All of Ms Kellie Armstrong’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
I will be honest: I am not on the Education Committee, and I am not on the Health Committee. I speak as someone whose child went through the education system and as a member of a couple of boards of governors. Vaping is a pandemic that is sweeping through every school in Northern Ireland, including, unfortunately,…
I thank Mr Carroll for giving way. As a Committee, we considered that and took significant legal advice. Our main point, as I mentioned in my speech, was that we wanted to maintain and uphold the importance of our vote in this place. We are not in COVID times now, so the decision was taken to limit proxy voting to…
I thank the Member very much for her comments so far. I note that Mr McGrath said that we are catching up to the "last century". It is important that we, as the Committee on Procedures, take a family-friendly approach, because, if we do not, we will lose the good people who are in the Chamber today.
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. As Chairperson of the Committee on Procedures, I am delighted to bring to the Assembly during Parenting Week a new procedure to allow for proxy voting for MLAs in certain circumstances. As all of us know, an MLA's role has a number of facets. We have our parliamentarian role…
Minister, given that one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage, what plans are there to support and care for women and their families who have lost a baby during pregnancy or soon after birth so that they do not have to be in wards where other families are celebrating the birth of a newborn? What mental health…
I rise to congratulate Portaferry GAC on winning the Down Senior Hurling Championship on Sunday. Hurling on the Ards peninsula, part of my Strangford constituency, is very strong. Three parishes — Portaferry, Ballygalget, which I live in, and Ballycran — quite often make it to the Down Senior Hurling Championship…
I thank the Members who tabled the motion and the amendments. As my colleague said, we will support all of them. As many in the House know, I have been a carer. As part of the debate, I will spell out what it is like to be a carer. You look after someone. That someone could be a child or an adult. You get them up in…
I support the Ulster Unionist motion. I declare an interest as a Member who is part of the deaf community. I am hard of hearing and a double hearing-aid wearer. To all those who are watching today, I say, "Nothing about us without us". There is an urgent need to increase access to early and effective support for deaf…
Minister, after Storm Ashley, I thank you and your Department for the quick clean-up of the seaweed and all the mess that was thrown onto the A20. I welcome the long-awaited road improvements near Teal Rocks, because it is an accident black spot. Shell grip has been removed from the road in that area. Will the…
To ask the Minister of Health to detail any action he is taking to ensure fair and equitable access for people who are deaf and hard of hearing to all services provided by (i) Health and Social Care Trusts; and (ii) GPs.
To ask the Minister of Finance to detail any steps she has taken to remove the second religion question from the census questions being planned for 2031.
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) the investment agreed and planned for new Shared Housing for (a) 2024-25; (b) 2025-26; and (iii) 2026-27; and (ii) the number of houses this investment will create.
To ask the Minister for Communities (i) whether the Shared Housing policy will be led by his Department or the Housing Executive; and (ii) to detail any plans there are to review the Shared Housing programme.
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to outline what action his Department is taking to protect and improve conditions for seabird populations.
I make my contribution today feeling quite frustrated. It will not shock the SDLP, but we support the motion. It is, however, only part of the solution to our housing crisis. We know that we have a housing crisis. The Minister agreed in the House that there is a housing crisis, but asking a Minister to declare a…
I congratulate all community transport operators across Northern Ireland as part of Community Transport Week. As many Members who have listened to me long enough will know, I worked in community transport for a couple of decades before I came to the House, so it is only right and fitting that I congratulate my former…
To ask the Minister of Finance whether any consideration is being given to introducing a preventative expenditure working group to identify how best to utilise budgets across Departments to achieve societal change, such as ending paramilitarism or ending homelessness.
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) the rationale used for not providing local government with hardship funding for vulnerable residents; and (ii) whether he will be bidding for funding to support vulnerable people through local councils in the next monitoring round.
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any preventative expenditure and investment measures being considering as part of his departmental budget planning for the 2025-26 financial year.
New Standing Order After Standing Order 27 insert: - 27A Voting by proxy (1) A member (M) may arrange for M’s vote to be exercised by a proxy (P) where— (a) M meets the conditions set out in paragraph 2, (b) the Speaker has published a proxy voting scheme (the Scheme) in accordance with paragraph 3, (c) P is not the…
Motion Amendment · Private Members' Motion · to “Declaration of a Housing Emergency”
Declaration of a Housing Emergency - Amendment 1 Leave out all after ‘local communities’ and insert: ‘, the failure to tackle divided housing provision, planning delays and the lack of an effective Empty Homes Strategy; expresses regret at the failure to deliver previous targets aimed at increasing the supply of safe,…
To ask the Minister of Health to detail any action his Department is taking to stop the advertising of vapes (i) in close proximity to schools; and (ii) where confectionery can be purchased.