Debate contribution: Shared Future: Strategic Framework

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 8 April 2024.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

8 April 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Shared Future: Strategic Framework

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4481172

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I have said before in the Chamber that I probably would not be here were it not for my community involvement, particularly in local sports clubs in Lagan Valley. I stand as a proud development officer of Glenavy GAC. I do not come from a GAA background, nor does my wife or any of her family. Before Matthew O'Toole left the Chamber, he talked about getting real, but I want to look at some of the things that happened around me and what it looks like when you do life together and change mindsets. My late granny was called Sally. She was pretty loyal. She was from Ballysillan. She owned a chip shop on the Shankill Road, and, when I was young, she used to take me to the band parades. My granny moved to Bangor when she got older, and, at the end, she lived in the Fold. Her flat was full of plates of the royals and royal weddings. In case anybody did not realise what her beliefs were, she had a little Union Jack clock on her mantelpiece that ticked as loudly as she could speak. Everybody knew exactly where Sally came from. Sundays were a complete day of rest: you did nothing on a Sunday in her house. You did not wash the car or cut the grass; that was completely frowned upon. When my son — her first great-grandson — was about seven or eight, he was playing in the Sunday Go games at our club, St Joseph's. We were to visit my granny on that afternoon. When he came home from the Go Games, I told him to get changed so that he would not cause her any offence. Unknown to me, he had simply thrown an Irish rugby hoodie over his GAA top. My granny was getting old, and her flat was really warm all the time, so, when we arrived there, Tim was too warm. He took off his fleece, and his GAA top was underneath: two sports, two Irish teams and a completely different reaction. My granny was 90-ish at the time, but, as quick as a flash, she saw the GAA logo. I remember seeing the speed at which her eyes locked on that badge. Here is the thing: this was her blue-eyed boy, and he was wearing a GAA shirt. I will never forget what happened and how that challenged her view and how her reaction was instantly different because this was her family and her great-grandson. I am not saying that her opinion completely changed or reversed, but her opposition certainly did, and her perception was completely challenged and was transformed. Her opinion was never going to be challenged by words, press releases, Photoshop images or Facebook posts or by a shared trip or visit somewhere where you do not know where anyone is from. What challenged her was her great-grandson living out a completely different way of life, uncomfortable, right up close and personal. While photo opportunities are good for building confidence in this place — I am not dismissing that, because it is important that that happens — hard decisions are needed to help challenge, to integrate and to unite people.

I thank Kellie for her words. If we want to live in a place that thrives and prospers and celebrates diversity for everyone on this small island, we need more than words and photographs. We need decisions that will build and bring our community together. Nor should we settle for second best or some sort of false pretence. We can never settle for dividing out or trying to pretend that dividing out is sharing. If we want to have a prosperous future, we need to share a model of confidence and integration that helps to bring people together so that they can do life together. Twenty-six years after the Good Friday Agreement was signed, we need to make decisions to deliver prosperity. When I say prosperity, I do not mean money, wealth or foreign direct investment, although those are part of it. It is about starting to look at the man in the mirror, looking at ourselves and making decisions that provide opportunities that build on the work already being done across our community to change and challenge ourselves. We urgently need a strategic framework that will work to deliver a shared future and deliver on public-sector reform to tackle the cost of division while building on the good relations work that is already happening in our community. Talk and words are no longer anywhere near good enough.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:55 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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