />I hear regularly from people who see that violence has worked for others in Northern Ireland and who now believe that it is the only way in which to make others sit up and take notice of their concerns. I hear that argument time and time again. I will never defend violence, but Members need to recognise and respect the fact that people have the right to protest peacefully and express their concerns.”
“<BR /> <BR />I have come to the conclusion that one of the main problems that people such as me have with condemning the violence in this place alongside some of those who condemn the violence in this place is the structures that exist here. The First Minister has said that there was no alternative to the IRA campaign. Let me remind the House what that means. It means that there was no alternative to the murder of Thomas Niedermayer, a German industrialist who brought employment to Belfast, only to be abducted, murdered and buried face down in a dump by the Provisional IRA. It was a horrific case, and it ultimately resulted in a number of his family members taking their own lives.”
“<BR /> <BR />Take Wrightbus as an example from my constituency. It employs over 2,000 people. Owing to the lack of a skilled workforce locally, it has had to bring in 600 skilled workers from the Philippines. Those workers come to Northern Ireland to work, and they contribute financially to the country and integrate into their local community and with their neighbours. They should be made to feel very welcome in Northern Ireland. Across Northern Ireland, multiple sectors depend on foreign workers, and I appeal to those who take to the streets to exercise their right to protest to do so with that fact in mind.”
“I certainly did not envisage that this would be the way in which I would be breaking myself into Assembly debate, but there are times when we need to pull up our socks, get on our feet and lead from the front. <BR /> <BR />I strongly condemn the violence that we have seen in recent days. I will be clear from the outset that the destruction of property and physical attacks on people have no place in Northern Ireland, and they never have. Those responsible need to be brought to justice regardless of the label that they do it under or the organisation from which they stem. I have taken multiple calls from business owners across North Antrim who are concerned about the potential risk to their employees and the potential effect on their business should workers decide to return home.”