Proposed:
That this Assembly is ashamed of the long suspensions of devolution over the last ten years; accepts responsibility for the decline in public services that have taken place over that time; apologises to public sector workers who have experienced pay injustice over the last ten years; resolves that the functioning of the Assembly and the Executive should never again be subject to the veto of a single party; and calls on the First Minister and deputy First Minister to include a specific commitment to reform of the institutions in the Programme for Government.
Leader of the Opposition
Can you read the motion that this assembly is ashamed of the long suspensions of devolution over the last 10 years accepts responsibility for the decline in public services that have taken place over that time apologizes to public sector workers who have experienced pay Injustice over the last 10 years resolves that the
Functioning of the assembly and the executive should never again be subject to The veto of a single party and call on the first Minister and Deputy first minister to include a specific commitment to reform of the institutions in the program for government the opposition to move the motion moved M
Speaker thank you the business committee has agreed to lie up to 1 hour 30 minutes for this debate The Proposal of the motion will have 10 minutes to propose and 10 minutes to wind all other speakers will have five minutes please open the debate in motion thank you very
Much Mr speaker uh I am pleased to open the debate on the first opposition day of this new mandate opposition is a natural and healthy part of democratic politics and we intend to perform that role as we have done thus far constructively during the negotiations that led to the creation of these
Institutions Senator George Mitchell famously pledged to bring his then newly born son back to Belfast one day to listen to watch a sitting of the Northern Ireland assembly Senator Mitchell said I hoped we would watch and listen as the members debated the ordinary issues of life in a Democratic Society Education Health Care
Agriculture tourism Senator Mitchell was able to fulfill his wish in 2012 with his then teenage son but when he returned in 2012 last year for the 25th anniversary of the agreement he helped Brooker that created this assembly there was no Northern Ireland assembly to observe because for five of the past
Seven years there has been no devolved government in Northern Ireland at all today’s motions from the sdlp in our opposition day are about preventing that ever happening again because if it does happen again if these institutions do collapse again I’m not alone in believing they will simply never
Reemerge those of us in politics and the media often focus a lot on the party political impact of one uh decision or another what does this mean for the dup how might shenen React to what the dup does how will the rest of the parties behave these are legitimate and
Necessary questions in a democracy but taken to an extreme a fixation on itical standoff standoff leads us to the situation where public services and indeed the public themselves are of secondary importance for nearly a decade party political standoff and veto has allowed our public services and our
Public realm to Decay and in some cases collapse I scarcely need list the Litany of problems that beset our public services from the worst Healthcare waiting list in Western Europe to chronically underfunded child care to special educational needs at breaking point or Beyond none of these problems
Were created by storm and collapse and none of them will be solved merely by the return of devolved government but all of these problems all of them along with virtually every other public policy challenge we face has been undeniably made worse by the absence of devolved government the absence of ministerial
Decisions to take decide priorities and allocate budget budgets accordingly the absence of a multi-year spending program to allow Health Service leaders to recruit doctors and nurses on a long-term basis the absence of any funding guarantees until the last minute for large parts of the community and voluntary sector though we are all at
Least the vast majority of us pleased to see devolved government return we cannot pretend that public trust in the very idea of this assembly and executive have not been profoundly damaged they have in a recent survey conducted by Queens University only a third of Voters thought the executive would survive
Until the end of this mandate that Madame Deputy speaker is an extraordinary statistic despite the positivity around the restoration of stor only one than three people think it will last 3 years that statistic should shame all of us in this chamber that level of cism and distrust is exactly
Why I asked the first and Deputy first ministers to pledge to not resign their office before the end of this mandate that wasn’t a stunt I was asking a question that most of our citizens want to know the answer to Madame chair our first motion today Begins by expressing shame on behalf of
This entire Institution for its repeated collapses and the profoundly negative consequences they have had for ordinary citizens workers and public services to be clear that isn’t about assigning blame but it is about acknowledging a collective failure of the political class to deliver stable and sustainable government here to anybody who thinks we
Should simply leave the rules unreformed after nearly a decade of chaos and Devolution only functioning for for a few years out of that I would simply say this are you serious can anyone argue with a straight face that we are fine as we are and she just plug by own
Regardless as that saying goes the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem Mr Madam speaker it is worth unpacking some of that problem we all know there are Divergent narratives of Irish history but most of us should be able to agree that tragically Northern Ireland has been marked by division
Between people throughout its existence there was of course division before partition these institutions were created after nearly 30 years of violent conflict that conflict itself came after half a century of one party rule which excluded one Community from virtually all political power in inde of times that exclusion seemed to be the
Motivating purpose of the state that hugely difficult inheritance is why we negotiated a system of power sharing of government based on inclusion rather than exclusion and as the party that did so much to shape the Good Friday agreement we don’t agree with those who think that power sharing or
Consociationalism as it’s known among academics are in themselves the root of our problems and our dysfunction to take such a view is to to willfully ignore history including the manner in which this jurisdiction was created as well as ignoring the reality of a postconflict society but it is possible to reform and
Change the way power sharing Works in order to provide a basic guarantee that there will be a government in the first place our reform motions today are designed to complement and Implement one another the first motion I am moving acknowledges the harm done by repeating collapses then pledges two things number
One the principle that no single party should ever again be able to collapse the institutions at will I don’t think that’s unreasonable and secondly that the program for government should contain a specific commitment to reform our second motion which I will address in more detail when I move it later on today
Creates a specific vehicle for producing legislative proposals on reform namely an ad hoc committee required to produce a report on options for removing the single party veto by September this year I’m sure there will be opportunities for us to debate and and me to answer some uh of the questions around those
Proposals during the course of this debate but uh Madame chair our motions do not prescribe an exact model of Reform of the V but a number of options have already been publicly Advanced and here I would acknowledge the work of the alliance party on this agenda they have
Proposed an optout model for parties that qualify for one of the top two rules but do not want to take one the ni Affairs committee at Westminster proposed a series of related changes some of which would undercut though not completely remove the current veto many
Of these ideas such as a move to Super majority voting as opposed to cross community voting were based on sdlp proposals new no one party can or should own reform by definition we need to achieve some degree of consensus in order to make it happen happen there are
Multiple rots to reform but we do need to agree today that the first and most urgent change has to be removing the power to collapse government and not making it conditional on other concessions the Protections in the Good Friday agreement are supposed to build confidence not reinforce
Mistrust the purpose of power sharing is supposed to be positive partnership not negative veto it has been said in recent days that the heavy lifting on this work needs to be done by Chris heon Harris uh the Secretary of State we strongly disagree a t Secretary of State working out his
Noce will not do this work for us we need to do it ourselves I’m not going to give way at the minute but I will give way later on when I wind I’ll answer any questions but I but but but I’m not going to give way in my uh at this stage
A tour Secretary of State working out his noce will not do the work for us we need to do it ourselves starting with with these opposition day motions and let’s remember Madame chair the first and Deputy first Minister the Finance Minister are now themselves engaged in a process of negotiation with the treasury
