Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Givan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 14 February 2023
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Assembly Business
- Heading
- Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4178841
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I join Michelle O'Neill in welcoming Alex Easton to the Chamber and in offering, as we have done on behalf of the DUP, our condolences to him on the loss of his parents. I am delighted to see Dáithí and his family, Maírtín and Seph, with us here today. I know that last week in Newcastle will have been a difficult time for them, but I can see that he is in fighting spirit. It is a pleasure to have him here in the Chamber. I have got to know the family from the time when I was made First Minister. It was one of the first issues that we had to deal with in the Executive. It had been stuck for a protracted period, and we were able to find a way forward to allow that legislation to proceed to the Assembly. That was an example of how this place can work effectively across all parties and deliver on legislation that can make a real difference to people. I want to put it on record that the family have been fighting the campaign with great dignity. What they are doing is exactly what I would do if I were in their position: calling on the parties, the DUP and the Secretary of State and everybody else to get the law over the line. I want to say how much I admire the way in which they have fought their campaign. The DUP supports organ donation. We encourage people to sign up to the register, and we support the legislation being brought into being. The Secretary of State and the other parties in this Chamber, however, know the DUP's position on the restoration of the institutions. They know the sustainable basis required for that to take place.
Unionism gave time and space for the Government to fulfil the commitments that they made three years ago when they signed up to the EU withdrawal agreement and to the commitments to restore Northern Ireland's place in the internal market, and they have failed to do so. Therefore, we are in a place that is regrettable but, nonetheless, was warned about. For a long time, we warned that the institutions would not be sustainable for as long as there was a failure to respect the premise on which they were built: the Belfast Agreement and the consent principle. The Secretary of State has a responsibility to take the issue forward. His approach to handling it is to release statements to the media and then to say different things in private to political parties and to those who are concerned about it. He has indicated that he would support the measure going through Westminster, but, when he had the opportunity to include it in the legislation, he did not include it. He said that he would support MPs in tabling an amendment to it but then said publicly that they believe that that is not within the scope of the Bill. The Secretary of State is not handling the issue in a way that befits the office that he holds. I appeal to him to work in a manner that is much more constructive and apolitical than the approach that he has taken to date. The Government have legislated on other issues — same-sex marriage, abortion and the Irish language. They were able to legislate on those issues, which were much more controversial than this one, on which we are united and which, collectively, all parties in the Chamber have called on the Secretary of State to pass at Westminster given that, in the absence of an Assembly and Executive, it remains the sovereign Parliament. I appeal to the Secretary of State: he can do this, and he should do it. Our MPs at Westminster will seek to bring the matter forward so that we can give effect to what the Assembly passed in its support of the organ and tissue Bill.
658 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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