Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 7 December 2022.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

7 December 2022

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Assembly Business

Heading

Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4178510

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Acting Speaker, for once again taking the Chair as we seek — it looks like, once again, in vain — to elect a Speaker. I nominated Patsy McGlone. He has accepted that nomination although he is not here in person because of a prior commitment. I have a five-year-old child, who I helped get packed up for school today. Like lots of other parents, we are using the fact that Christmas is approaching as a tool to help teach our children responsibility. When you are trying to teach responsibility, one of the key things is trying to get your child to take accountability and responsibility for their actions. Surely, people who should be willing to take responsibility and accountability for their actions more than anyone else are those of us who walk to people's doors and ask for power. With power has to come responsibility. When you seek power and when you seek election, you do so, hopefully, to make people's lives better. You take responsibility for leading them, for ensuring that they have proper governance, for ensuring that they have public services that work and for ensuring that, at a time of a cost-of-living emergency in which inflation is at double-digit levels and in which people — my constituents and everyone else's constituents, including the DUP's — are sitting in cold homes, those people can have a modicum of support.

The tragedy is that the DUP is addicted to power but hates responsibility. The DUP wants the power to assert a tribal veto over progress in this place and of being able to say, "Unless this happens on our terms, it will not happen at all." They seek that power and assert that power, as they have done in the Chamber today. Multiple DUP Members have asked, "What about our mandate? What about the power that we got from the electorate?" However, they refuse to take responsibility for leading people and helping people in a cost-of-living emergency. It is absolutely disgraceful. They are always shirking and deflecting. It is always someone else's fault. I am sure that, later today, multiple DUP Members will say, "Well, for three years, Sinn Féin brought the Executive down". There will be debates about the precise chronology between 2017 and 2020, but that was wrong then. It was wrong for exactly the same reasons as what you are doing is wrong now, even though the circumstances are slightly different.

I will happily give way, for the sake of debate, to Mr Buckley.

I gave way for precisely this reason, Mr Acting Speaker: so that the DUP representative could assert exactly that. It is tribal one-upmanship. It is always about that. It is always like the old saying from the movies, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

Well, when life gives you them-uns, chuck it back across the Chamber. People's cold homes and public services do not matter because them-uns did it — them-uns did it.

This institution was created and founded on the basis of common endeavour: putting aside differences to work together for the common good. That is what I want to do. When bills arrive in the post or meters tick towards zero, they do not say unionist, nationalist or other on them. People are in cold homes. Those homes are not unionist, nationalist or other. Operating a tribal veto or trying to achieve a tribal victory is not a way to help people through this crisis. I appeal to the DUP, sincerely — even as I do that, I am getting sceptical looks and chuntering from DUP Members — genuinely and sincerely, this is not a game. This really is not a game, I am afraid, Mr Lyons. As a Minister, he promised people some months ago that they would have money. They do not have it, and they are in cold homes. This is not a game. This institution is about common endeavour, working together and serving the people who we asked for a vote from in May. I am afraid that, if we keep going down this road and bringing this place down in order to assert a tribal veto, all we do is fundamentally damage people's trust in the status quo, not just the constitutional status quo but the ability of democracy to deliver for people. That is an extraordinarily damaging and dangerous thing to do. Therefore, sincerely, genuinely and honestly, I say this to DUP colleagues across the Chamber, who I genuinely think, in their heart of hearts, do care about their constituents: you want power, you have got it; now, please, take responsibility.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

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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