Over the financial settlement one in which we as a constructive opposition have said we support the asks you are making but let’s be real one of the reasons why the treasury and this Tory government have been able to be so cynical in their treatment of these institutions uh and uh and politicians
Here has been because of the repeated cycle of collapse in order to build not just credibility uh with the public in order to reinforce our ability to negotiate with the UK government and others we need to have sustainable political institutions and not institutions uh that collapse uh so
Routinely so as I said a Tory Secretary of State working out his notice will not do the work for us we need to do it ourselves starting with these opposition day motions let’s protect I will give way in my wine speech I’m happy to give
Way to anyone who didn’t get in at this stage let’s protect the best of the agreement and reform The veto that’s undermining trust in the rest of it the food Ops and positive vibes of the past month have been welcome we’ve seen this movie before and rather than wait for
The nasty plot turn and not so shock ending let’s change the script let’s never again plunge our public services and our people into the Vortex of new government and New Hope and I command this opposition motion to the assembly thank you Matthew our next speaker is deg har
Yeah thanks very much and today’s motion uh refers back to the last 10 years and references the decline in public services in that time and indeed our public services and the workers who sustain them are part of the Bedrock of our society along with our people communities and our local economies
Ensuring they can operate on a sustainable fooding and addressing need and importantly driving aspirations are essential therefore in doing so addressing the underlying root causes impacting on our Public Services is critical particularly when you look at events over this past decade but what I find bizarre in this motion when looking
At the impacts on our public services and the cause and effects there’s no mention at all of the British Tory government and their regressive policies when we look back over the last 10 plus years we have witnessed a number of societal shocks the impact of the financial Crist Cameron and Osborne’s
Tory austerity policies brexit Co Global events and the cost of profit crisis and when you look at all of these shocks some of which were deliberate and policy intent and political choices you see the impact they are driving in terms of poverty and inequality and how their effects disproportionately impact on
Certain sections of our population our women and children those with disabilities our working class or min minority ethnic communities and indeed our older people The tor’s Chosen policy of austerity has and is having a devastating impact on public services countless research has shown the impact of savage Tory cuts on public services
And their ability to respond not just here but also across England Scotland and Wales billions of pounds have been stripped from public services since 2010 and this has had deadly impact and consequences research has shown the Tory austerity policy since 2010 were the main cause of the decline in the rate of
Which life expectancy has increased a further review showed the impact of Tor aurity on health our health system which is causing increased poverty unemployment and homelessness and as a result putting considerable strain on our Health Service and its ability to respond we have again seen this
Exacerbated by bra exit and the loss of essential European funding which again targeted those most in need and today here in this building we can hear the equality Coalition who are showcasing the need for an anti-poverty strategy due to these impacts being felt here this has also been backed by the women’s
Movement and The Wider community and voluntary sector that see these impacts in terms of Tory cuts the executive has protected people by mitigating against the worst excess of Tory cuts and challenging this must remain our priority and we need appropriate funds based uh to address this need particularly as was stated in a
Postconflict society this was the commitment given by all executive parties and indeed by the opposition on the 4th of February passed in the joint letter to the British treasury Say by Shen F the dup Alliance the AER unionist party and the stlp which called on the need to make
Immediate and durable changes to our funding arrangements to deliver on public sector pay deliver a fiscal framework and importantly plan for fiscal sustainability if we’re seriously to address the underlying root causes of inequality and indeed developing world-class sustainable Public Services then we all must work collectively to address the funding shortfall challenge
Austerity and transform our public services to meet the needs of our workers families and communities that’s why the public really want us to be doing here today and in the days ahead and that’s where our focus is and will remain so G May thank you dear Dre I call Jonathan
Buckley thank you principal Deputy speaker and I suppose firstly happy opposition day uh to all members across the house I think given the immediate IM immediate media attention that there’s been in the topic we should actually Define what the opposition is it’s the party that lost the election now I know
Shen fan have a or sorry the sdlp have a significant record in this regard going from being the largest nationalist party in this place to the second largest nationalist party and perhaps given recent polling regards the alliance party maybe you’re even the third nationalist party of the chamber but the
Motion before us today you know we talked about weeks we had months trailed H Mr UL was clinging to the desk of His official leader of the opposition title at the wh of whether or not the ustra unionist or indeed the alliance would take that place they chose not to so the
Duty of responsibility lies with Mr oton and I thought we were being told that we were going to have a constructive opposition one that relished the opportunity to hold government accountable on the bread and butter issues are we really saying now the real political priorities of the
Sdlp no motion from the sdlp health spokesperson Mr McGrath on health waiting lists and constructive suggestions on how to bring them down no motion from the sdlp education spokesperson Miss Hunter on the much needed capital investment for new schools and indeed special Educational Funding um challenges to date no motion
From the public chairman Mr mccrossen on huge concerns in the Northern Ireland audit office report I think we will hear plenty from the official opposition shortly um and again finally no motion from Mr OT the chair of the finance committee in relation to the budget and we understand in such a
Week where we have a a a UK budget being set out later this week surely a motion outlining those concerns would have been the people’s priorities rather than Petty points scoring from the official opposition instead members what we have is a motion on proposed changes to the Belfast Good Friday agreement the party
Of super majorities rather than accommodation is this now the real party of John Hume I think that question needs to be asked turning to the issue of Reform itself we do not deny that the challenges presented in in terms of stability of the institutions the length of time the executive and assembly has
Not fully functioned over the past 25 years is regrettable however we cannot lose sight to the fact that we live in a contested space emerging from Decades of terrorism success is not always guaranteed in this regard this is a reminder of the need to preserve rather than destroy the the delicate balance of
Community relations that is interwoven into strand one of the agreement issues of instability regardless of what political party it may come from our community can often be complex as has been seen in most recent times let’s look at the most recent issue of instability we had Arrangements voiced
Upon the people of Northern Ireland in which not one unionist democratically elected could support not one if we had a similar situation arise whereby it was an for example nationalism that had an issue would that likely lead to a similar outcome I mean the sdlp MP clar Hannah was on record
That of saying that in such circumstances no well it’s true I I’ll speak to the record actually H to the leader of the opposition you cannot imagine that people would take that without a minimum of civil disobedience at a very minimum the inescapable truth members is that we live in a contested Society
Absolutely accept that you know we are dealing with a situation where it’s mandatory Coalition in Northern Ireland it’s an imperfect system but it’s one we have to work with it means compromise and working together on issues the member has an extra minute and please people could people stop sharting from s
Position I than I thank the member for his intervention and it leads me on to my next point which is the inescapable truth is that we live I’ll have to continue to get through to live in a contested place the best way to defend the institutions from collapse is ultimately to
Ensure that we talk about issues that are affecting everyday Working Families Our Frontline workers our schools children as well as protect the most vulnerable in our society this is where the program for government priorities should be it is not coincidence but by design that the mechanisms for review
Are not only built into strand one but rest outside of the executive this reflects the real need to ensure that all members and parties have a stake and the space to give attention to them in closing Madame principal Deputy speaker consensus politics will be the only way we can stay off instability the
