Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Debate contribution by Ms Michelle O'Neill on 30 May 2022.

MLA: Ms Michelle O'Neill
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 30 May 2022
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Assembly Business
Heading: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4177679

Text

I congratulate both Tyrone and Derry. I have the pleasure of representing east Tyrone and south Derry; it was a good day for the constituency. Well done to all involved. Today marks 26 days since the people voted and gave the parties represented here in the Chamber a mandate to constitute the Assembly, form an Executive, agree a Budget and allocate £420 million from the Executive's bank account into the pockets of workers and families to help to alleviate the burden as a result of the cost-of-living rises. The people have spoken, and they now want action. They do not want protest. They want the parties and every single MLA elected to this democratic institution to get their sleeves rolled up and get down to business. Since the election, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Prime Minister Boris Johnson have both visited Belfast and met the parties. I told Boris Johnson that the Tories are cynically using the people of the North and their democratic institutions as bargaining chips in their attempt to renegotiate with the EU. They do so for narrow party interests. The majority of people voted democratically to stay in the EU; they rejected Brexit. There was certainly no consent to leave. The majority of new MLAs elected to this Chamber support the protocol, believe that it is workable, if given the chance to be implemented, and believe that, where any issues exist, they can all be resolved within the framework of the protocol and the Joint Committee. Last week, we had welcome news that Wrightbus had secured a deal to supply 60 hydrogen buses to Germany over the next two years. That illustrates the benefits that our continued access to the EU single market is yielding for our local businesses, our economy and job creation. All parties, and also the British Government, should respect the democratic outcome and now fully support the application of the Good Friday Agreement through power-sharing and equality. The DUP standoff is with the public, not with the European Union. The standoff is with those people who are crippled with pain, waiting for treatment and surgery on the NHS, who voted for us to tackle the waiting lists by investing an extra £1 billion in our health service. The stark figures that we saw last week from the Department of Health show that almost 360,000 people are now on a waiting list. We need an Executive in place to reduce waiting lists, to hire more doctors and nurses, and to fund vital mental health and cancer services today. We in Sinn Féin are committed to making health the Executive's number-one priority for the next three years. We are committed to investing in health, tackling waiting lists and ensuring that you can get access to your GP when you need to do so. We need to protect the health service and resist Tory underfunding and attempts to dismantle the NHS. People, rightly, want their politicians to work together to prioritise those very important issues. When the Assembly, Executive, North/South bodies and east-west relations were all restored in January 2020, there was a shared commitment to deliver public services, societal reforms and a future that our people need and deserve. Over that period, we demonstrated that, when there is a unity of purpose and when parties work together with determination, we can deliver for the public whom we serve. As I stand here today, I am ready to work with others and lead an Executive to make politics work for everyone and demonstrate that real change is possible. Working together, we can prioritise health, housing and education, and we can create more jobs in a stronger economy. We can build a more progressive and modern society that is based on fairness and equality. Those who disrupt the present and threaten our future need to realise that there is no going back; only forward.

647 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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