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Mr Gordon Lyons: Assembly records
All of Mr Gordon Lyons’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
I will tell you what I am going to do about it. I will make a statement to the House very soon. The Member's question betrays a misunderstanding of how the system operates. There is a responsibility on councils and how they handle issues around HMOs. Therefore, I will bring a statement to the House, and I will outline…
My goodness, it sounds as though Mr Durkan has been listening to the legitimate concerns of some of his local residents. I am glad that, as Mr Brett said, he has now come on board. He recognises the issues that that is causing for local communities.
The armed forces covenant duty, which was introduced under the Armed Forces Act 2021, came into force on 22 November 2022. It is a legal obligation on certain bodies, including the Housing Executive, to "have due regard to" the principles of the covenant. It requires decisions on the development and delivery of…
That is why I am taking forward the fuel poverty strategy, which will be with the Executive by the end of this year, as promised. As I have said before, I am doing that because it is one of the best uses that we can make of government funding, owing to the changes that it will make and the impact that those changes…
It is. Pomeroy is in his constituency, but he was not able to make it, unfortunately. Neither was Mr McCrossan, who is nodding his head. It would have been great if they could have come along, because they could have heard about the Northern Ireland community infrastructure fund, the investment that we are putting in…
That is exactly why we have had those consultation events throughout Northern Ireland. Indeed, I launched the scheme in his constituency, or in what I believe will shortly become part of his constituency. I am sorry that he was not able to make it.
At stage 2, applicants who have been successful at stage 1 will receive invitations to attend online information sessions. Those sessions will cover issues specific to the stage 2 application, such as how to source quotations for proposed works.
On the Member's first point, it is not just that they criticise the DUP or DUP Ministers but that they talk down their constituency all the time, whereas I know that the Member is always keen to talk it up. I welcome that. Yes, there is something else that we are doing for his constituency. We are taking forward the…
Since coming into office in February 2024, I have delivered the following for the people of Foyle: £10 million of financial transactions capital funding for the north-west regeneration fund; £1·2 million to the Inner City Trust to enable the purchase of the former Austins department store building; £5 million for…
Yes, the Immigration Act 2016 allows that to be extended to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but it is up to the UK Government to extend those provisions. That is why I have written to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Home Secretary to request that extension.
Currently, there is not a requirement on landlords or letting agencies to conduct a background check into renters' settlement status to ensure that a prospective tenant has the legal right to rent and live in the property. However, I have written to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and the Home Secretary to…
That will be subject to Executive agreement and what actions are put in there. Of course, we are already spending hundreds of millions of pounds every year to tackle fuel poverty. New actions will be put in place, and I have a number of actions that I want to ensure will be in that plan. I want to make sure that…
I absolutely will bring forward a fuel poverty strategy. I said that I will bring that to the Executive by the end of the year, and I am still committed to doing that.
Yes, absolutely. It is important that we not only make sure that we have new-build homes in the condition that they need to be but that there is extensive retrofitting and other support that will need to be available for homes that are already built. We will receive Barnett consequentials from the UK Government. A sum…
He will be pleased to hear that we will have those targets and timelines in place. This is where a lot of the misunderstanding of the anti-poverty strategy comes from because many of those targets and timelines will be found in those other strategies, such as the fuel poverty strategy and in additional action plans…
The fuel poverty strategy public consultation closed on 6 March. Analysis of the responses to the consultation has been completed, and a summary of responses document will be published in the coming weeks. Informed by the consultation and the significant stakeholder engagement, my officials are working to finalise the…
That is out of my hands right now because we have the co-design group that brought forward recommendations, and each of the Departments is looking at those recommendations in detail to consider what they might cost, what the impact might be, what is credible and what is doable. It will be up to those Departments to…
Yes, the group has been meeting. The Executive met on 15 May and agreed that that work would take place. That work is ongoing. At this stage, it is mostly the Departments coming forward with their own proposals and looking at how much those would cost, what is credible, how they will be meaningful and how those…
I think that the key word there is "weaponising", and it is absolutely the case that Sinn Féin and others have been weaponising the Irish language. They want to use it against others, and I think that the way in which that has gone is really unfortunate. We should approach these issues on the basis of us collectively…
FlaggedDecided on a second assessment.Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policyCriteria met: Identity framing, Cultural grievance politics, Dog-whistle messaging.
— and when it comes to culture, I will support people, and I will uphold people's rights to engage in their own language and cultural traditions. What I will not do is impose language and culture on other people.
It struggles to move away from the language of the past, which continues to haunt it to this very day. The Member is speaking from a sedentary position, but I cannot hear what he is saying. I do not really care either because I do not believe that he has anything to say that can add to this conversation. There is a…
Of course, a cross-departmental working group is looking at that issue right now, so it is outside of my control while the Departments look at it and come back with advice on what is possible and what is credible. However, I have to say that, on the issue of the Irish language, I will not be taking any advice or…
FlaggedIrish language, Ulster-Scots and language policyCriteria met: Identity framing, Cultural grievance politics, Dog-whistle messaging, Controversy escalation.