Debate contribution: Integrated Education: Fresh Start Funding for Capital Projects

Debate contribution by Lord Elliott on 12 March 2024.

MLA

Lord Elliott

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

12 March 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Integrated Education: Fresh Start Funding for Capital Projects

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4267162

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I assure you that my phone is switched off and I do not have to give an intervention. Thanks to those who moved the motion and to my colleague, Robbie Butler, who moved the amendment, which, in my view, is broadly a correction of accuracy, and I appreciate that. We have heard a lot about choice. We have heard a lot about exclusivity and inclusivity and what is inclusive. The difficulty that I have is that it appears that some in the Chamber want to almost force people to go to a single sector. That is not what we are about in Northern Ireland. We want that choice, and the Minister has said that he is willing to provide that choice. We do not want to elevate one sector above all others, and that is important. I can recall, when I was at school — you will appreciate that that was a while ago — there was one school in our area, Lack Primary School, that is now earmarked for closure. It was a proper integrated school. It was in the controlled sector, but pupils attended that school from across the community divide and the religious divide. In my view, at that time, that was a good example of an integrated school in the controlled sector, but the controlled sector always facilitated people from across the community. It is unfortunate that the controlled sector was not broadly the main sector that could accommodate, because, to me, that could facilitate people from all communities. I apologise to Mr Mathison that I was not here for the opening of the debate. However, Mr Butler moved the amendment that, to me, provided some accuracy to the situation and referenced the recent legislation and the 2022 Act. He highlighted the Brookeborough shared education campus and the Strule campus, which are two important projects in rural areas. Brookeborough, in particular, was referenced by my constituency colleague, Mrs Erskine. It is vital and has been worked on for years. That project has the opportunity to make a real difference in that area for shared education and experiences of different traditions. Another school in the constituency seemed to fall through the web some time ago, and that was in Moy. Two schools were working very closely together, with just a hedge or a fence between them. They were able to work that relationship very well. A number of Members highlighted the loss of the Fresh Start funding, including Mr Sheehan, Deirdre Hargey and others. Diane Dodds quoted some of the legislation. It was helpful to highlight exactly what the legislation says and that one sector, integrated education, should not be put on a pedestal above others. Cheryl Brownlee highlighted that, as I have said, many schools are actually integrated but may not have the title of "integrated" above the door or in the title. Cara Hunter talked about the importance and fairness of supporting schools from all sectors and across the board. I noted that Mr O'Toole, even as leader of the Opposition, tried to bring the debate back to what it was actually about, which was the loss of the Fresh Start funding.

I thought that Mr O'Toole, as leader of the Opposition, might have used the opportunity to talk about the difficulties in the Executive and what the Minister said about not supporting Ministers to get the funding for those capital projects, but he shied away from that somewhat and tried to bring the debate back to the re-establishment of the finance from the UK Government.

Mr Carroll's speech was interesting. At the start, he indicated that the integrated sector should be the one and only sector, but then he went on to talk about support for the Irish-medium sector. So, I am not sure whether he supports there being one sector — the integrated sector — or whether he also supports the Irish-medium sector but no others. I will bring matters to a conclusion at that.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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