Roy Beggs
East Antrim · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I declare an interest as owner of 25 acres of agricultural land; also, my parents run a small agricultural business. <BR /> <BR />There is a shortage of fertiliser, and the Minister has referred to the present difficulties in Ukraine that are contributing to that. That shortage exists even at the exorbitant cost of £1,000 per ton.”
“of public bodies in Northern Ireland. That is vital in order to reassure the public that money is being spent appropriately. That is to be done independently.”
“There has been a very close working relationship and a close partnership. Where issues needed highlighted and where the Assembly, through its scrutiny mechanisms, needed to dig deeper to get better value and better accountability, that occurred.”
“<BR /> <BR />I also want to reflect on the close working relationship that there has been between the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Northern Ireland Audit Office, which the C&AG oversees and manages, and the Assembly, particularly the Public Accounts Committee.”
“As we consider this motion to nominate a new Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland, it is important that we reflect on the importance that the role has in any democracy. The C&AG in Northern Ireland is the head of the Northern Ireland Audit Office.”
“P&O has brutally cast its workforce aside in a Dickensian fashion. There was no consultation or notice, and the company delivered a live message by video link. Will the Minister clarify whether the P&O redundancy announcement is covered by maritime law, Northern Ireland employment law or GB employment law?”
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“There is also a small increase in expenditure for ferries from £3·3 million to £4·3 million and significant increases for railway services, from £112 million to £205 million, and for road passenger services, from £70 million to almost £118 million. Will the Minister confirm that each of those significant increases is largely as the result of having a reduced number of customers? Buses and trains are still running, but less income is being generated. I am interested to know whether that is the cause of all those significant increases or if there are other factors that are not listed. <BR /> <BR />On roads, there has been a significant uplift from 2019-2020 to 2020-21, from £164 million to £209 million. What I found strange about that significant uplift is that there are still ongoing difficulties with issues such as fixing potholes.”
“I noticed that in the introduction to this section in the Main Estimates for the Department, there are, as others have indicated, words of warning regarding uncertainty related to Brexit. We are coming to the end of the Brexit transition period, and there may be unknown costs that may affect the Department. From being on the Committee, I am aware that provision is being made to enable additional grants to be made to our ports and airports should additional emergency funds be necessary, so I can see why that warning is there. Similarly, there is great uncertainty about COVID-19, and it is right that there is a warning listed about it. <BR /> <BR />On the figures quoted, I noted that there is a significant increase in the Driver and Vehicle Agency resource funding from £7 million to £24 million.”
“I also noticed that the Executive Office breached its RfR A limit by some £35 million and had a net cash requirement of some £34 million. The extra expenditure was attributed to the social investment fund, a Strategic Investment Board grant, and Together: Building a United Community. Have we got better at planning so that, had the Executive had been there at that time, we would not be moving large sums of money in the last three months of the year? That is not a good way to build a Budget. <BR /> <BR />I have a number of queries on the Main Estimates. Initially, I will comment largely on the Department for Infrastructure, the Committee for which I serve on.”
“Have we learned lessons to better plan yearly budgets and to avoid moving large sums of money to roads maintenance in the less than ideal winter period when we put tradesmen under difficult conditions and undoubtedly get poor results by putting down a great deal of tar in the middle of winter?”
“I notice in the request for resources (RfR) A section that there was a breach of the Department's resource limit by some £40 million and cash limit by some £63 million.”
“I would be interested to know whether there were subsequent additional costs of RHI that resulted in funds being diverted in a similar fashion. <BR /> <BR />I notice that there was also a large overexpenditure by the Department for Infrastructure. The Minister might be able to advise at some point whether that overexpenditure dates back to pressures that he experienced when he was Minister of that Department or, indeed, when my colleague, Danny Kennedy, was Minister and it appeared that that Department was regularly underfunded, even having to make winter funding awards from in-year funding at the last minute rather than their being budgeted for, as is the case today. Again, I ask the Minister this: have we learned lessons?”
