Debate contribution: Tackling the Financial and Societal Impacts of Division

Debate contribution by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on 25 March 2025.

MLA

Dr Steve Aiken OBE

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

25 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Tackling the Financial and Societal Impacts of Division

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4866804

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much indeed, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will return to the debate. For information, we will support the DUP amendment to the motion. The last Member to speak in the debate before Question Time was Declan Kearney. I think that you will give me latitude, Deputy Speaker, because of the amount of time that Declan Kearney seemed to spend talking about the answer somehow being a united Ireland and about all the problems in Northern Ireland somehow being created by the British Government or being down to some sort of problem with the British Government. I will point something out clearly, for the record: the costs of decades of violence created on this island, North and South, by the Provisional IRA have done more than anything else to create the sectarian divisions that exist and have added significantly to the cost of virtually everything that we do. I put that on the record so that people realise that, when we talk about how we tackle the problems of sectarianism and a divided society, it is not a glorified conversation about creating the mechanisms for a united Ireland or whatever; it is about trying to make Northern Ireland work. That is the one thing that we should look to. Many solutions have been advocated over time, and there are some very practical things that we could be doing. The Ulster Unionist Party, virtually since it came into existence, has wanted one single education system for all our children. We should have one single education system for all our children, because that will allow us to make significant savings. It has been indicated previously that close on half a billion pounds a year could be realised if we went to that position, so we should be looking at that. We will also have to look at how we do government in Northern Ireland. We have to ask some very obvious questions. Do we have too many Departments? Are too many Departments competing for limited resources and doing too many things? Do we have a peace industry that seems to create more roles and jobs than it does solutions to the problems that it is supposed to be solving? Would that money be better going into policing? At what stage do we get to the realisation that our continuing to pander to paramilitarism across Northern Ireland adds to the cost? We are creating a situation that is more like a Mafia world. We keep on paying them, and guess what? They keep on coming back for more money. We need to stop that. It is time that all paramilitarism was gone, and the sooner, the better. We will also have to look at using our resources more effectively. We have to look closely at how we can do better with the moneys that we have. Can we do things better on a North/South basis? There are opportunities to do that. Can we do things better on an east-west basis? Yes, we very definitely can. We need to see how we can do that as well. Can we get the right support across all our nations of the United Kingdom? Are we taking the best benefit that we can from sources such as the National Wealth Fund? Earlier today, we had a debate about green hydrogen. Are we making the best possible case to the rest of our nation? Are we making our nation work for all of us? I am a unionist. I make no bones about it: I think that Northern Ireland is best as part of the United Kingdom. It was made clear in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement that it would remain so until people decide otherwise. I do not think that people will ever decide otherwise, because it works, even though it is imperfect. I declare an interest as a former chief executive of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce and former CEO of a university trust in Dublin. I can say that the costs of division in the Irish Republic are massive — in the realms of billions of euros. Anybody who thinks that there is some kind of panacea south of the border is living in dreamland. We must work out how Northern Ireland works best for all of us. We can do that by making some moves now. The easiest and quickest thing that we can do is to start working towards one education system for all our children: not an integrated education system but an education system for everyone. On that point, I take my rest.

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

Assessment

Uncertain: weak signal Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:08 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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