Political Arrangements in Northern Ireland must be capable of commanding the broad support of all Traditions across our Province the motion before the house simply implies that Devolution could still operate and succeed outside these parameters that is fanciful to say the least cross community consent has been essential to achieving progress in
This province and it should be viewed as the solution and not the problem thank you I call Paul Bro thank you um Deputy or principal Deputy speaker um unlike the previous speaker I’d like to say that we in the alliance party are actually delighted that this is the
First topic chosen for debate on this opposition day as it reflects the alliance party policy and priority of longstanding uh and we will of course be supporting the motion and I would just like to welcome the opposition to this discussion um and just to emphasize just how long-standing it has been our our
Party’s position um around meaningful reform I have right here members um a document called um agenda for democracy that we and the Lance party published 20 years ago today and it is remarkable I pre pre appreciate sorry um how um prophetic it was even before um St Andre’s agreement
It sought fundamental revisions not quick fixes the quick F fixes since as the proposers themselves will agree have only made things worse go ahead outlining her party’s commitment uh to ensuring the reform of these institutions could the remember remind the house during the collapse in 2017 to
2020 how many times her party recalled this assembly to try and move on to try and get this assembly back up and running when one party was blocking its return um the member has an extra M thank you um principal Deputy speaker well you obviously weren’t a member then
And and the issue at that time was that we were renegotiating getting us back and we did call for it many times and we did take things forward but the argument you had with the UK government over those two years was not one that could be solved in this chamber and shame on
You shame on your party for the impact that that has had on our public sector um we have seen a decline in that and for you to hold the whole hold the whole country to ransome over your party issue is absolutely shameful and um our gener
We will feel the effects of this for generations to come so um Prince point of order is it in order for the member to address her comments directly at me and I know obviously she was a member of the Tory party unlike me but could you correct
The member to see if she can address me directly on the comments um all remarks should be done through the chair but I believe we we need to just accept that this is a coton Thruster debate um and if you have an isue regarding what I’ve just said then
Go and see the speaker but I would encourage members just uh look as if you’re talking through the chair go ahead thank you thank you principal Deputy speaker and I was responding directly to to the comments so um our agenda for democracy document um some parts of it have actually been
Implemented including the reduction in departments and Devolution of justice but so where the document is still relevant is that it sought an executive founded like almost any other government in the Democratic world through negotiation and compromise taking into account our particular circumstances the idea was that any Coalition should be
Able um to take office provided it had the support of a weighted majority in the assembly which would ensure that it was inclusive and 20 years on I would suggest that ideas time has come it would remove the ability of a single party to wield an all destructive fedo
That we saw over the last two years um and parties are entitled to opt out of government but they are not entitled to force others to opt out to weed majority voting ensuring an inclusive government but um also a genuine choice for the electorate would also enable the abolition of communal designation even
Back in 2004 that was seen as a crude form of institutionalized sectarianism and in 2024 it is entirely inappropriate um for a modern post agreement Northern Ireland in which we actually live and in which people are choosing even more often to Step Beyond the all dividing lines when making
Choices in schooling in leisure activities and indeed in the polling Booth the point here is that designations do not just mean that cross community votes whether rising from the application of a petition of concern or otherwise take a crudely sectarian form where where other votes are deemed to
Count for less and thus people opting to vote neither unionist nor nationalist are blatantly discriminated against and I would say it is not right that the um electorate who vote for the alliance party are effectively disenfranchised on important votes so um these votes also mean that the
Institutions are um do not function in a manner befitting the actual post agreement um electorate my party colleagues will come back to much of this but I do want to turn to another issue um that we rais in our 2022 Manifesto here as in many other policy documents there is a fundamental
Recognition that our system of government relies perhaps too much on allocating every policy area to a particular department and too little on a genuine sense of collective interest and Collective responsibility and I do think it is on the first Minister and Deputy first minister in the executive
Office to look at this because we do see far too much Silo working here in the assembly and in the Departments so what is required therefore is recognition from all of us including the proposers that they’re there were flaws in the original agreement um and that there was
A review mechanism built into it and that that was meant to earn these issues out but rarely actually did we do need to remove crude sectarian vetos that is objectively undeniable but we also need to ensure that the institutions operate in a way that is befitting of the entire
Society they are supposed to represent and we need to move Beyond those silos thank you thank you I call Doug Bey well thank you U Madam speaker uh as I Rise to uh support the motion um uh I can fully understand the reason why it’s worded the way it’s been worded uh
Because you try to get uh the maximum support you can possibly get but I can’t stand here uh and give cover to those who have caused the suspension uh over five of the last uh 10 years uh and it’s important that uh we we say it uh as it
Is uh three years of a boycott uh back Shin F over a financial issue are we better off after that boycott are we likely to have another rhi again the reality is it could well just be around the corner H and in fact the rot in our Public Services set in uh
During those three years and then two years uh of a boycott uh by the dup um uh over the northern Island protocol achieved nothing whatsoever of substance the RC border is still there the European Union still has input as to what happens here uh in Northern Island
There are still checks taking place on Goods arriving uh in Northern Island uh and the custom posts are still there but during those two years our Public Services uh crumbled to the stage now where some of them in the short to medium term uh can’t be fixed uh and we
Have to be mindful of that so no I will not give cover to those who collapsed uh this institution H and maintain a boycott but what I will do is promise to work with them with those in the opposition with those in the Lance party uh for those who are uh Independence or
In the TUV or or in uh uh people before profit so it is thrust of a conversation about reform uh that I support uh within this motion should one party 25 years after the Belfast good Freddy agreement uh have a veto over devolved government absolutely not the system allowed it I
Have to say um and you have to ask a question why did the system allowed it the system allowed it because in 1998 what we were trying to do was stop ourselves killing each other that was the focus we focused on the peace we got the peace but the politics didn’t fit
Into place because after the Belfast agreement we should have amended um uh through collaboration and negotiation into the future well we didn’t get that apart from a few Scrappy changes that do did little to stabilize government and keep from being collapsed at the whim of just one party so what does reform look
Like in my mind everybody will give a particular view of what they think reform is and we could debate every single one of them all day long and I don’t think that’s what we’re here to do um today but what I think reform is it’s about a negotiation an agreement an
Agreed position taken into account all of the political parties including Independence including the TUV including people before profit including Civic Society all of them have to feed into this because remember it was the people who voted for the 1998 agreement and it is the people who need to have a say in
What direction we go next and just because we don’t like somebody’s point of view doesn’t mean we should exclude them I will not support exclusion of of any shape or form what it does not look like is yes of course we M agree that it is not about exclusion it’s more about
Those who are not wanting nor willing to par participate are choosing to exclude themselves and opting out so rather than using the word exclusion you might use self- exclusion or or opting right of sitting in an executive EXT a minute I I I’m I’m I’m quite comfortable with the
Word exclusion uh and the reason I say exclusion is because there are people in this chamber who absolutely do not support um the Belfast Good Friday agreement as it stands now uh and it’s important that if we don’t listen to those voices if we try to push them