“However, we are aware that civil servants were in an impossible situation when there were no Ministers in place and the opportunity to move money during the spring Supplementary Estimates was not there. <BR /> <BR />Turning to some of the larger ones, I notice that the Department for the Economy had the largest adjustment. There was £81·6 million of additional resource bid for or required, £51 million of which was a result of an underestimate of the notional student loan subsidy. Again, have we learnt lessons, and are we better able to plan? It is better if we can accurately project costs at an early stage, rather than having to make adjustments late in the year. Also listed is £27 million of additional RHI expenditure as a result of the absence from the Northern Ireland RHI scheme of controls that were in place in the GB scheme.”
“I will speak first as the Ulster Unionist member of the Public Accounts Committee. I wish to address the Northern Ireland Statement of Excesses for 2016-17. <BR /> <BR />We are advised that many of the adjustments are of a technical nature and that, had the 2017 spring Supplementary Estimates occurred, the situation would have been regularised. There are excesses that are clearly of a technical nature, particularly around pension schemes requiring additional funding. We need to cover employee obligations, and it would be right to correct that error. Minister, are we getting better at calculating pension estimates so that there are fewer such adjustments going forward? There is relatively little information about many of the other excess expenditures.”
“I welcome the publication of the Main Estimates in the last few weeks. It is important to have detailed estimates for planning purposes. Does the Minister appreciate the importance of having a draft Budget published and engaging with the public, going forward? Will he assure me that we will have one this time and that he will not become the second Sinn Féin Minister to fail to publish a draft Budget?”
“It goes on and on. It is majoritarianism involving Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party on its worst basis. There has been a failure to seek cross-community support that everyone can gather round. We need to move forward constructively. We need to think about what is deliverable. We need to think of the other. We need to make sure that we have free trade east-west and North/South. That should not be restricted by the flawed Northern Ireland protocol, which has created much of the problem. I ask everyone to reflect on that and to see how we can go forward constructively together rather than having these repetitive and monotonous debates that happen over and over again on largely the same subject.”
“The amendment supports the Northern Ireland protocol, which no unionist can support. It cuts us off from the rest of the United Kingdom through trade barriers and restrictions on the movement of goods. The Alliance Party has failed to recognise that. For some reason, it seems to have taken more direction from the Northern Ireland Office. <BR /> <BR />Rather than attempting to bring commonality to the debate, we have been wasting time throwing insults across the Chamber. We need to move forward. I agree with Mr Dickson that we need to ensure a light touch, but the flawed protocol, which should never have been agreed, needs to be rethought, and the debate should not be restricted by them. <BR /> <BR />Several commentators have said that the Assembly has been tabling and supporting anti-UK motions on a monotonous and insulting basis.”
“It is fruitless and is going nowhere, rather than asking all sides of the dispute to draw back. Members should use their best endeavours to help our businesses, farmers, supermarkets and consumers, who are now looking at a potential 5% hike in electricity. That is where we should be, but, for some reason, that is not where we are.”
“I have already given way. <BR /> <BR />At the same time, the hand goes out looking for more money. You Brit-bash in one debate and look for more money in another debate. That is not good politics; it is grandstanding. <BR /> <BR />The language that we have heard in the debate today may be deemed acceptable from a party whose whole existence is based on the destruction of the United Kingdom — in the past, certainly, by whatever means. That is not acceptable in a modern way. It is not acceptable to unionists and should not be acceptable to anybody in the Chamber. I have to ask the SDLP, the Greens and, indeed, the Alliance Party whether the continuation of the, quite frankly, unbalanced assault on one side of the debate is in the interests of their constituents, all our constituents and everyone in Northern Ireland.”
“The fundamental decision in the Belfast Agreement was that any change to the status of Northern Ireland would be done with the agreement of the people of Northern Ireland: a cross-community agreement. That is not what has happened. Northern Ireland has moved to a halfway house, with a border down the Irish Sea, making us different and, unless that can be quickly resolved, causing major disruption to our trade. <BR /> <BR />I also draw attention to the fact that we have a debate of this type almost weekly. It has become monotonous, and at the same time we have Brit-bashing.”
