Debate contribution: Shared Future: Strategic Framework

Debate contribution by Mr Brian Kingston on 8 April 2024.

MLA: Mr Brian Kingston
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 8 April 2024
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Shared Future: Strategic Framework
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4481141

Text

A shared future for the people of Northern Ireland is something that, I trust, we are all committed to in the Assembly. Indeed, that is a key theme of the Executive. For example, the Executive Office has programmes such as Together: Building a United Community, Urban Villages and Communities in Transition. It is also facilitated by many other Executive Departments, including the Department of Education, through the shared education initiatives that many schools participate in. The Department for Communities also facilitates that in the collaborative working that takes place between communities through programmes such as neighbourhood renewal. The DUP recognises that a shared future does not mean trying to do away with personal, family and community identities. Rather, it means promoting tolerance. It means recognising this as a place that has a range of identities and recognising people's right to choose to associate or not to associate with any particular identity. In education, we in the DUP respect parental choice and the fact that there is a number of sectors in our school system as a result. Those schools must be of a viable size in the interest of the public purse. It is not just schools in the integrated sector that have a diverse enrolment; in particular, many schools in the grammar sector and the controlled sector have diverse enrolments that go across a range of community and ethnic backgrounds. Statutory services must be open and accessible to all, particularly lower-income families, who are more likely to be reliant on public services. Importantly, that does not mean that public services should not be located in areas that are predominantly associated with one side of the community in Northern Ireland. If public services were removed, such an approach could compound disadvantage by reducing the uptake of those services. We in the DUP certainly support a shared future. We are committed to investing in and transforming our public services to ensure that they are accessible to everyone. However, we need an approach to the debate that is respectful and tolerant of the many national and cultural identities that exist in communities across Northern Ireland. Community engagement is central to building a shared and inclusive future. Without community buy-in, that transition is simply not feasible. Passing motions in the Assembly can be very detached from the realities on the ground. Over many years, I have worked with community and elected representatives and statutory services in the greater Shankill and North Belfast to improve community relations and address periods of increased tension when there have been clashes and attacks as, sadly, has been the case recently. As Carál Ní Chuilín did, I pay tribute to those community and elected representatives and statutory services who work on those difficult issues and make a genuine difference at community level, particularly for those living in interface areas.

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

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