All of Ms Michelle O'Neill’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not flagged, uncertain or not yet analysed.
Again, I concur with the Member: this is always about male violence against women, and we have to call it out for what it is. I welcome some of the work that we have done in the area through the active bystander programme, which is targeted at young men. That is about not standing by and letting a comment go in any…
I concur with the Member and offer my support to the community that he represents. I am sure that everybody is shocked by the events of the weekend. I talked about some examples of things that we have done with the regional change fund. We also have a local change fund, which goes into the heart of communities. We…
I concur with the Member. Many of us expressed our sadness and shock yesterday at the death of Sarah Montgomery. I cannot imagine what her family are going through. She was a young mummy who was expecting her next child and had her whole life ahead of her, and she was taken from her family in the most devastating way.…
The Executive Office has committed £3·2 million of funding until March 2026 to support EVAWG at a local and regional level. The impact of that funding will need to be evaluated across the period, but early analysis shows a really positive impact to date. For example, from January to March this year, £655,000 of…
It is disappointing that they are getting that funding only now, given that it is almost a year since that suffering was inflicted on them. Obviously, there has been an issue in how that funding has been administered. I am happy to raise that with officials, not that that will help anybody retrospectively. If anybody…
I am sad to hear that that is some people's experience. We met the racial equality group last week and had good engagement with it on what we have done and what we intend to do. We want to continue to work with it, particularly as we develop the race relations strategy post 2025. We will introduce racial equality…
Thanks for that. It is something that we considered a lot. We could take a blanket approach and give the same funding to every council, or we can invite applications for projects that, we assess, will meet need in areas that have been identified as areas of challenge. We have announced that funding just today. It will…
That is actively under consideration. We are looking at what the next phase will look like. We can all point to the successful impact that the initiative has had on many communities. We are looking at geographical areas and at the types of projects that we can support. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that any…
I think that everybody in the Chamber would call out what we saw in recent weeks for what it was: raw and unadulterated racism on our streets. That has no place in our community and must be faced down wherever it raises its ugly head. I know that that is a view that we share. Behind all the attacks, however, are…
First and foremost, our thoughts and support are with those who were affected by the recent disorder. The Executive unequivocally condemn the violence that we have witnessed, and we, again, call for calm across our communities. As recent events have shown, hate crime has a devastating impact on victims, their families…
It is not about replacing people but about how we enhance the way in which we deliver services. It is something that I want to do now, when we are looking at our digital maturity assessment. That is looking across every Department to see what their level of readiness is and to assess their ability to deliver…
Thanks for that. At the heart of our Programme for Government is the need to transform our public services, and the Member will know that our whole focus is around how we can drive that transformation and how we can support innovation, creativity and efficiency as building blocks for social and economic growth. There…
It is really important because I believe that AI and digital transformation are necessary for our delivery of public services. I think that they will allow us to deliver better public services in a way that, perhaps, will be more convenient to many in our population, but that must be equitable across society. At the…
We are committed to ensuring that digital transformation is deployed responsibly and with appropriate governance, transparency and accessibility at the heart of the reform. It needs to be about enhancing inclusion rather than intensifying existing inequalities. A digital maturity assessment is due to conclude at the…
We very much welcome the fact that another great sporting event is coming to our island. I have no doubt that our office has engaged on that, but I do not have that detail. I am very happy to respond to the Minister and let him know what contact our office has had about that upcoming event.
We have to continually keep under review the role played by all our offices. I certainly want to do that as part of our international strategy. For me, the role of any of our offices is threefold. It has to be about diplomacy, advancing diplomatic relationships and building relationships. That is important if we are…
Yes, I believe that we should continue to engage in that way. That has always been my approach. That is why we were in North Carolina recently and why the deputy First Minister went to Washington. We have to take all opportunities to grow our economy, not least the opportunity that the North American market provides…
Yes. Thanks for that. As I said and as the Member noted, the increasingly volatile world that we live in — a lot of global uncertainty; the tariff wars that do not benefit us at all — presents real challenges, worry and uncertainty for businesses. If we know anything about business, it is that it likes certainty and…
Thanks for that. We need to take every opportunity, particularly in the ever-changing global climate that we now live in. We will definitely consider expanding our reach as part of our international strategy. We have to continually look towards new markets and new opportunities. Our businesses are innovative — they…
The deputy First Minister and I have experienced at first hand the important work of the bureau in the US and Canada. The team of five staff works closely with Invest NI, Tourism Ireland and a range of partners, including universities, to support the Programme for Government by highlighting the opportunity that we…
The reality is that we are actually in an Executive that can do something about it. The reality is that we are absolutely committed to delivering the A5. The reality is that Liz Kimmins, as the Infrastructure Minister, is doing absolutely everything that she can to work through the legalities of the outworking of the…
Yes, I concur with the Member's commentary around the theme. The common theme is women: women who have been failed, women shamefully treated by the state across this island, women and girls, babies robbed from their mothers. When you think about the shameful past of this island towards women, we have to do everything…
First, we were all very disappointed with the outworking of the judge's ruling last week. The A5 project was and remains an Executive flagship project. It must be delivered. It must be delivered because of the strategic route's significance and for the economy, job creation and access to services. It must be…
Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. In compliance with the Northern Ireland Act 1998, I wish to make the following statement on the twenty-ninth plenary meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC), which was held in the joint secretariat offices in Armagh on 20 June 2025. The deputy First Minister…
I beg to introduce the Inquiry (Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses) and Redress Scheme Bill [NIA 15/22-27], which is a Bill to make provision relating to a Truth Recovery Public Inquiry into Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries and Workhouses between 1922 and 1995; to…