Colin McGrath: The regulations aim to provide the early access to medicines scheme with a legal basis for delivering the relevant medicines. Patients with the rarest conditions are facing challenges about which we are still very much learning. Very often, those conditions are identified in young children, so it is only right and proper that we do all in our power to try to make life easier for those...
Colin McGrath: Likewise, the SDLP supports the motion. We all know the importance of having access to those vaccines, so, if we can ensure that the process by which they reach our vaccination centres is streamlined and more efficient, it will only benefit the public by providing better access, which is exactly what we need most. Quite literally, the vaccines save lives. Unfortunately, many communities...
Colin McGrath: Will the Member give way?
Colin McGrath: I have listened with interest on a number of occasions to references to, I think, articles 9, 10 and 11. To expand on them, however, I will say that each one of those articles clearly states that if, in the exercise of those freedoms, an individual is breaching public order, impacting on other rights or impacting on public safety, consideration can be given to providing a way of restricting...
Colin McGrath: This is not a debate about abortion. Nowhere are we being asked to debate the legislative position on abortion, and nowhere are we being asked to compromise any of the deeply held views and principles that people may have on abortion. Anyone who tries to paint a picture of this being a debate about abortion is playing politics with the emotional and psychological well-being of women who...
Colin McGrath: Will the Member give way?
Colin McGrath: On that issue, it is important to note, in the Committee's defence, that the decision was taken that the people who were offering their view were offering it on abortion and not on access to the clinics. The decision was taken to listen to the people who had a view on that issue. To have taken all the issues on board, we would have been reopening debates that the Bill did not cover. That...
Colin McGrath: Waiting times are impacting across the health service. At the weekend, I had more reports in my constituency of an ambulance taking 30 minutes to arrive, and, regrettably, the person passed away. That happens regularly. What are you doing about those waiting times?
Colin McGrath: The LCM that we are discussing today is important, and it marks an important step in addressing the issue of transparency of payments that are made to clinicians. As has been mentioned, this flows from the 2018 Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, which was undertaken by Baroness Cumberlege and resulted in the 2020 report, 'First Do No Harm', with its nine recommendations....
Colin McGrath: The SDLP is happy to support the LCM as it affects and impacts on most parts of these islands.
Colin McGrath: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the legislative consent motion and to give my support to it. It will bring the North into alignment with the rest of these islands. The practice of virginity testing and hymenoplasty is disgraceful and amounts to a violation of a girl or woman's human rights. It has been opposed by multiple medical societies across these islands, and today we have the...
Colin McGrath: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for his statement. I have had some connection issues and have not heard all the questions and answers, so I apologise if this issue has already been mentioned. I am a bit concerned about the Invest NI office that is based in London. I have been made aware that, in a short period last year, seven of its nine staff resigned. Will the...
Colin McGrath: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak at Consideration Stage of the Autism (Amendment) Bill and to address amendment Nos 1 to 7, which have been submitted as a result of the Health Committee's scrutiny process. When my SDLP colleague, the former MLA Dominic Bradley, introduced the Autism Bill to the House 11 years ago, he paid tribute to the late John Fee, a former SDLP MLA for Newry and...
Colin McGrath: In my contributions thus far, I have spoken of the need for an adoption system that is transparent, efficient and meets the diverse needs of our children and young people. In speaking to the third group of amendments, I will focus on the importance of our children and young people's education and their learning environment. Clause 122 is incredibly important and caused considerable...
Colin McGrath: In addressing the second group of amendments, I want to hone in on the importance of an adoption system that meets the needs of children and young people. The amendments being discussed are important measures to tighten up the structures and provide the clarity that was previously missing from the Bill. The other amendments in the grouping are to clause 102, which relates to access to the...
Colin McGrath: Likewise, I begin by offering my best wishes to the Minister. You may look fine and well on a TV screen, but I appreciate you were catching for breath a few times in your contribution. I wish you all the best in your recovery from COVID. This is an important debate, and the Adoption and Children Bill is an important piece of draft legislation. What we are discussing is another example of what...
Colin McGrath: I offer my congratulations to Kilcoo GAC on its historic win at the weekend as its senior team secured the AIB All-Ireland Senior Club Championship. That win is a testament to not only the team and management but the entire club, their family members and all in the community who have supported the team, stood with them all the way through the journey and dealt with the defeats of the past...
Colin McGrath: It is my delight to speak about the Bill. This place is so often defined by the issues that divide us, but, with this Bill, we have been afforded an opportunity to let this place be a force for good and to be something positive. Ultimately, it is something that will save lives. For a little moment, I will look at where we are. In the last year, 87 of our residents received 113 life-saving...
Colin McGrath: Thank you very much for giving way. I want to follow on from the last remarks. Interestingly, if the Health Minister was able to take the decisions all along, he was not the one who was out announcing those to the public and who was seen as the guardian of the public. Other Ministers got out there and took to the fore in order to make sure that they got the limelight for that. Now that they...
Colin McGrath: I welcome the opportunity to speak on these statutory rules today. I am fully aware that they allow for the easing of some restrictions that have since been amended, but that is the nature of the legislative process that we have dealt with over the past two years. In summary, the first statutory rule that we are discussing today is a technical amendment, the second one removes the need to be...