“It is unionists who have been offended by the Northern Ireland protocol, and nationalists need to understand that. They need to understand that we have been diminished by the protocol and the Belfast Agreement has been diminished. That is being ignored by nationalists.”
“I oppose the motion and the amendment. The Ulster Unionist Party will support neither. We encourage those who wish to see balance in the negotiations to reject them. They are not being helpful. They are not helping things, and they are not allowing us to move forward. <BR /> <BR />First of all, Ulster Unionists reject the Government of Boris Johnson and are disappointed that they signed up to a Northern Ireland protocol — a flawed protocol in the first place — and then saw fit to disavow the provisions immediately afterwards. That is not good practice, but it should never have been agreed in the first place. Let us remember that the Northern Ireland protocol breached the Belfast Agreement: there was no consent from the unionist community, and it changed our status in the United Kingdom.”
“CCEA announced adjustments to the curriculum in some areas, but, in others, final confirmation is still to be given to teachers. When will all teachers be aware of the final curriculum for their subjects so that they know what to teach their students and what they will be examined on?”
“The Minister referred to previous inspections. There were inspections on live animals, but there will be considerably more inspections following the imposition of a regulatory border down the Irish Sea, which is something that his party encouraged. Will he confirm that 12 additional environmental health officers are being recruited? Who will be paying for them? Will they be inspecting products coming to Northern Ireland? What will be the cost implication of that? What will be the cost of delays in getting food onto our supermarket shelves?”
“The Justice Department seems to be problematic. It cannot even deliver a written statement here on time, and we are having to disrupt our sitting. I welcome your decision to allow more time for us to read the statement before asking questions. <BR /> <BR />This debacle has resulted in 17 victims being re-traumatised. Our actions should be focused on the victims, and also on protecting the public. The Minister has indicated that she is bringing forward a new justice (miscellaneous provisions) Bill. Will she be bringing it forth so that it can act retrospectively and not only correct this action for future cases, but also apply retrospectively to put this right, to avoid re-traumatising victims, to protect the public and to avoid considerable cost to the public purse in running additional court cases once more?”
“— in cutting us off and we begin looking after ourselves the better.”
“Similarly, £11 billion — sorry, let me get my figures right — £6·7 billion of our goods move to the Republic or to the EU, but a much larger amount, £10·6 billion, moves to GB, so that will potentially have a huge bearing on our exporters and our jobs. We need free flow. I think of simple things. For example, there is an Asda distribution store in my constituency. If goods arrive in and are meant to have a three-day shelf life but only have a two-day shelf life, they get dumped, so the cost of transport and the cost of goods go up. <BR /> <BR />We need solutions, and we need to work together. The sooner we get together and argue against the views being brought forward by the European Community and by the United Kingdom Government —”
“The cost of importing goods will go up, the prices in our shops will go up, delays will cost jobs and trade will be disrupted unless there is an agreement, so this is urgent. What are we doing about it? We are blaming one side or the other. We need to apply pressure to both sides to try to bring about a solution. It is not good enough to continue to take a single-sided approach. <BR /> <BR />I will remind you about the trading aspect. Some £13·4 billion of our trade in 2018 came from Great Britain, and £5·2 billion came from the Republic and the rest of the European Community. A border down the Irish Sea is two and a half times more dangerous unless we get free trade flowing that way. It is not just about free trade flowing North/South; we need free trade flowing east-west. Look at our sales and our exports.”
“<BR /> <BR />Going forward, we have to recognise that, if we do not reach an accommodation, we will all be losers — all Northern Ireland consumers, all Northern Ireland workers and our businesses. We are 100 days away, and what are we doing about it? We are continuing to throw brickbats and blame Brexit. Whether you voted for or against Brexit, it is coming on 1 January. We need solutions, and, until we speak collectively and move towards solutions, applying pressure to both sides in our interests, they will ignore us and we will continue to be pawns. That is why I agree with Steve Aiken: we collectively need to take action, speak to both sides and highlight how this damages Northern Ireland, damages the Belfast Agreement and potentially damages our consumers.”
