Jon Burrows
North Antrim · Ulster Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“It is invasive for someone to be cross-examined by the person who has caused them grave trauma and great hurt — the person who has victimised them. Cross-examination can be done by legal counsel, which is sound.”
“It is adversarial for good reason, but there are really important things that we can do when it comes to process, the system, dealing with cross-examination, disclosure and character references. I hope that we have a victims and witnesses commissioner who is the loudest and strongest voice for victims.”
“I agree. I rang one of the victims on the evening after the conviction and apologised. Even though I had no role over Mr Campbell, I said that I was ashamed that that man, Lloyd-Lavery, was ever employed by the party or by an MLA and ashamed that the man who gave him a character reference was a former chair of our party.”
“I welcome the Bill. It is long overdue, because our justice system in Northern Ireland is tilted towards the interests of suspects and perpetrators over and above the interests of victims and the general public.”
“There is always a balance to be struck between the rights of an unconvicted person who has been accused of a crime and the rights of the victim, and we need to get that balance right. We should never forget that there have been miscarriages of justice in our country down through the years.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Education Minister should have included the measure in the School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill. That would have achieved it far more efficiently, but it was not done.”
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“We are enthusiastic about the Bill. It is positive that we will see honest endeavours made to reduce the cost of school uniform. It is worth stating for the record that we genuinely believe that no pupil should ever feel stigmatised or excluded by reason of the affordability of school uniform. Something that puts affordability at the very centre of discussions on school uniform is to be welcomed. There is a balance, of course, and we want to ensure that schools have a degree of discretion, autonomy, flexibility and, indeed, that we do not do anything that devalues the role that the uniform can play in a school. It brings a sense of collegiality, identity and pride. It also promotes good behaviour, especially when pupils are outside the school grounds.”
“Will the Minister provide an overview of some of the most pressing issues affecting men's health at this time in Northern Ireland?”
“We agree that there is a role for rehabilitation, but there have to be proper boundaries and proper safeguards for our animals. Therefore, I ask for cross-community and cross-party support. We need to look out for this animal. You cannot pluck out an animal and put it in a prison with no trained handler and never let it go home. It is an abuse of the animal, and I am calling for the Justice Minister to cease this programme until there is proper legislation and proper safeguards and boundaries.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Justice Department should be a role model for good behaviour, not ignore it. Every dog charity agrees, and Causeway Coast Dog Rescue has been speaking to me all weekend. I saw some pictures — an attempt, perhaps, to draw equivalence — of a comfort dog supporting victims of crime in court. I welcome that. That dog, a St Bernard, is brought in to see the victims of crime by its handler, its owner. It then goes back home. There is no equivalence between that and a dog that is kept in prison. <BR /> <BR />There are real questions about the welfare of this dog. To whom is it microchipped? Who is the lawful owner? Who is responsible for it? No rules, no regulations, and yet it is in one of the most high-risk settings that you can have in society — a prison. It is housed in the H2 wing, and it is walked by a sex offender.”
“We are here to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and a great number of people in the Prison Service are very uncomfortable with the fact that the dog is there. The staff who are looking at after it are not trained, it has no designated handler and it is passed from pillar to post between untrained staff. I have had it confirmed in writing by the Justice Minister that it does not go home and that it has no master. Those who understand service dogs know that they have clear boundaries. Dogs in the Prison Service or the Police Service and other service dogs wear a different harness at work than they do when they go home. There are dogs that will be hypervigilant at work but will sleep through a thunderstorm when they go home because they know that they are at home. This dog lives in a prison.”
“I raise the issue of a dog that has been incarcerated for life, I am afraid to say, in Magilligan prison by the leadership of the Northern Ireland Prison Service and by our Department of Justice. There is not single animal charity that has not, to me, expressed outrage that a dog has been placed, with the title of "comfort dog", inside Magilligan prison. It has no master, and it has no handler. I am unaware of any service dogs that are in that position. Anyone who understands pets or working dogs professionally knows that they need to have a handler and a master. This dog does not go home; it lives in the prison. <BR /> <BR />I think that it is our job to cut across party lines.”