Voices away we will not get a full understanding of of our society so I’m I’m quite happy to stick uh with uh exclusion um but what I don’t want is another St Andrews agreement because the St Andrew’s agreement was a carve up between two of the large parties behind
Closed doors and it was a quick fix it did not work it has left us in a worse position and the UK government and the Irish government were complicit in that and they did so because they just wanted to get this place up and running and nothing more quick fixes will not work
You pull the threads and the whole thing could unravel so this is about sitting down and thinking this through in the long term and getting all the voices that need to be uh added to this the Belfast agreement had its flaws we know that it was balancing the
Unbalance after so much conflict but what we don’t want to do is fall into the Trap of just screaming reform reform reform without stopping and really thinking it through and seeing what reform will mean in the short the medium and the long term I’m up for that
Discussion I don’t think we should be afraid of that discussion it doesn’t mean that I am open to changing every single thing that needs to be changed within the BP pass Good Friday agreement it is still the Bedrock uh of government here uh in Northern Island but I’m
Certainly up for that discussion uh going forward and I’m willing to talk to anybody inside this chamber or outside this chamber those in favor or those against because until we get all the views we’ll not really know the position thank you thank you and I call Harry Harvey thank you madam principal Deputy
Speaker I have listened intently to the points made thus far in the debate particularly from the opposition on this the issue of future reform it has struck me how little interest or focus seems to have been placed on the principle of consent and how much would feature in
Form as the sdlp would envis envisage it I find that concerning giving the importance that the principle of consent has been to politics here for the last 20 years or more it’s no exaggeration to say that politics could not function in Northern Ireland without it cross community consent has gone us to where
We are we should not forget that it has been essential to political and social progress and should be viewed as a positive influence cross community consent and What flows from it is not the problem here however it fails somewhat that the sdlp and the recent route to Damascus stle conversion and
The opposition seem to believe that it is a problem it appears that they now feel the need to fix something that the likes of John Hume and dos from within their own ranks were so wed to the reality Still Remains that 80% of those of us around the walls of this chamber
Still designate as either nationalist or unionist my party and that of shen F represent the bulk of those members as such wider support for both traditions and Northern Ireland Remains the dominant Force within politics and must be born in mind if we are to sustain fully functioning institutions representing and delivering for the
People who have elected us the motion does re as a valid point in terms of the long-term stability of devolve government no one can deny that stability has been an issue in the past and poses a risk to this house in the future however we must be honest in
Terms of the root causes of instability during times when the institutions are not functioning for the good of everyone when the institutions are not DED to be representative of all communities this is when stability is challenged as a party I believe we have evidenced in the
Past that we are not afraid of Reform of the institutions where such re reform is necessary indeed there have been changes to the petition of SK concerned for instance to take into account its impact upon assembly business it is incumbent upon us all to ensure that government
Works and the SE to work for everyone in Northern Ireland we are the guardians of this delicate balance and the need to ensure that in a divided Society such as ours everyone is at the table as has often been said it only works when it works for all we must therefore have
This theme Central to our focus on any discussion around future reform if the plan is to Simply diminish The Voice a representation of one tradition in order to facilitate or bolster the rise of another such changes will be doomed to fail Mr Speaker it is good to see the
Assembly functioning or Madame speaker sorry it’s good to see the assembly functioning once again and commanding the ongoing support of both unionists and nist it is for us all to put our shoulder to the will and make it work for Northern Ireland this will be achieved through delivery on bread and
Butter issues that matter to the public delivery is where our focus should be delivery will cement stability and progress it is only then should we be advancing proposals in relation to re form thank you madam speaker thank you and I call Kelly Armstrong thank you principal Deputy
Speaker um I stood in fact I think I was standing in this place on the 19th of October 2021 leading a debate a motion that was brought forward on reform and everyone in this house voted for it there was no division on it this house accepted that I stood then after a
Period of collapse following shenan I stand here now talking about reform after a period of collapse under the dup the last time I talked about a demoralized Workforce I talked about the harm that was caused to our services in Northern Ireland I talked about the harm that was caused to carers something very
Close to my heart I talked about poverty the same thing is here today nothing has changed in the last number of years and we are continuing to fail the people of Northern Ireland because of persistent collapse so how can we change that and I think the way that we change that is by
Having sustainable government that cannot be collapsed by any party principal Deputy speaker the assembly and executive Review Committee in the last mandate prioritized reforming designations and the appointment of the first and Deputy first Minister sadly there was no no real appetite to take any action by any
Other parties to have the power to use their veto removed even after the alliance motion was passed in this house no party voted against the motion but nothing was done to take forward the change needed to create sustainable government AE RC collected all the information but nothing was action
Because kicking the can down the road meant the veto could remain we could have mitigated against a single party pulling down the assembly we could have delivered change that protected the Democratic institutions in fact I brought it up again at the first committee for procedures and it was
Confirmed for me that the legal changes that will be needed to be brought forward to make the reforms in place will have to have be done by the co- guarantors of the Good Friday agreement and that is the UK government and the Irish government if we are serious about
These institutions we do need to act now to ensure that this does not happen again we need to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland we need to step up for future generations to ensure our hardfought political peace process continues to enable Northern IR to reach its full potential The Good Friday
Agreement is a foundation to peace and progress it will and should involve our political structures to do so as well Alliance wants to see the removal of designations and to change cross community voting because the current system embeds Division and creates instability why should my vote count
Differently to the rest of you in this building why is my vote not the same as a nationalist or unionist vote why in 2020 4 is my vote still different replacing parallel consent with weight at majority voting is an important change to reduce the significance on role of designations and it’s in the
Good Friday agreement Society has changed it is more diverse and inclusive but yet this isn’t reflected or respected in this house you’re only equal if you’re nationalist or unionist this is unfair and time to change is n in the 2021 census we can see the population is more diverse minority
Ethnic grips have increased in size and the number of people living here who were born outside the UK and Ireland is up to around 1 in 15 the highest ever ever recorded those who are forced to identify as other those of us who prefer to be called United Community has
Increased from the 20121 Census to the 2020 sorry from the 2011 census to 2021 census there is no justification for the continuation of the designation system Alliance also want to see how the first and Deputy first Minister are nominated we want to update how we nominate the first and Deputy first minister to
Ensure stability and sustainability of our institutions we want want to update not wipe out the 1998 act so that if a party who is eligible to nominate a first Minister doesn’t want to do so the entitlement can be passed to the next largest party a party would be able to
Refuse the nomination without triggering a veto on Executive formation that is consistent with the current position of the allocation of the other executive ministers under hunt we are committed in the alliance party to stable and sustainable power sharing that respects liberal Democratic principles and enables the development
Of a shared future but as stated by Professor Paul Dixon in his written submission to the aeorc this process will require political skills and pragmatism in order to achieve a compromise that is deliverable and sustainable across the political parties if this house agrees this motion
