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Mr Colin McGrath: Assembly records
All of Mr Colin McGrath’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not qualifying, uncertain or not yet analysed.
I thank the Member for introducing this private Member's Bill. I am speaking on behalf of Sinéad McLaughlin, essentially, who is on British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA) duty in England. She will shadow the Bill through Committee Stage. Every single day, we all get a day older. That, of course, means that we get…
Minister, you referenced the fishing and seafood development programme, and I understand that, next month, you are to make an announcement on that. Will that announcement include a budget? Whilst you do not necessarily need to tell us exactly how much, because the sector is so desperate for it, hopefully, it will at…
On that point about car insurance, one case that I dealt with involved the automatic renewal of payments. The person had not realised that the automatic renewal had taken place, and payment was taken. Where people are not just on top of their finances or their accounts, there are practices that providers use, and they…
No, because I have only started. I have not even got to read my first paragraph. I am delivering the preamble from my head. If you want me to give way so that you can discuss the points that I make, perhaps you should let me make a few of them first. We are about trying to find a solution collectively to help people.…
Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. It sometimes gets a bit surreal in here. Children are starving, grannies are freezing, and families are not able to support themselves, yet all that we can do is lower the issue to a you-versus-us argument on small points rather than try to find a solution collectively. That was…
The monstrous crimes of Jeffrey Donaldson have dominated our airwaves, filled newspaper headlines and commanded public attention. Today, I want to speak about the voices that, too often, have been drowned out by the noise — those of the victims. Regrettably, some of the noise in the Chamber is drowning out their…
Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I sometimes wonder whether we have forgotten what this place is for. Not why we created it — we know the history — but what it is actually for. Somewhere along the way, we appear to have confused the sharing of power with the exercise of leadership. We have become very good at…
It is just a quick one. Do you acknowledge the difference between the collapse of a service and a planned transformation? What we are seeing, in the greater part, is the collapse of services, whereas, if we had what we are talking about, which is a planned transformation, that will be all of us moving in the direction…
Thank you, Minister, for the reply. It is notable that some of the people shouting loudest for this place to be collapsed are not even of this parish; they are of a parish over in London. For five of the past 10 years, courtesy of Sinn Féin and the DUP, there has been no Executive. What impact has that had on getting…
Minister, if the funding has not been earmarked, can you update us on how the Health Minister will ensure that our hard-working domiciliary care staff will get the real living wage that has been promised to them?
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise to present this petition on behalf of the people of Kilclief, particularly the children, parents, staff and wider school community of St Malachy's Primary School who are fighting to protect the future of their school. For generations, St Malachy's has been at the heart of Kilclief. It is…
I will be quick. My point is that if the Member were part of the formation of those plans, she would not have to stand here and criticise the Ulster Unionists for not delivering on them. The idea behind our amendment was that if we all decide what the trajectory is, we would not have to stand here and, some might call…
Thank you very much, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I welcome the debate and the proposal in the motion. I hope that our amendment can be seen as a small contribution to the motion, while not changing it massively. Our amendment revolves around the line in the Bengoa report that sums up where we are today better than…
The original question referenced wheelchair access. There is a school in my constituency, Lecale Trinity Grammar School, that took the jump to be an amalgamated school, but the accommodation is not 100% perfect. There are a number of disabled pupils, but they are not able to get access to some of the buildings in a…
Nobody objects to the assertion that we need to negotiate with London for better and improved money. At the same time, the lack of a Budget is having a direct effect on the delivery of public services, including health services. There are 520,000 people sitting on health waiting lists. The lack of a Budget is…
Building on the previous question, I ask the Minister whether there is an intention to draw together similar types of packages. For example, in Downpatrick, in my constituency, we have the home of St Patrick, which would be of great interest to those who visit for the fleadh. Will the Minister's Department undertake…
I was delighted that my party colleague on Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Councillor Conor Galbraith tabled a motion that resulted in the appointment of a night-time economy champion to help redevelop Downpatrick, which has been struggling to attract a night-time economy that would assist local businesses and…
I thank the Bill sponsor for bringing the Bill to Second Stage. Of course, the debate is just on the general principles of the Bill; we do not need to get down into the roots of all the matters that are in it. I want my speech to be a bit different. Rather than talking about the specifics of the Bill, I will give a…
Once again, a vital service is being threatened with removal from a rural community, not as part of an ambitious plan for transformation but after years of warnings about staffing pressures and the Department's failure to address them. The Executive have had two and a half years to deliver the transformation they…
I welcome some of that news, but I want to be careful about some of the language. If it is on a cost-per-case basis and if it means that there are criteria, that means that some people will get access to the drug and that some will not. Where it is available in other places in these islands, there is unrestricted…
If you agree that the practice should be banned, as the DUP says that it does because it believes that it is unhelpful to people and inhibits their development, and if there is a Bill to introduce such a ban, the way to protect and change that Bill is to pass it tonight and to look at it at Committee Stage. It would…