Sylvia Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assurances she can provide that the resumption of the talks process between political parties in Northern Ireland will not further delay the implementation of the recommendations of the Hart Report in relation to historical institutional abuse in Northern Ireland; and if she will make a statement.
Sylvia Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps she is taking to ensure the appointment by the Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service of an Interim Advocate for victims and survivors of historical institutional abuse; and if she will make a statement.
Sylvia Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the effect of the continued absence of a functioning Northern Ireland Assembly on the welfare system in Northern Ireland.
Sylvia Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office of 10 April 2019, Official Report, column 306 and the Irish Mirror article of 9 April entitled Fears growing dissident republicans using stolen ATM cash to build war chest ahead of Brexit, what assessment she has made of the veracity of media reports that...
Sylvia Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what preparations her Department has made for the the roll-out of universal credit in Northern Ireland.
Sylvia Hermon: rose—
Sylvia Hermon: I am grateful to the Minister for allowing me to take his one minute. Earlier this evening, no one in the Chamber could have been unmoved by the dignified and moving tribute the Secretary of State paid to Lyra McKee. How will she and the Northern Ireland Office translate that tribute into tangible change in Northern Ireland? People have a right to know. We want change in the Northern...
Sylvia Hermon: I am quite sure the right hon. Gentleman will agree with me when I say, as we watched the leaders of the political parties in Northern Ireland such as the Alliance party, the DUP and Sinn Féin coming to the Creggan at the weekend after Lyra McKee’s murder—and it was murder: it was not an accident; it was murder—that there was an expectation throughout the community that she would not...
Sylvia Hermon: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Sylvia Hermon: I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman, and I am sure he will not regret taking my intervention. Having listened to what he has just said, I am curious to know whether, in fact, Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition—we often hear them described as the “loyal Opposition”—would support the Secretary of State if she were to exercise her power to call a Northern Ireland Assembly election in...
Sylvia Hermon: I listened carefully to the Minister’s statement, but I was particularly struck by one phrase, which stood out above the others: that we here in the UK should be proud that we “have shown real leadership.” I latched on to that phrase because, as the Minister will know, we have no functioning Assembly in Northern Ireland. We also have no Environment Minister in Northern Ireland, and nor...
Sylvia Hermon: Sadly, I am unable to attend Lyra’s funeral tomorrow in St Anne’s Cathedral, and I know that other colleagues are unable to attend as well. On behalf of them, I extend our deepest sympathy to Lyra’s family, her friends, her colleagues who have spoken so movingly and so courageously about their work as journalists, and especially her partner whom she loved deeply and who loved her...
Sylvia Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 240973 on Northern Ireland Assembly: Members, if she will commit to making further reductions to MLA pay in the event that the Northern Ireland Executive has not been formed by the end of June 2019; and if she will make a statement.
Sylvia Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 240971 on Northern Ireland Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme, how many OFGEM staff are present in Northern Ireland on a full-time basis to administer the renewable heat incentive scheme on a day-to-day basis on behalf of the Department for the Economy; where the location of OFGEM's main office...
Sylvia Hermon: Prime Minister, today, when the cross-party talks with the Labour party resume, may I suggest that the Labour leader is firmly reminded that he cannot pick and choose the days on which he stands up and defends the Good Friday agreement? Yesterday, at Prime Minister’s questions, he was quite happy to stand up and, quite rightly defend the Good Friday/Belfast agreement, to mark the 21st...
Sylvia Hermon: Thank you, Mr Speaker. May I urge the Prime Minister, in the cross-party talks today, to remind the Leader of the Opposition that the Good Friday agreement and the protection of the constitutional position of Northern Ireland and the consent principle are guaranteed by her Brexit deal, which is therefore something that the Labour party should support?
Sylvia Hermon: Following on from the comment of the right hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Sir Mike Penning), I endorse the remarks that the Minister has made in relation to Northern Ireland. It is absolutely abominable that someone should steal another person’s vote. Vote stealing is a serious crime. In the general election of 2001, it was identified that voter fraud in Northern Ireland was a...
Sylvia Hermon: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. [Interruption.] I am very glad that the Prime Minister has just taken her seat, because the question relates to dissident republicans. Has the Minister been made aware by the Police Service of Northern Ireland that dissident republicans are responsible for the recent spate of thefts of ATMs across Northern Ireland and are intent on using the stolen money to...
Sylvia Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that Irish citizens born in Northern Ireland are able to continue to exercise their EU rights after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make an assessment of the compatibility of those steps with the identity rights guaranteed to Irish citizens by the Belfast Agreement.
Sylvia Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to protect the rights of frontier workers who are citizens of EU countries but who are not Irish or UK citizens, who live in Ireland but travel to work in Northern Ireland each day; and if he will publish guidance on their rights in the event the UK leaves the EU (a) with a deal and (b) without a deal.