“and it goes on to explain how such a poll would happen. <BR /> <BR />Why do I say that the protocol breaches the Belfast Agreement? It creates a border down the Irish Sea. It cuts us off from other parts of the United Kingdom. We will not be governed by the Assembly or Westminster. Many decisions will be taken out of our hands and determined by the Joint Committee and the Specialised Committee, arbitrated on at a European level. It significantly alters our constitutional position. There has been no recognition of that, not by the British Government, not by the EU, not by others who claim to be guarantors of the Belfast Agreement. The Americans have taken a single-sided approach. The protocol breaches the Northern Ireland agreement, and that needs to be recognised if we are to have a solution.”
“It continues, at annex A, paragraph 1(1):”
“There has to be a recognition that the Northern Ireland protocol drove a coach and horses through the Belfast Agreement. I quote from paragraph 1(iii) of the "Constitutional Issues" section:”
“I, too, oppose the motion. I reiterate the point made by my colleague Steve Aiken: we are 100 days away, and motions that do not garner support from all sides will be ignored. We need a reality check on that. A particular phrase in the motion irks me, namely where it:”
“In July of this year, DEFRA published a new policy statement on flood and coastal erosion risk management, which aims to create greater resilience in flood and coastal risk management. Will the Minister advise of the outcome of the evaluation of her approach — the homeowner flood protection grant? Is she open to ideas that have been adopted in other parts of the United Kingdom, as well as those relating to infrastructure and flood defence, and to looking at natural defences and at how resilience can be built into housing and to taking a community and catchment-centred approach to coming up with solutions?”
“Thanks for that response, Minister. There has been limited investment, particularly in primary healthcare facilities in my constituency, and I ask you to review those to ensure that there is equal treatment for patients throughout Northern Ireland.”
“Can the Minister quantify the degree to which this project will assist with renewable energy? How can she assure us that generators in Northern Ireland will be on a level playing field when they compete against generators in the Republic of Ireland, where, presently, favouritism is being shown towards new generation in the Dublin area?”
“<BR /> <BR />I am pleased that, this week, the Executive Office granted powers to the Infrastructure Minister so that the taxi industry and the coach industry, and perhaps the wider transport sector, can benefit. However, why has it taken so long to widen those power so that someone can address the issue? As asked by my colleagues, why have all of those people who have been excluded to date not been included in a hardship intervention scheme? Such schemes are operating in other parts of the UK, and we must ensure that businesses, companies and employees can survive without facing huge burdens of debt and going under.”
“Many of those business owners will have taken great risk — perhaps remortgaged their homes and taken loans — and may not be in a position to take further loans that are on offer. We need to recognise that those additional loans that have to be repaid are more likely to benefit larger, more established businesses. We also have to recognise that many of those people who have set up their businesses, perhaps employ only themselves and may even be paid through dividends — so are unwaged and do not qualify — are our entrepreneurs. These are the people who put their neck out, who think of new ideas and who can generate new employment in the future. It is important that we recognise that they are important to our economy and that they are not excluded.”
“However, we have to recognise that there is a degree of concern that it may not always go where it is needed. I have heard of wind farm owners getting additional money when they still have their wind turbines turning. Clearly, some people have benefited who may not have needed it. There has also been a range of other business support grants and, in particular, help for apprentices. We have to recognise that. <BR /> <BR />We also have to recognise, however, that many people have been excluded. There have been attempts to address that in other parts of the United Kingdom. The question is why it has not been worked on here. The excluded include those who are newly self-employed and many microbusinesses, which may actually operate from home and therefore have not benefited from the business support grant.”
