Member's statement: Allergies: Protection for Children
Member's statement by Ms Kate Nicholl on .
- MLA
- Ms Kate Nicholl
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Allergies: Protection for Children
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5685306
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Twenty years ago, 17-year-old Jane McVeigh died after she ate a piece of food that was contaminated with nuts. I did not actually know Jane. I was in the year above her at a different school, but I had lots of friends who did know her. The impact that her death had on them and on the community was profound, and I think about her often. A few years ago, a mother came into my office whose daughter had some of the worst food allergies in Northern Ireland. She was highly allergic to so much. Her mum, Carol Anne, said to me that childhood was meant to be magical — it was when you could be a child — and she spent summers wiping down the slides in play parks to make sure that there were no ice cream drops on them and being paranoid at birthday parties. The more that I worked with Carol Anne and her daughter and came to know other allergy parents, I realised how much they were fighting against a system that does not recognise what is at risk. What they fear is what happened to Jane and what her family went through. The more work that you do and the more people who work in that allergy space to whom you speak, the more you realise how far behind we are in Northern Ireland, and I do not understand why we are not talking about this more. The Benedict Blythe Foundation, which does amazing campaigning work, succeeded in changing the law in England but that has not happened here. We need to make schools safer for children with allergies. It is not just about education; it is about health, transport, workplaces and every aspect of our lives, and all of that falls on the parent to make sure that their child is safe. I cannot imagine anything more debilitating than wondering every day whether your child is going to survive, and we are not having the conversation as a society about what we need to do to make life safer for them. In June, the national allergy strategy was launched, and we hosted an event in Parliament Buildings. There is a clear need, however, for cross-departmental working to put in place what the national allergy strategy is calling for because provision is fragmented and under-resourced. I recommend that every Member in the Chamber reads the national allergy strategy and thinks about how our portfolios relate to it, because 39% of children in the UK are affected by allergic disease. That is increasing, and we are not doing enough to make sure that those children are protected. I pay tribute to Dr Caoimhe Glancy, the National Allergy Strategy Group, Food Allergy NI, and all the parents who are doing so much to champion the issue, which is something that we really have to get behind.
480 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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