Then I would love it if it had been built into it that the speaker could write to the guarantors of the co- Friday Good Friday agreement and the UK and Irish governments confirming that it’s the will of this house for an update to be made to the designation
System and the definition of cross community voting so that I am not left out of it ever again I believe that we must move forward to ensure an inclusive fair and sustainable government for Northern close thank you thank you Celly and the next speaker is Philip brat please you uh Madam principal speaker
And can I congratulate the leader of the opposition on his appointment and welcome to his place here today Madam principal Deputy speaker we won’t be party to a stunt which is using and abusing people’s emotions over a sensitive issue there has to be par sharing they are the fundamentals to
Which we hold dear not my words Madam principal Deputy speaker but the words of the leader of the stlt Colwood In This Very chamber words of the leader of the sdlp we must have a power sharing executive these comments stand in stark contrast to the motion that we have
Before us what has changed Madam principal Deputy speaker is this a U-turn policy from the sdlp is this the leader of the opposition auditioning for a higher role within his party or Madam principal Deputy speaker is this the fact that the stlp have been placed in the opposition by the people of Northern
Ireland of course Madame Deputy speaker there is no mention in this motion or in the contributions made by the sdlp to date of the collapse of the institutions which his party presided over following the Belfast agreement no comment what whatsoever but simple criticism of the executive of
Course an executive for the past number of years which the stlp of course um would you agree with me but that it has been very damaging to Public Service delivery here in Northern Ireland with stop start politics over the last 25 years and that we have to do
Something to change that I would agree with the member extra minute on the point that the politics of domination has been very damaging for relations here in Northern Ireland I would agree with the member that Northern Ireland only moves forward when all communities move forward together
And the lesson of the past three years should be that the concerns of a major section of our society cannot be simply ignored and papered over and the only way in which we all move forward happily give away with the remember except that um the feelings of the people who
Elected me first as the first person elected this house in the last election um have been papered over by the dup you stayed out of government you don’t accept my votes in this house how can you marry up what you’re saying to what is the actual
Facts the point that I was making to the member is that the Mandate which we were given was not simply just transferred to the dup or we did not make up our mandate we were given a mandate by the people of Northern Ireland to take the
Action that we were given but I must remind the member it wasn’t my party who brought the current uh settings and rules in which we operate to pass our party and others in this chamber campaigned for the Belfast agreement and these are its outworkings we have managed to improve that through the St
Andrew’s agreement and through other agreements however the the way in which we operate is a result of the conditions set out before us uh I just want to make some progress before I give away to anyone else mad Deputy speaker so we have two years with the leader of the
Opposition and post and not a a single policy settlement put forward here he proposes to create a new committee to which he will selflessly appoint the chairman to so ready for opposition in the past two years that the his contribution is to congratulate the alliance party’s policy Madam principal Deputy speaker
When the opposition session was brought to this house we were told it was a new age for democracy we were told that people would be held to account instead we have an attempt to use this motion to create another office to which they will fill we have no meaningful proposals put
Forward here and the lesson of the past three years must certainly be that Northern Ireland will move forward when all communities move forward together and I would encourage the leader of the opposition when he brings his next motion to perhaps bring it on something that’s relevant to the people of
Northern Ireland and perhaps at the next election he will no longer be in the opposition thank you I call on Nan mallister uh thank you madam Deputy speaker um I Rise to support the motion um that’s been brought before us today uh and I’m I’m glad that the motion has
Been brought and that the sdlp are join an alliance in our calls for the form of these institutions and I say that um in all honesty and without sarcasm because it is important that all parties do get on board um and we do have the discussions for reform but not just
Discussions and conversations but we actually help to make them happen um I also want to point out uh the elephant in the room that has not really been highlighted today these institutions are as stable today as they were the day before the last collapse and the reason
Why we have seen not just shinen and the dup over lacking of supportive reform over the institutions but the reason why we have seen others not get fully on board and I appreciate that members um of the uup have said that they are supporting the motion but are unsure
About the entirety around the conversation is that I would point to the issue of par the reason why people are so reluctant to give up that power of veto is because of control if you are refusing to give up that power are refusing to reform The veto of the establishment of these
Institutions it is for one reason only because you want to use the threat of bringing down these institutions again we need to be go beyond that type of politics in this day and age we need to ensure that we have good governance and we have a respectful way of debating the
Issues that we all do not agree on there is no one in this room who believes that they can get everything that they want at all times but we see that not in reality but except we see it in bringing down the institutions that people act like they should get everything that
They want but they know it they know that in any negotiation the outcome will never be totally on your side and we respect that in Alliance we respect that through US calling for reform since 2004 since June 2022 when we published our proposals we put them forward to the UK
And Irish governments that we’re willing to have these conversations we’re willing to talk about cross community voting we’re also willing to talk about designations because it is not for as my colleague has just outlined that the votes of the people who voted for the alliance party are not counted in any
Cross community vote we need to ensure that we can move past that but it’s not just about words it’s about action the member who spoke before me um and I speak through you um principal Deputy speaker highlighted the Belfast agreement upon which many members in this room support and I’m proud to say
That we still support the Belfast agreement but contained even within that at the time were safeguards so that it could be changed it could be updated because time does move on we all have our political priorities but we cannot push forward our political priorities without the threat and the shadow in the
Background of bringing down these institutions we wanted to be a bit more specific in the motion today and we did attempt to bring forward an amendment but we understand perhaps why the sdlp have not been spec specific and so I I understand that the the leader will be
Addressing some more issues in his winding but but I would like to hear from the sdlp if they would also get on board with the alliance proposals of removing the system of designations because that is particularly important we’ve already discussed this in the public each and every one of us in
Canvasing in the doors right across Northern Ireland will have been met with the conversation around reform we know that people support it we know that people can get on board so what I would say to both the dup and to shinen is to not be afraid of what reform could
Mean I know you may be afraid of losing your power and your control but what is more important is moving this place forward and having an assembly and executive that can actually deliver for everyone thank you thank you and I call Jan mclin please thank you speaker since this
Place has returned we have discussed and debated several issues that are Central to people’s lives in every part of Northern Ireland we have promised to work together on Child Care we’ve pledged to end violence against women and girls we’ve called on action on environmental catastrophe and yet on
Each of those issues and I would agree with the member for North Belfast there has been a huge elephant in the room and that is at any moment one of the biggest parties in this assembly could once again exercise a veto on the progress that they claim to support that nuclear
Veto that we are discussing today and its repeated deployment in the last 10 years has eroded public confidence in our politics left Public Services crisis and forced workers out to the cold to demand Fair pay and I believe that it is a vetal that we should all resolve to
Remove from our politics for good after a decade of dysfunction it’s time to change as we debate that V today those of us in favor of Reform should be comforted by the support that the idea of Reform has a huge majority of the public get that the veto just has to go