“Therefore, I extend our thoughts as a party to the family and friends of Charlie Kirk, and to people who feel that they cannot speak out because, if they do so, they will be oppressed and may even be assassinated. We all need to stand for free speech, and we all need to have this clear red line: violence is wrong, will always be wrong in the future and was always wrong in the past.”
“Nothing about one's political views or views of faith or on how a country should be governed or its constitutional status ever justify one's murder. Every one of us in this place should use our language to say that violence is wrong and always has been wrong. There are people listening to us out there, particularly young people, who cannot make the distinction that some who sit in this place can, in saying, "Violence was OK up to that point — that date — when we said so, but it is not justified any more". We need to take that out of the equation. <BR /> <BR />As a party, we remember, of course, that we have lost members, including Edgar Graham, to political violence.”
“On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, I extend our thoughts and condolences to the wife and family and friends of Charlie Kirk. It was a brutal assassination, carried out in the full glare of today's social media. Many people beyond his family and friends and, indeed, beyond America will have been traumatised. Such things can be a chill factor when it comes to people expressing their views honestly and passionately. <BR /> <BR />It is not appropriate, as we acknowledge the terrible crime and atrocity that we witnessed last week, to bring into it in any way a conversation about responsible language. It is absolutely vital that people can speak and be heard and be controversial. Yes, they can be governed under the law, but nothing about a person's words ever justifies the use of violence against them.”
“I thank the Minister for that update. Does he agree that educational underattainment among boys is a particular issue in Northern Ireland and that a more balanced workforce, by way of attracting more male teachers into the profession, would help to provide positive role models in the education sector? Is there any international best practice that would help us to attract more men into the teaching profession in Northern Ireland?”
“Shameful. That will only increase the attacks on our Police Service. <BR /> <BR />I will always stand for the gallant men and women of the Royal Ulster Constabulary George Cross who served before. I will not allow history to be rewritten or unwritten. <BR /> <BR />I want to look forward and pay tribute to all those who are out today serving the people of Northern Ireland without fear, favour or distinction. I pay tribute to them today.”
“I will say this: you cannot stand up and say today that you support the members of our emergency services, who are being assaulted and spat at, when you are the Minister who has proposed a consultation on downgrading the penalty for an assault on a police officer from a prosecution to a ticket. It would be like a speeding ticket.”
“They see a 10-second clip and come to an instant judgement. Members of the House have condemned officers when they had no context — judge, jury and executioner. We had the debacle on the Ormeau Road, with senior members of Sinn Féin demanding that a young constable be thrown under the bus. That act really should have resulted in more consequences, not just for the Chief Constable who bent the knee to that demand. I am glad that we have a stronger Chief Constable now. <BR /> <BR />We have an Alliance Party whose Minister, I am afraid, has been disastrous in her leadership of Justice.”
“I am reminded of a colleague who was at the scene of the Omagh bomb — I know that he was very touched by the inquiry recently — and who shared with me the fact that body parts went past him that day. He saw a watch on a deceased person's arm. His child then asked for that same type of watch, and he did everything that he could not to buy it as a Christmas present, because it would remind him every day of the sights that he had seen. <BR /> <BR />It is vital that we support our emergency services. They need to be properly resourced. They need fair pay. Also, they need our support. One of the reasons that motivated me to come to this place was that too many of its Members are involved in making instant judgements based on a clip on social media about the conduct of our police officers in particular.”
“On Emergency Services Day, I pay tribute to all the men and women of the emergency services across Northern Ireland. Today, I am proud to wear my Police Federation tie, which was a gift from the federation. Our emergency services do tremendous work for all the people of Northern Ireland. They put themselves in harm's way, and that comes with a great sacrifice. The things that they see, hear and smell cannot be unseen and unheard, and they live with the memories of those human beings for their entire life. <BR /> <BR />The brain never forgets trauma, and it is often triggered in the most unexpected circumstances when you come across something in daily life that suddenly takes you back.”
