Debate contribution: Illegal Immigration: Impact in Northern Ireland

Debate contribution by Ms Sian Mulholland on 20 May 2025.

MLA

Ms Sian Mulholland

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

20 May 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Illegal Immigration: Impact in Northern Ireland

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4964323

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I will begin by reminding the House why we were recalled to the Chamber last August: it was in response to the deeply disturbing racist riots that broke out. I will quote from a speech that was made at the time:

"Northern Ireland has a proud history of welcoming those who seek better lives for themselves and their families and who have enriched our communities socially and economically. That will not change. It is abhorrent that some of our most dedicated health professionals have felt compelled to consider leaving Northern Ireland as a result of recent events. It is no exaggeration to say that, without their contribution, our health service and other essential provisions would collapse." — [Official Report (Hansard), 8 August 2024, p4, col 2].

The Member went on to say:

"it is clear to me that some people are pushing those issues to direct anger specifically at foreign nationals who are living in our community. That is disgraceful." — [Official Report (Hansard), 8 August 2024, p5, col 1].

Those remarks were made by a Member from the party that proposed today's motion: the same party that is doing exactly what its Member condemned last summer. The very people who were attacked last summer are the people whom the Assembly stood together to support, yet they are now being blamed in the motion for the pressures on housing, GP appointments, public services and education. The irony is striking, but the message is dangerous. I want to be clear: I am not here to dismiss the concerns of those in our communities who feel anxious, frustrated or fearful, if those feelings are valid. The blame in the motion, however, is being directed at the wrong people. Migrants are not the reason that people are struggling to get a GP appointment. Refugees are not the reason that people cannot afford housing. Asylum seekers do not raise people's heating bills. There are consequences as a result of decades of political neglect, chronic underinvestment, unstable government and austerity, and those are not people's neighbours' fault. Many of the people who are targeted by the motion are here because they fled war, persecution and hardship that many of us can barely imagine, all whilst bringing children with them. No human being is illegal. The language that is being used is so demoralising and dehumanising. If the safe and legal channel for asylum is removed, that plays into the hands of the gangs that some Members mentioned that profit off —.

Yes, of course.

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. We have a duty when it comes to the language that we use in here. If people in our communities have concerns, and many do, bring them to us. Let us work together to address them with compassion, truth and facts, not fear and scapegoating. I will return to the points that my North Antrim colleague made. Some 86% of all housing in Northern Ireland is occupied by people who were born here. In North Antrim, the percentage rises to 88%. Seventy-two per cent of tenants in the private rented sector across Northern Ireland are born here. In North Antrim, the percentage is 73%. The percentage of people in social housing in North Antrim is 89%.

No. I do not have an awful lot of time.

I will come back to you.

I just want to point out that, yes, there are issues. In places such as Ballymena in particular, however, migrants are not a burden but a necessity. They are staffing our hospitals. In fact, 900 people from North Antrim alone work in our health and social care system.

You can disagree all that you want, Mr Gaston, but they are essential to our agri-food sector and are driving our hospitality and services industries, especially in places such as Ballymena. With a declining birth rate and an ageing population, Northern Ireland as a whole cannot function without some form of inward migration. That is why we will support the SDLP amendment, which recognises the positive contribution of migrants and calls for action on integration. It rightly demands that the First Minister and the deputy First Minister publish a refugee integration strategy by September 2025. By comparison, the motion's conclusion, with its throwaway reference to HMO planning policy, is not a serious response to housing pressures but a fig leaf. The 2021 census data shows that we have 45,000 people waiting on a housing list. That pressure did not come about overnight, and it certainly will not be solved by HMO tweaks.

OK. Thanks, Daniel. The housing crisis will not be solved with tweaks to the rules on HMOs. I agree that political instability has caused an awful lot of the issues that we face. I will not support a motion that others members of our community and uses infrastructure policy as cover. That does a disservice to the genuine concerns that people talk about. However, I will support an amendment that recognises everyone in Northern Ireland, no matter their race, faith or background, as part of our shared future. The communities that were targeted last summer are the same ones that are being blamed in the motion. We stood with them then, and I am proud to stand with them again now.

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

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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