A majority in every age group of polling gets that it has to go and that’s no surprise those people can see the consequences of it and the dysfunction that the veto has incentivized all around them they see it in the Health Service collapsing in front of their
Eyes in the generation of our young people leaving our Shores they see it in their pay packets that have fallen further and further in real terms and they see it in their child care costs that are just skyrocketing while our government has sat back or too often not
Sad at all people have seen how their lives in many ways have been collateral damage for this deadlock they see firsthand in their communities how a constant cycle of Ransom politics just doesn’t work they see that the same people losing trust and confidence in our politics and it is little wonder
They hear us talking about multi-year budgets but they know that we’re R rarely here for multi- years they hear us talk about program for government but they know one hasn’t been agreed since 2011 their trust in politics has been pushed Beyond breaking point and on too many occasions to count now indeed you
Could be forgiven as a member of the PO public for thinking that such dysfunction actually suits parties who would rather say no than say yes who are content with fting of tribalism and fractionalised of standing over a record of government in delivery because the truth is that good
Government is not built by historic events and trust is not one through symbolic handshapes good government is a process that demands us all to commit to consensus and compromise over years of crafting peace the same years that simply have not give way yes of course does Minister agree with me that it’s
It’s tailing out this disappointing that the member the member agreed with me that it’s both telling and disappointing that neither the first nor Deputy first Minister will uh not only promise not to collapse the institutions here again but that neither could come to respond to today’s debate and the member has an
Extra minute uh thank thank you for the member for his intervention and I suppose really that says it all I understand that a veto is a really hard thing to give up but the two biggest parties have told us that they’re about delivery the single biggest message that the first and
Deputy first Minister could s is if you’re really committed to delivering for people here it is to put down that veto and accept that no one should be able to exercise it again that would be to act in the spirit of the agreement and our peace process without that how
Can people believe you this time when this place has collapsed so easily before and if you do not have that commitment to write it down in the program for government then people will know what conclusion to draw finally speaker I have heard some say that entering into any process of Reform runs
Contrary to the Good Friday agreement I fundamentally disagree with that I am profoundly grateful for the success of the Good Friday agreement I will never take for granted that agreement or the man and woman who made that happen they are the builders and the Giants that we
All follow but the truth is to review this agreement’s outworking is to fulfill the very Spirit of that agreement and to stay true to the original intention of those Builders change was always expected and indeed intended to reform and review is to believe no less strongly in the
Agreement or the peace process in fact it is the same agreement that provides for reform and that expects and demands those who carry out the responsibility of preserving it to ensure that it works for the Next Generation that’s a generation that deserves stability in their government that deserves hope for
Their future the only way to guarantee that hope and I believe is to recommit to that AG agreement and reform the institution so that no one can ever pull it down again thank you speaker here here thank you shenir and I call Kate nickel please thank you principal Deputy
Speaker uh when I was elected as an MLA um My First Act in this chamber was to sign the register and designate as United Community um and it’s always been strange to me that we’re lumped into another group we’re not other we’re we’re so much more than that and then I
Took my seat and tried to elect a speaker and I couldn’t and my cross community vote and the cross community votes of my cross community party didn’t count in that and then I spent the next two years being an MLA but not able to legislate because one party has the
Power to bring everything down my experience as an MLA has been severely hindered by flaws within the system and we need to change them I welcome the motion um I think it’s important we’re having this discussion today and I’d like to focus my um comments um specifically on uh designation which I
Would have liked to have seen referenced um in the motion um it’s a case that Alliance have been making for many years the urgent need to change it the Good Friday agreement is precious but it was designed to be a living document to be the beginning rather the end of a
Process and in fact to not move forward to not change um is dangerous uh and damaging to the vision of the Good Friday agreement so Society has changed dramatically um since 1998 the number of Alliance mlas on these benches um is Testament to that and we are all given
The label of other we are many things um I am Zimbabwean my mother is South African my father is Irish my children have Irish and British passports I have them our comple our identities are complex and they shouldn’t be barriers to overcome they are the stuff of pluralism and vibrancy and there’s
Something to celebrate and respect but the process of designation when ml sign into the assembly is unnecessary it embeds division and is part of what makes our institutions so unstable when we are asked in this chamber to vote on a cross community basis our votes on these benches are treated differently
And my colleague Kelly Armstrong is particularly passionate about this and far more articulate on the subject than I can um we should have to not have the same weight on a range of votes including the election of a speaker changes to standing orders approvals to budget is quite frankly untenable and
It’s demeaning it’s demeaning to me and my colleagues as Kelly pointed out if it was in any other area if you it was any other uh aspect of someone’s identity it would be discrimination our society has changed and our institutions must reflect that the values of mutual respect equality and partnership are
Infused in the Good Friday agreement and they should remain the driving forces of our politics to fulfill those values however we cannot stand still we must modif modify and update the functions of these institutions cross community burdening continues to treat cross community parties as less than those who are
Nationalist or unionist to Contin the continued use of designation is no longer tenable and has been for some time and uh go ahead I agree with her and I think wel come all to talk about in my wi about designation being something we need to have a conversation
About would she agree though that in the short term given there are other things designation how north south Works how East West works that having a an urgent priority on removing the veto is something that’s very good to get rid of quickly some of those other things will
Take a little bit longer and the members are ex to minutes thank you and um I thank the leader of the opposition on the alliance Party website there is a document with proposals for reform we um published this in June 2022 um and uh it details our shortterm
And medium-term uh changes um in in line of Reform it’s something that we feel very pass about and it shouldn’t just be something we talk about we’ve actually laid out how we would achieve that um so yes absolutely agree that there are are different different areas to focus on
And and how that would progress um the final point I wanted to make is uh one of uh the members from the dup said that we should be discussing things that are relevant to Northern Ireland I think this is so relevant the fact that we’ve had no
Assembly that we can just collapse this and have uh no ministers in place making local decisions for local people looking at budgets committees scrutinizing being able to ask questions the impact it’s having is huge and that’s not just on delivery there’s a psychological impact as well people see a failed assembly and
They feel like this place has failed and it is not this is a brilliant place to live our people are brilliant there are wonderful opportunities we’re talented creative and we should be celebrating everything that is good but the ability to collapse everything the the the failure within within the structures is
Something that needs to be addressed so I would say it is very much relevant to this house we will support the motion and we will continue as the alliance party to do everything we can to progress reform thank you J malister please since I first came to this house
I repeatedly have pointed out the unworkability of mandatory Coalition and every time I did the most Orden Defenders of Belfast agreement Devion were the stop it was the hly grill it could not be touched it was perfect it was the ideal for us all and those who dared to
Question it well they were some sort of outcast from the past yet here we are today and Mo and behold stop calling for change mind you the motivation I think is very suspect because so long as the me as the mechanisms of mandatory coalition were about protecting nationalism interests
As a minority then indeed they were the Holy Grail but the moment nationalism is in the ascendancy in this house and it may be the unionists who need whatever protection there is then forget about it let’s have reform let’s have change that has been the Calla so I think the