“I listened to constituents, and, when I did my research, I found that that was one of the top five things that people contacted the previous office about. They wait too long for statements of educational need and have to go too far for a school once they get one. I agree, therefore, with the substance of the motion. I also agree with Mr Gaston's amendment, which states that we need to value our teaching assistants. If this constitutes a conflict of interest, I declare that several members of my family are teaching assistants. We say that we value teaching assistants, but that is not shown in their pay packets or in their terms and conditions. They carry out a vital role for society, and I want to support them. I am happy to support the motion and Mr Gaston's amendment.”
“Those things simply are not acceptable. <BR /> <BR />Of course, the constituency has a lot of problems with immigration. I will stand by the lawful immigrants of North Antrim. My granny was treated by Filipino nurses, and my family is eternally grateful for their care and diligence. I have supported the lawful migrants. I will always call out violence — unlike some people, I do not think that there is ever justification for violence — but I will have the honest conversations about asylum, illegal immigration and the fact that we ask the people in our society who have the least to take the biggest influx of newcomers, which puts pressure on access to social housing, health and education. <BR /> <BR />I turn to education as I come to the conclusion of my remarks.”
“To be frank, I was shocked when, on my first day, I walked into Drumtara estate and had to pinch myself to be sure that I was in a first-world country, because it looked like a third-world country. Not only had people to wait years for social housing; they then had to wait years for basic repairs. There were homes with missing tiles, when people had been asking for them for months. I had to ask myself, "How did we put a man on the moon many years ago yet we cannot replace tiles?". There was grass that was uncut because the Housing Executive and the council could not agree on whose responsibility it was because a child's bike had been left in the middle of a grassy verge and whoever had the contract to cut the grass could not lift the bike away. It took an intervention from a councillor, backed up by an MLA, to get the grass cut.”
“I had bulletproof windows and blast-proof doors, and letter bombs were sent to me, but I was not for leaving. <BR /> <BR />It is a wonderful constituency, but it has a lot of problems. The farmers, who are the heartbeat of the constituency, are in the armlock in society between trying to look after our climate for the future and allowing people to have a livelihood today. They are not listened to enough in this place — I hope that that is not a controversial statement — about the inheritance tax proposals that pose an existential threat to them in Northern Ireland. I will support our farmers. <BR /> <BR />I will also support people who experience social housing issues.”
“There is nothing controversial in that, and I have a strong evidence base for it that I will come to now. There is no other place in Northern Ireland that has not one but two UNESCO world heritage sites: the Giant's Causeway and the wonderful Moravian village of Gracehill. My constituency has the only UNESCO world heritage sites in Northern Ireland; the best coastline of the island of Ireland; the best whiskey in the world; the Dark Hedges; and all those other things, so I am absolutely honoured — I will try not to get emotional in saying this — to represent it. That is why, when I was under serious threat from dissident republicans — I have lived at 10 addresses in the past 25 years — I lived in Ballymoney for 10 years and nothing could budge me from there.”
“He is not a man who is interested in climbing the greasy pole or in advancement. He is not even a man who is interested in being in the public eye. He is interested in helping people and, in that sense, he is a rare person in politics. I am glad that he is now part of my constituency operation and will be helping me to deliver services across North Antrim. <BR /> <BR />North Antrim is a wonderful constituency. I will say this, and some people will certainly agree: it is the most beautiful constituency in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
“He had been in their homes at times when they had suffered real bereavement and crisis. In their darkest hours, they looked to Colin, and he was always there.”
“This may be the first time in quite a while that I will have spoken for five minutes without saying something controversial, but I will try. Thank you for the warm words of welcome that all Members have given me. If I looked somewhat surprised when some Members walked over, shook my hand and said, "Welcome. You are a great addition to the Chamber", it is because they have blocked me on Twitter. There are at least four of them. I will go through my profile and see whether there are any more. <BR /> <BR />I pay tribute to my predecessor, Colin Crawford, and not because that is the convention. I have been in North Antrim for the past four weeks, speaking directly to constituents. They told me that Colin had spent nights on the street when it was dark and dangerous.”