Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Debate contribution by Mr Peter McReynolds on 27 October 2022.

MLA: Mr Peter McReynolds
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 27 October 2022
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Assembly Business
Heading: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4178369

Text

I rise with a mixture of pride and anger to speak in support of nominating a Speaker today. Unfortunately, over the last six months, I have spent more time in the Chamber with primary- and secondary-school children than I have with MLAs. I have not been able to discuss legislation; I have not been able to scrutinise Ministers; and I certainly have not been able to raise issues on behalf of my constituents on the Floor. Like many here, I was a councillor for five years before becoming an MLA, and I was proud to stand for election for the Alliance Party in East Belfast just six months ago. I built up a solid reputation as someone who just got on with things and delivered for his constituents, doing the job that I was elected to do: no drama, no rhetoric, no time-wasting. So, it is unthinkable and unconscionable that we are here today during a cost-of-living crisis and a climate emergency, after a two-year global pandemic and as we face a winter that many will struggle to get through, looking at an indulgent election to the tune of £6·5 million at a time when many people and families across Northern Ireland are suffering, because they face the choice of heating their home or skipping a meal. A food bank worker in my constituency told me recently about someone arriving at their door desperate for food. They were brought to tears when offered chilled foods in the package that they were provided with, because they were ashamed to admit that they could not afford the electricity to turn on their fridge at home. Children in the most deprived areas of Northern Ireland are six times more likely to be placed on a child protection register and four times more likely to be taken into care. One food bank user recently wrote on their social media:
"We are a family that is just surviving, not living".
What kind of society are we allowing to exist outside these walls in 2022? Food banks should not have to exist — we know that — but it is especially hard for me to stomach when some politicians sit on their hands while volunteers put their shoulder to the wheel to help the most vulnerable in our society. At the same time as all of that, I see and hear how the people of Northern Ireland are being used as so-called leverage, and I have heard that screamed across the Chamber today. They have been misinformed by a party in the Chamber that professes to care about Northern Ireland, them and their lives. No one can tell me whom the collapse of the Assembly benefits, that it is a constructive negotiating tactic in talks between the UK and the EU or that it benefits the communities across Northern Ireland that put us here. They did not elect us to go to lunches and launches in this place. We were elected to legislate and improve the lives of everyone in Northern Ireland — not just those who voted for us or agree with us but everyone — through the formation of the Assembly and an Executive; to turn up for them every day; to listen to the key workers whom we all used to clap for during the pandemic; and to make the realities that they see every day easier. There are stories such as those that we heard from Dr Julie Anne Maney, who spoke of having to treat children, patch them up and send them back to the environment that made them ill in the first place, and from Andy McClenaghan, who broke down as he spoke about what he sees and hears from social workers in his organisation. Those conversations took place in the Long Gallery upstairs; the Chamber was silent and empty. Stormont cannot fix everything that is wrong in the world today. It cannot address all the issues that we have been hearing about, but it can at least show that we care about the people who elect us and will make the necessary changes to improve their lives. That starts today with getting the Assembly and Executive functioning as they should. I support the election of a Speaker today; I support devolution; and I support MLAs carrying out the roles to which they were elected. I plead with the DUP and former DUP councillors from Belfast City Council: for the sake of the people of Northern Ireland, nominate a Speaker, get this place up and running again, and get back to work.

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

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