“We are fortunate to be part of the United Kingdom. There is the furlough scheme, for which the Chancellor has footed the bill. Thank goodness that it has been there to date. Clearly, it cannot disappear. We need there to be a continuation of some sort to assist those who rely on it. Otherwise, Northern Ireland, in particular, will lose out. We are at huge risk of losing thousands of jobs; jobs in skilled teams that have been put together and risk being decimated. We need to look carefully at that and ensure that funding continues. <BR /> <BR />There has also been COVID-related support through a range of other measures. For example, the business support grant that has been paid out through the rate system was a good, quick way in which to get money out on the ground.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I support the motion. It begins by talking about the Kickstart scheme, which helps 16- to 24-year-olds who are on universal credit to get into employment. It was announced that it would apply to England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland was not mentioned. It has been operational since 2 September. What is happening in Northern Ireland? That scheme helps young people, the businesses they work in and the economy. What we do not want to do is experiment with our own individual system and then find out that it is flawed. We should have learnt from the renewable heat incentive scheme that if there is a system that is widely applied, we can learn from it quickly and get it on the ground. <BR /> <BR />We all have to recognise that much support has been provided in Northern Ireland.”
“I share the idealistic vision that you create, but I just wonder how it will be delivered. Government borrowing restrictions limit the public funds available. If there is not a partnership of some sort between housing associations and the private sector, are you not just going to be looking for a vision and not delivering it?”
“Would the Member accept that living in a town centre can bring opportunities as well? There are libraries in town centres, and numerous groups meet in towns. Yes, I appreciate that there are risks and potential isolation, but there is also much potential for networking and benefit to those who chose to live there.”
“Does the Member accept that 11 areas had the scheme and that it had not been afforded to many other parts of Northern Ireland, so that should be a major consideration?”
“I agree entirely with the Member. <BR /> <BR />The report was published in, I think, September 2016, and it has sat on the shelf for virtually four years when the Assembly did not meet. Homelessness got worse during that period, yet the ideas in the report have sat there and have not been addressed. It is important that we deal with it now, and it is important that we come up pragmatic schemes that will work. If they do not work with those who own the property, do not work with potential tenants and do not work with other potential partners, perhaps housing associations, they will not happen. It is important, in designing a scheme, that we get one that will work so that we can provide the homes that are badly needed, revitalise our town centres and improve the footfall and the feeling of safety among the people who live there.”
“For instance, it identifies 30 properties in Larne with the potential to be used if such a scheme is rolled out. There are 10 in Ballymena and 20 in Carrickfergus, which is the other town centre in my constituency.”
“<BR /> <BR />Mr Durkan talked about how there was potential to bring about quick change. The buildings are already there; we are talking about modifying buildings. I suspect that, in terms of the overall cost, it is probably more efficient to use those buildings than to build new homes from scratch. We have a homelessness issue throughout Northern Ireland, not just in some areas. There are huge pressures in finding homes for families and individuals in our towns and cities in Northern Ireland, and it is important that we come up with a scheme that will apply widely and not just concentrate on some areas. <BR /> <BR />I would like to highlight the report that was published in 2016. That was a useful review of the Living over the Shop scheme and is very detailed.”
“<BR /> <BR />In moving forward, it is important that we come up with a scheme that will work, not one that will tick all our own personal boxes. Other schemes have tried to improve the town centres in my constituency. The Heritage Lottery Fund has been useful for some properties, but it involves specifications that mean that other property owners leave properties vacant and do not think it is worthwhile, perhaps because the property is in a conservation area where there is a high cost to follow what is required by the fund. It is important that we adapt our planning policies to make sure that something happens and to make sure that the high level of vacancies is addressed to bring life back into those town centres and provide the homes that we all want.”
“<BR /> <BR />It is important that we look at reusing our town centres and getting sustainable use from them, and I have no doubt that living in our town centres is an important element of that. It is important that we refresh our planning policies and the grants that are available to support them. <BR /> <BR />As has been indicated, there was a previous Living over the Shop scheme that supported 11 areas throughout Northern Ireland. My constituency, particularly the town centres of Larne and Carrickfergus, was not supported. Many other town centres were not supported by the previous scheme, and, therefore, the potential for the scheme to help those town centres and help address the level of homelessness in those areas is perhaps greater than in other areas.”
