Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 3 August 2022.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

3 August 2022

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Assembly Business

Heading

Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4178005

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Once again, the DUP have shown themselves to be completely and utterly self-serving in their approach to politics here by their actions today. At a time when a cost-of-living crisis is driving people into destitution, their cynical phrase-mongering around the protocol simply does not wash. The reality is that they are wilfully ignoring the plight of the vast majority of people who are struggling to keep their heads above water due to spiralling costs and political inaction. They have abdicated from their responsibility for tackling the current crisis and have done so to suit their own narrow political interests. While the DUP refuse to do business in the Chamber, they also refuse to do business outside it. We have only to look at the sitting DUP Economy Minister, Mr Lyons, who has sat on his hands while energy companies have made record profits. He has not even opened his mouth. Just today, we see that oil giants BP and Shell's profits, between April and June this year, have outstripped the entire budget for the North for the year. Those costs are being passed on to our constituents by the very companies that the Minister and his department are supposed to regulate and keep in check. He has utterly failed to do so. That the Minister has refused to implement energy price caps and reductions is a scandal, but people are becoming increasingly aware that the hardships they face are directly linked to the profiteering of a grotesque and ultra-rich minority. They are also aware that the political Establishment in this Chamber has refused to lift a finger to challenge this. Worse still, the DUP has used its ministerial platforms to launch direct attacks on working-class people who have the temerity to fight for better wages.

This week, the Education Minister disgracefully backed plans to cut the salaries of striking teachers who are taking action to defend their basic right to have a decent wage. That is disgusting and straight out of the Tory playbook. The DUP is not alone in presiding over that approach of kicking working-class people in the teeth. Previously, the Health Minister, endorsed by Executive colleagues, decided to offer health workers a below-inflation pay offer. The Assembly may not be fully functioning, but Ministers can still make important decisions. The problem is that the ones that they make are not in the interests of ordinary working-class people. We also have a Sinn Féin Communities Minister who has done nowhere near enough to get money into the pockets of those who need it most. A recent study by the University of York suggested that over half of UK households will be in fuel poverty by January 2023. I suspect that that will be higher here. The effect that that will have, come winter, will be catastrophic, but the Minister has shown no urgency to address the problem. We have an 11-year-old outdated fuel poverty strategy, while people will freeze in their homes this winter. That fact alone is a glaring indictment of the record of successive Communities Ministers. Although it must be said that we in People Before Profit believe that the DUP should end its boycott of the Assembly, we do not believe that the restoration of the institutions will be the silver bullet to solve the multitude of problems that we face. As far back as December 2021, when we had a working Executive, I submitted a call for parties to suspend the winter recess to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. Back then, that, too, was branded a stunt. The same parties voted against our proposal to cut and freeze rents for private renters, who are being increasingly squeezed by greedy landlords. Given the number of landlords in the Chamber, that might not come as a surprise. The cost-of-living crisis raged for months, and the Stormont Executive simply looked on. The same politicians presided over a decade of austerity, reduced the pay of workers, implemented cuts to public services, introduced the cruel welfare reform measures — the list goes on and on. If the institutions ever return, it will be up to ordinary people to pressure any incoming Executive and Government into action, because, left to their own actions, they simply will not work and have not worked for the benefit of the majority of people here. In recent months, striking workers and the trade union movement more generally have led the fightback against employers who have attempted to suppress wages for their own greedy ends. I salute the brave decision of BT workers, Openreach workers and postal workers, who have either gone on strike or are due to strike over pay and other issues. Similarly, the RMT rail workers are leading the fight for better wages. Despite the propaganda against them —

— they should be saluted and supported. Wealthy employers and their —

Sure. Yes.

I thank the Minister for his intervention, which has given me an extra minute, and for his kind offer. I will be delighted to meet him as soon as possible. I have a list of ideas that you should implement and look to implement. You should say something about the fact that BP and Shell are making record profits. Your silence is deafening. Saying something would be of benefit to people in our communities, so I advise you say something. I will take you up on your offer of a meeting. Wealthy employers and their allies in the Assembly, maybe including the Minister, need to hear loud and clear that workers will no longer stand for poverty wages and rotten profiteering.

Striking workers deserve support.

On a point of order, Mr Acting Speaker. I refer the Member to yesterday's 'Belfast Telegraph'. Look at the Assembly question that the Minister responded to.

I am still speaking. Look at the Assembly question that the Minister responded to indicating her support for reducing the pay of striking workers. I refer the Member to the article and the question, whichever one she desires, so go ahead.

1,003 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not qualifying

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:32 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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