Motivation is very suspect indeed we heard from mru his worry that these uh institutions might collapse again well Mr two don’t worry about the leadership of the dup they’ve been captured they are not protocol implementers they are not acceptors of the RC border of the fact that we’re
Already governed by Foreign laws we don’t make and don’t change so don’t get too concerned about whether the dup will ever ReDiscover their principles under this current leadership no chance you can rest assured in that regard you might if it bothered you be more worried about shin finin because of
Course to them this isn’t about making Northern Island work this is about a a stepping stone getting within touching distance of their goal and is quite clear from some recent Shin declarations that as soon as they arrive there storm it is over it’s gone so I think I would
Reassure you from my knowledge of what I observe in these benches that the happy band in the mean of the dup will not be rediscovering their principles or pulling down these a protocol implementing institutions my goodness you only have to look at the Glee and Delight of the Deputy first Minister as
She trips around the publicity stunts with the first Minister as our unelected lady in waiting to be assured that the uh Shin that the dup having enthroned Shin are very very unlikely indeed to return to the principles that rightly took them out of this house two years
Ago and which sh the the dispensing of which shamefully brought them back in just a month ago so I I do fear that uh your concerns in that regard are misplaced but I if you if you have any concerns probably not nor probably your sister nationalist party Alliance have
No concerns about when Shen F reached the point of mission accomplished and therefore the end of any Row for this institution you may have reason for concern there but you probably we don’t because of course you’re all on the same trajectory with the protocol and its implementers I call Jerry Carl every
Speaker I think it’s written that executive parties and former executive parties uh start off by offering public sector workers an apology for cutting their pay for over two decades all those who have been in government at one point in time Shin theup allance up and should be sorry for the destruction of our
Public Services which have been underfunded under staffed under resourced by successive administrations Deputy speaker what when I was younger I was told by MMA if you’re sorry for something you don’t do it again it means you’ve learned a lesson from the past and you’re ready to do better again in
The future four weeks into this new assembly and this Administration is set to do the same disastrous Deeds all over again and again and again the parties here were truly sorry for cutting public sector pay and the first thing they would do is give public sector workers a
Real pay raise instead this assembly run through a budget bill which only guarantees them a 5% rise which is a cut in real terms with the rate of inflation that’s of course not to mention the spit of budget cuts and attack on public services that’s going to come down the
Line so whatever today’s out come we need to be clear that if executive parties do not begin to address these issues then they are out Sor at all and for the harm that’s done to our communities or our services and like many motions in this assembly before
Deputy speaker will be simply pH Optics ruling by fooling once more but de speaker uh people before profit were the most one of the most strongest vocal critics of the dup’s boycott of the assembly it was self- serving and wrot Untold misery uh on people across the north but today’s motion about reforming
The assembly fails to address the real Al in the room that is that these institutions built and run on the basis of communal designation division will always be prone to instability when the Goof Fred agreement was signed a critical minority warned it would effectively institutionalize secar sectarianism and that’s exactly what has
Happened and the DP when at collapse the assembly was simply exercising its veto on paring asn’t trained in storman sectarian institutions people before profit had Ed to amend today’s motion to do away with communal designations and to remove the sectarian mechanisms that allow for day-to-day V stor business as
We see it the communal veto is not just about collapsing the assembly it is a sectarian mechanism that has always been used to deny Democratic rights time and time again we’ve seen it used under the Gaze of the potation of concern to th things like samex marriage Reproductive Rights and arish language legislation
And it is that speaker to the Eternal shame of this assembly that the Tories under pressure from popular mass movements were forced to legislate for these demands where storment had failed a system that mandates parties to designate as unionist nationalists or other assumes that there always is and
Always will be separate communities here and those communities should elect the leaders to represent their supposedly separate interests I am not another I’m a socialist and I was elected on that ticket and so disgrace to this house that me and others are designated uh offensively as others not only does this
Approach COA fast and sectarianism outside these institutions but it’s also based on a illusion as where the unionist and nationalist establishment parties here seem opposed in principle they are always United when cuton workers pay impoverish our communities and stoken communal segregation and even if this motion passes it will not begin
To cure the sarian rat at the heart of the Northern State The Cure Deputy speaker lies in working-class unity it’s that Unity seen amongst stri and public sector workers that Force the assembly back to business it is that Unity which will uplift our communities it is that Unity which will overcome communal
Division as people Catholic Protestant non migrant family stand up the storm together and the contay unity and offer in this motion today will not cut it uh Deputy speaker because it is an attempt at Unity imposed from above and real unity and real change will either come
From out say of these institutions or not at all I think workingclass communities must start and begin by opposing the pay cut offer to public sector work workers and the punishing Revenue raising measures that this executive wants to PO impose so I call Matthew to um to wind
On the motion marthew you have 10 minutes and if you take an intervention you don’t have any extra time just to let you know thank you very much for that uh for that warning um Madame principal Deputy speaker um can I thank first of all all the members who have
Participated in uh today’s debate it was a uh why ranging debate and I’ll touch on as many um as many key points as I can I have to say Obviously people won’t be surprised nothing I heard from any side of the chamber today and very I
Welcome the fact that we have at least two parties um who support clearly what we’re going try to do today I’m not entirely clear uh what where’re shinan are on this um and I’m not clear I am clear where the the dup are I’ll attempt to address some of the points that were
Raised I will um also start by saying I’m genuinely disappointed that the first and Deputy first Minister are not here to respond there’s no um Minister here to respond to this debate I think that is an insult to uh this chamber bluntly uh and I think it is uh it is uh
Suboptimal at best and I don’t think it uh reflects the seriousness of this issue or the gravity with which the people of Northern Ireland view it um I am clear we are clear that today the purpose of today’s motion is not about assigning blame or having a fight over
What happened in the past but since obviously people have raised issues that happened in the past I’ll touch on a couple of those purely to draw Reflections on them our motions today are about posi positive constructive um momentum behind reforming the institutions not to remove the pluralist
Or par sharing principles behind it but to allow us to Simply have a government and what’s so one acceptable about that why is V necessary why is it necessary for people to have their identity uh protected to abolish to be able to take away the principle of government at all
Not just the principle but the operation of government to go through a few of the um of the comments that were uh that were made in the debate uh deari uh mentioned um um the fact that the motion um she uh seemed to be in sympathy with
Some of the motion but um focused on the regressive um austerity imposed by the Troy government that is exactly right and Dey uh would know because she was communities Minister and had to deal with a lot of that when she was in ministerial office but what about the
Three years before that when there was no communities minister to deal with the aggressive austerity being fored on the people of the north by a Tory government and an austerity obsessed uh uh Westminster there is you cannot on the one hand in my view argue that aggressive austerity from Tory ministers
Has left us our communities in a terrible place and then say but sure we we need to retain the right to collapse government here and give them the power to do what they like the power we have at a devolved level is limited both because of the mandatory Coalition
System and also because Westminster um holds all the par I agree uh dear her party and I agree that we need to change that in the long term we need to have a new constitutional setup but while we have the one we have at the minute I