“If there are vacancies, it makes our town centres less attractive, so it is important that we address those vacancies and encourage schemes such as the Living over the Shop scheme that can reuse that vacant property. As Mr Buckley said, we may need to look at the overall planning policies in our town centres. There is no point in having planning policies that assume the shopping patterns of yesterday still; we need to be more flexible. <BR /> <BR />I recall, when coming to the Assembly, getting temporary accommodation for an office in a town centre. It was the only location that I could get with disability-friendly access. I literally had frontage access and no shop window, but I had to apply for temporary accommodation for a number of years. Eventually, that moved on.”
“I, too, support the motion. I thank Mr Buckley for having moved the motion, indicating the importance of a new Living over the Shop scheme or something like it to promote and encourage our town centres and to address the change in retailing and the high level of vacancies there. There is a problem, and we need to address it. <BR /> <BR />Once, the pressure on town centres was from out-of-town shopping centres. As others have indicated, it has moved on from that. During this recent period, the effects of COVID and having to live with the virus have exacerbated that situation, accelerating the move to online retailing and reducing footfall and turnover in our town centre shops. That additional pressure has, in turn, created further vacancies, and it is important that we arrest that decline and get footfall into town centres.”
“I hope that they and the Department will act reasonably and accommodate reasonable solutions to enable this important work to happen, but we have to be realistic. This will be expensive and will be very disruptive to the environment, but are we going to protect people's houses? It is vital that we do. In Newcastle, major construction work will be required. As I and others have said, the risk of high tides and the geography of the area, with the unpredictability of intensive rainfall, the extent of the catchment of the Shimna river and the height that the water falls from, means that there is considerable risk of large movements of water. It would take considerable investment and much planning to give badly needed protection to the people of Newcastle, and I hope that that will happen as soon as possible.”
“An interesting thing about that is that, whilst criticism has been directed at our administrators, the Minister of Agriculture from 2011 to 2015, if I am right, was Michelle O'Neill. What happened during that period since 2008 when we had that flooding? Subsequently, in 2016, we had Chris Hazzard, and then the whole Executive were disrupted and a further two years passed. It is important not just to shove the blame onto someone who happens to occupy the seat at this time. There is a responsibility on everybody concerned to recognise the failings that happened and to put them right. <BR /> <BR />I hope that we can work together constructively. There may well be a need for intensive discussions with landowners to bring that to a conclusion.”
“There is also the issue of the Burren river, where a flood alleviation scheme has been carried out. There has been significant time, and, as others have said, it could have been reasonably well predicted that this could happen again. The 100-year storms are happening very frequently. They are happening every 10 or 20 years, if not more often. It is important that, as a community, an Assembly and an Executive, we try to manage the process as much as possible. It is not good enough just to blame civil servants who were there on the day to provide sandbags: long-term change needs to happen, and the Assembly and Executive need to get involved in that. <BR /> <BR />Until recently, the Rivers Agency was part of the Department of Agriculture.”
“He highlighted the issue of higher levels of rainfall and the potential for increased flooding and said that this would particularly affect coastal communities. My colleague, Harold McKee, who was a councillor for the area, was working on a site in the area. He has advised me that sandbags would not have solved any problems there. It was a wall of water that came. Some five feet of water hit the site where he was, so a few sandbags would not have done anything. Long-term changes and investment are needed, perhaps managing some of the water upstream, which has been of benefit in other places, and compensating the farmers involved etc and looking at structural improvements in the areas that have flooded. <BR /> <BR />I understand that the Shimna river flooded in 2008.”
“As the Ulster Unionist spokesperson, I welcome the opportunity to speak in this important debate. The flooding of homes is devastating for the individuals affected. Many priceless possessions are destroyed; their lives are turned upside down; and they may not get back into their houses for months, even a year in some instances. It takes a lot of time to put right the wrong. Frequently, raw sewage is in the mix as well, and that causes much of the damage. It is important that we do all that we can to prevent this happening. <BR /> <BR />In 2002, my colleague, Dermot Nesbitt, commented on the relatively new principle of climate change, and I am sure that he had County Down in mind, being a representative of South Down.”