Monday, 27 September 2021
The Assembly met at 12 noon (Speaker [Mr Maskey] in the Chair). Members observed two minutes' silence.
Before we begin business today, I want to deal with two issues. First, I make Members aware that I have written to Ministers about making statements in the Assembly Chamber. I was very pleased...
The first item in the Order Paper is Members' Statements. If Members wish to make a statement, they should do so by rising in their place. Members who are called will have up to three minutes in...
I want to raise the issue of rural housing, specifically the changes to planning permission that were brought in at the beginning of the summer via the Infrastructure Minister's planning advice...
MOT booking is a fiasco. Recent changes to the online booking service on nidirect have made it almost impossible — at best, very difficult — to book MOT tests for motor vehicles. Two...
The high street scheme opened today with a bumpy start. We have had website crashes and very frustrated people. This is an important scheme, and we want it to work efficiently, so I call on the...
How many of us sitting here this afternoon have not shed a silent tear as we watched a distraught parent carry a small white coffin to a waiting hearse? The loss of a child of any age is a...
Recently, the campaign for a detox centre in Derry has intensified. Having started in 2014, the campaign ebbed and flowed but was recently given a new lease of life by a young Derry woman called...
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Sir, as a fellow citizen of Belfast, you will know that, over the past 20 or 30 years or so, people who traditionally would never have wanted to come to our city to hold...
I consider Eugene Reavey a friend. He is a man of dignity, shining integrity, steely resolve and fierce determination. He is a pillar of the Whitecross community. His wife, Róisín,...
Following Mr McNulty, I am reminded of a saying from the late Cliff Morgan, a famous Welsh rugby international and one-time head of BBC Sport. He said that, compared to social isolation, poverty,...
Slemish College is the primary integrated school in my constituency. It is in a very urban, heavily populated area of Ballymena on the Larne Road. By reason of the nature of the school and its...
The decision by the Tories to reduce universal credit by £1,000 a year will have a devastating impact on people in my constituency of West Belfast and right across the North. Millions of...
I rise to speak about the dire state of many elements of the Department for Infrastructure. That Department has rightly been dubbed "the Department of Backlog and Delay". How many of us have...
Mr Andrew Muir has sought leave to present a public petition in accordance with Standing Order 22 but is unable to be in the Chamber today and has asked that it be rescheduled. The Business...
This will be treated as a business motion, so there will be no debate. Resolved: That this Assembly agrees that, unless it previously resolves, the time frame for the existence of the Ad Hoc...
As with similar motions, this will be treated as a business motion. Therefore, there will be no debate. Resolved: That Ms Sinead Bradley replace Mr George Robinson as a member of the Committee on...
This will be treated as a business motion. There will be no debate. Resolved: That Mr Pádraig Delargy be appointed as a member of the Committee for Infrastructure and as a member of the...
As with similar motions, this will be treated as a business motion and there will be no debate. Resolved: That Mr Alex Easton replace Mr George Robinson as a member of the Committee for the...
This will be treated as a business motion, so there will be no debate. Resolved: That Mr Stewart Dickson be appointed to the board of trustees of the Assembly Members' pension scheme. — [Ms...
In accordance with convention, the Business Committee has not allocated any time limit to this debate.
Questions 1, 5 and 8 have been withdrawn. I call Andy Allen to ask the first question. Bear with me: Andy Allen's question has been withdrawn. Apologies. I call Sinéad Ennis.
2. Ms Ennis asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister what discussions they have had with the British and Irish Governments and the European Union about investment opportunities arising...
3. Mr Frew asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister, in order that future legislation will be considered by the Assembly under normal procedures, when will all emergency powers...
4. Ms Brogan asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on the topics due to be discussed at the next meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC). (AQO 2455/17-22)
6. Mr Storey asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister what additional support, both practical and financial, will be given to organisations representing victims following the...
7. Mr Dickson asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister for an update on when the report of the Commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition (FICT) will be published. (AQO 2458/17-22)
T1. Mr Harvey asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister, after wishing the deputy First Minister well on her road to recovery, to provide an update on the Northern Ireland Bureau in...
T2. Ms Armstrong asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister, in the light of interesting answers to earlier questions, to state whether, when the FICT report is published, it will be...
T3. Mr K Buchanan asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister, in the light of some of the deputy First Minister’s earlier answers, which suggested that she is no fan of the Tories,...
T4. Ms Á Murphy asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister why there has been a delay in the Executive’s agreeing to get rid of the bedroom tax, which penalises the most in...
T5. Mr Durkan asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister to outline any details of the discussions that took place when the Climate Change Committee presented to the Executive last week....
T8. Mr McCrossan asked the First Minister and deputy First Minister, in the light of a lot of interesting media commentary of late, particularly from colleagues across the Chamber, about who will...
Questions 7 and 12 have been withdrawn.
1. Mr Butler asked the Minister of Finance what steps he is taking to ring-fence any Barnett consequentials from the UK Government's proposed health and social care (HSC) tax for the...
2. Mr Newton asked the Minister of Finance how many places are available on the operational delivery apprenticeship scheme. (AQO 2467/17-22)
4. Mr M Bradley asked the Minister of Finance for his assessment of the level of business rates in town centres. (AQO 2469/17-22)
5. Mr Nesbitt asked the Minister of Finance for an update on the PEACE PLUS funds. (AQO 2470/17-22)
6. Mr McHugh asked the Minister of Finance how his new procurement policy will benefit voluntary and community groups. (AQO 2471/17-22)
T2. Mr McCrossan asked the Minister of Finance, given that although, during the height of the pandemic, the business intervention grants were hugely welcomed and helped a lot of businesses...
T3. Mr Stalford asked the Minister of Finance for an update on the New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) commitment to "a review of Arm's Length Bodies with a view to their rationalisation." (AQT...
T4. Miss Woods asked the Minister of Finance for an update on the Northern Ireland Civil Service domestic abuse workplace policy. (AQT 1604/17-22)
T5. Mr Gildernew asked the Minister of Finance for an update on the RHI inquiry recommendations, which he touched on in earlier answers. (AQT 1605/17-22)
T8. Ms Brogan asked the Minister of Finance whether he will recommend that the Budget gives priority to Health so that the transformation programme can be delivered and waiting lists reduced....
T10. Mrs Dodds asked the Minister of Finance, after thanking him for his earlier answers, particularly on the huge project of how we can build a more agile Civil Service and a workforce for the...
Debate resumed on motion: That the Second Stage of the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Amendment) Bill [NIA 36/17-22] be agreed.
I have received notification from members of the Business Committee of a motion to extend the sitting past 7.00 pm under Standing Order 10(3A). Resolved: That, in accordance with Standing Order...
I beg to move That the Second Stage of the Climate Change (No. 2) Bill [NIA 28/17-22] be agreed.
The current Northern Ireland Assembly was established in 1998 as part of the Belfast Agreement. It was suspended on the 14th of October 2002, and remained suspended until 8th May 2007.
Between 8 May 2006 and 22 November 2006 the Assembly established under the Northern Ireland Act 2006, and between November 2006 and January 2007 the Transitional Assembly created by the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006, met in order to prepare for the restoration of devolved government.