Think it’s not defensible for us to Simply say well we should be able to collapse in tions here Jonathan Buckley um uh her his uh his um former uh former party leader I don’t know if he was involved in the defenestration of this particular former party leader famously
Said it’s good to have a bit of fun in the assembly chamber and that’s what Johnny was doing when he uh made a series of bizarre uh um uh claims about uh John hu and Sheamus Malon are apparently being not in sympathy with us reforming institutions John H and
Sheamus M helped create these institutions along with David Trimble along with John Alise along with other uh Jerry Adams and Martin mcginness but yes the SD of were intimately involved and proudly involved in the creation of these institutions they wanted the institutions to function they wanted us
To be here and to work to spell our sweat not our blood so why will take no lessons no Preposterous you know pathetic slurs from dup mlaas about what John humor sham Mal might have thought about us changing the rules to be quite honest with you uh Johnny also mentioned
The sdlp were forced into this position by the electorate can I just like I’ve had to clarify this a few times I am not denying the outcome of the 20 22 election we didn’t get enough seats to qualify under the haunt for a Ministry unlike others we accept the outcome of
Elections including your own party we are here in opposition because that is the role we were we have after the election we have no there’s no denying that there’s no caving about that from me and we intend to do it robustly and constructively whatever slurs come from
Different sides of this chamber and I welcome uh Paul bro give a thoughtful um a a thoughtful assessment I’m I’m a bit of a geek I’m not quite as geek enough to have read the 20-year old document but I might pinch a copy of it um
Afterwards I’ll come on to a couple of other comments made by other Alliance mlas that I will touch on just to to to give a to give some um to give some boun be is right when he talks about the fact that things were different in 1998 so a
Lot of the things we’re talking about a lot of the institutional issues we have were things that were created uh in the context of a society that was emerging from a violent conflict and before the violent conflict we had um a a system of government which was genuinely based on
Excluding one entire uh Community um har Harvey mentioned the principle of consent I’m afraid uh with respect to Mr Harvey that this absurd conflation of consent with perfect consensus has been a Hallmark of dup Arguments for the last lock of years as uh people say in the countryside consent by definition I
Don’t consent uh permanently to Northern AR being in the UK nor will you if there is ever through the chair if there is ever a a referendum on New Ireland and I hope there will be consent to it happening that doesn’t mean that you uh that you don’t give consent to the
Institutions uh that exist to work through democracy nor does it mean that everything in this chamber has to have perfect cross community consent on everything that’s never the way it was designed that was never the way it was supposed uh to work with respect um again there was a slightly uh
Preposterous uh uh reference to John Hume which I’ve already dealt with Kelly Armstrong talked about reform and aarc kicking the C down the road that is one reason why we don’t accept the idea that the assembly executive uh Review Committee is the best place for this discussion to happen because it has a
Record of being for fans of Charles Dickens a little bit like the famous Chancery Court case in jise versus jise where they sat for years and never reached a resolution we need to have a resolution we need to have momentum uh behind this I’ll come on and talk um
Because there were a couple of uh common threads through alance speak spokes people and I’ll I’ll just address the designation point a little bit later um uh uh this was called by Mr Brett from North Belfast a stunt Mr Brett is always uh for a a relative new MLA he’s a very
Persuasive and passionate speaker um and indeed uh one who is able to to pull off quite remarkably Brazen lines like that given some of what the dup have pulled over the last uh number of years he mentioned there have been electoral issues for the sdlp I’m I’m tempted to
Say no blank Sherlock we know we’re doing our job in opposition and we’re proud to be doing it and we’re going to keep doing it no matter how no matter what the slurge come from different parts of the chamber I will give way briefly as I said I would than M for
Giving way member agree with me that every single dup member who participated in this debate has contradicted the manifesto in which they stood to election to this house because on page 41 it says and I will quote we remain convinced that a voluntary Coalition Remains the best long-term option for
Government in Northern Ireland we believe that this should be the basis basis of concise agreed Coalition plan that can be subsequently augmented by a more comprehensive program for government and supported by a weighted majority in this assembly they have advocated reform the the me the member has I’ve
Been generous the member has made memb made a statement and and and and and uh and I think his point has been uh made and nula mallister and Kate nickel both touched on the question of designation the reason this Mo motion doesn’t mention designation is because I think
We should prioritize upfront that’s why the second motion later on or the third motion we will debate is focused on our ad hoc committee and getting consensus and agreement on the question of removal of the veto I think it’s really important that we try and keep up the
Momentum to take this one ingredient out one toxic ingredient out of the mix here and once we do that then we can do a lot after that that’s why our our uh this first motion talks about broader reform in the program for which could certainly include uh designation let me just say
On the point of designation I understand particularly now there’s an increased Alliance uh representation in the chamber I understand some of the frustration around uh around voting and we are up for that debate I do think historically it’s important to say that I don’t agree that designation in 1988
Was the root roote of all evil we need to be honest about where we were in 1988 but that’s not to say that we can’t look at it now and look we all have Rich identities I for what it’s worth designating as a nationalist and a
Social Democrat I am a proud and my party is a proud member of the party of European socialists there is a lot more to me that simply my constitutional view though proud and passionate though I am um about it so we are our identities are all complex and I think we need to
Recognize that um uh the binary uh definition doesn’t doesn’t apply simply to those who are other though I respect uh the argument um that was uh made just to come back to this point again and again that was made and Mr aliser made it as well the sdlp imagine the sdlp uh
Talking about uh talking about changing the Good Friday agreement from the very beginning we have talked about improving and changing uh where necessary The Good Fred agreement what what we have been opposed to has been hacking at the principles of power sharing including at the S Andrews agreement I don’t have
Time I’m afraid to give away I I would nor but I won’t get an extra minute so I won’t um uh you will have time hopefully later on in in the second debate on reform uh what we have been opposed to is hacking away at the principles of par sharing pluralism and partnership
Something he of course has been delighted to do to hack away at it to object to it um and that’s fine that’s his that’s his Lookout as they say I don’t go along though he is a talented uh a talented pist I don’t go along with somewhat vulgar and faintly misogynistic
Uh depictions of the first Deputy first Minister um I I don’t think that’s uh I don’t think that’s appropriate Mr uh Madame Deputy speaker speaker I I think we today have an opportunity to do something very important which is to build a consensus around partnership partnership working together it’s ironic
That it’s the opposition a constructive opposition that is H having to encourage the government to stay together and do a job for the people but that’s where we find ourselves thank you very much everyone who participated let’s make this place work and I command once again
This motion to the assembly okay I thank I thank the member for um bringing his Mark to close so the question is that the motion standing and the order paper pre agreed all those in favor say I I country of any knows all those in favor say I I country
If any knows no okay so okay heard you Matthew so because Question Time begins at 2:00 um and rather than do the division I it’s clear we need one so we’re going to have one directly after urgent oral questions when the speaker will do that okay so just take a Ras now until
Question time or two thank you for For E E e h order order members will resume their seats the questions the motion standing in the order paper be agreed all those in favor say I I cont if any no do we have tailers do we have tailers e e e that’s us order tellers has been appointed as
Follows tellers for the I are colum mcrath and Mark Durkin tell tellers for the news are Paul for and Linda Dylan clear the lobbies the assembly will provide I to the right news to me left left e spe e E That’s e EX secure the doors okay e e e heart e e e it’s votes for the eyes was 47 votes for the nose was 33 sorry votes for the eyes was 33 votes for the nose was 47 uh the NOS have it the NOS have it the motion Falls
If members would take their e um well we change table for the next item of business