Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 27 October 2022.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

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 4178382

Read the official Assembly record

Text

"I don't think an election will hasten the day when the protocol is sorted out. But it is a matter for the Government". "The local political parties are not at the table to negotiate".

Those are some of Jeffrey Donaldson's words from yesterday. We all agree with you, Jeffrey. We also all agree that your continued strike will not hasten the day that the protocol is sorted out either. That is a matter for the UK Government and the EU to resolve, and both have agreed to resolve it. Since the DUP walked out last February, we have seen the steady and mounting decline in circumstances through which ordinary people are living.

A grown-up party of government does not behave like that. It has been said that we must get real, so let us get real. I want to tell you about a family in Lagan Valley whom I dealt with recently. It is a typical hard-working family, like many in all our constituencies. This is Paul and Esther's story; they are from Lisburn. Paul works full-time — he earns 24 grand a year — and Esther works part-time because of the costs of childcare. She works her hours around her two children. They both work hard, and their world is their two kids and their home, which they purchased several years ago. They are a young family with young children. They have their whole future ahead of them, yet Paul and Esther are struggling — really struggling. During COVID, they had no choice but to take a mortgage holiday, due to furlough, and they are now paying that back. Paul drives in his job and has seen his fuel costs increase massively, and, like many families, they now have a huge increase in their monthly mortgage payment. They are struggling to pay their bills, heat their home and feed their kids. Here they were, calling for help: in tears, embarrassed and broken. They were at their wits' end. They are not entitled to a payment of universal credit, and, OK, they will get the £400, sometime, for their electricity, and they will get the pitiful £100 oil payment, but that is such little support at a time when they need it most. The House should be providing tailored help for our people: that is why we were elected. Paul does not even know how he will get to work in the next few weeks. Does he pay his mortgage? Does he put petrol in his car? Does he heat his home? Does he feed his family? Those are the real choices that people are having to make, here in Northern Ireland, and this is 2022. I often visit the local food bank in Lisburn. Food banks have been mentioned by other Members. I was informed recently that, in Lisburn, there was a more than 100% increase in the use of the food bank in this month of October alone, and to date. The highest increase was from low-income working families. Those are hard-working people. They got through COVID, and now they are being broken by this crisis. It is working people, such as Paul and Esther, whom you are hurting through the non functioning of the Assembly and its inability to offer help or give direction or stability. They are the people who are caught up in your political games. In Lagan Valley, I met the local PSNI. We were chatting about crime rates in the area. I was shocked at the PSNI's stats, and there is one that I still cannot get over. I repeat: this is 2022. In Lisburn, stealing food from supermarkets and shops to survive is up 53%. That has become the highest crime in the area. It is time to end ransom politics, where the rest of us sit here, powerless to get financial support to the very people who need it most. No one should be left behind. These people are our neighbours; they are our friends and our families. Shamelessly, DUP Members have sat, today, nodding along, laughing at times, but there is an elephant in the room: I suspect that the majority of you do not even agree with the decision that your leadership has inflicted on our people. How could you agree with that? It is disgusting, at a time like this. It is shameful, at a time like this. It is embarrassing. Please, think of your constituents, our constituents and everyone's constituents. Call your strike off. Get on with your job. Do the job that you are paid for and let us get this place working.

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

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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