Debate contribution: North/South Ministerial Council: Twenty-ninth Plenary Meeting

Debate contribution by Ms Michelle O'Neill on 30 June 2025.

MLA

Ms Michelle O'Neill

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

30 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statements

Heading

North/South Ministerial Council: Twenty-ninth Plenary Meeting

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5042791

Read the official Assembly record

Text

First, we were all very disappointed with the outworking of the judge's ruling last week. The A5 project was and remains an Executive flagship project. It must be delivered. It must be delivered because of the strategic route's significance and for the economy, job creation and access to services. It must be delivered, because it is a safety issue. It has to be about saving lives. I am absolutely committed, and I stand over our commitment to ensuring that the A5 is built. That is what the public want to hear. They want to know how we will address the issues that the judge set out in his ruling, a detailed ruling at that. There is no doubt that it is a setback. We need to turn all our attention now to making sure that the road is delivered. That is what we discussed at the Executive this morning, and it is what I will continue to discuss with the Infrastructure Minister. All options are on the table. This is an urgent and necessary issue. The A5 road project will be delivered.

I concur with you, as, I am sure, does everybody in the House, and convey our sympathy and thoughts to the family of Sarah Montgomery — another young mother whose life has been taken. It is such a tragedy. It really underlines for us all, once again, that we have a huge problem in our society with violence against women and girls. It was important that we added the issue to the agenda of the North/South Ministerial Council, because the challenges that we face are felt across the whole island and, indeed, these islands. One of the tangible actions in that area of work is that our officials have now taken the lead in forming a five-jurisdiction working group that is looking at how we all come at ending violence against women and girls. That will very much help us to pick up things that work well in other jurisdictions and apply that learning here. We have our own strategy, because we recognise the significant problem that we have. We had a really good, engaged discussion across the NSMC about the common challenges and potential areas for exploration. We tasked officials at North/South Ministerial Council level to come back to us with recommendations on potential areas that we can explore together. I look forward to the item remaining on the agenda, because the reality is that, unfortunately, it is a huge societal problem that we all share, and we must apply all our efforts to ending what is a scourge and an epidemic in our society.

I absolutely concur with the Member: the A5 must be built. The project is long overdue, and we must fulfil our commitment. With every ounce of my being, I will put all attention and effort into ensuring that the A5 is built. There is no doubt that last week's court ruling is a huge setback for the project. However, I say to the Member that we are actively working our way through the detail and that there is urgency to that work. Let me be clear as First Minister, a Tyrone woman, a mummy and someone who knows closely and acutely how dangerous that road is: we will do everything to ensure that the project is delivered. We all know too many families who have lost a loved one on that dangerous stretch of road. They want to hear from us today that we will fix the problem and deliver the road. We will take on the points that have been set out in the ruling. All options are on the table and are being actively explored as next steps. The commitment to the A5 project stands: the road must be delivered.

A number of bilateral meetings took place, and the deputy First Minister and I had a chance to discuss the issue of legacy more generally with the Irish Government. It is important that we all turn our attention to dealing with the legacy of the past and that every one of us uses our best efforts to ensure that we bring forward mechanisms that are human rights-compliant. Everybody has a part to play in that. I want to unburden today's generation of the legacy of the past. Let us find ways to do that politically. I recommend that approach to the Irish Government, the British Government and everybody else who wants to get us to a point where we have a way to deal with the past that commands maximum support from victims and survivors.

I concur with the Member on the death of Sarah Montgomery at the weekend. It was such a tragedy. A young mummy has been taken from her children. It is heartbreaking and unimaginable. I cannot imagine what that family is going through. For our part, we must recognise that we have a societal problem to deal with. We have our strategy for ending violence against women and girls, and we must continue to review it to make sure that it is fit for purpose and that we do everything that we can. This is not unique to us; it is a societal problem across the board. As the statement sets out, we have tasked officials to come back to us with practical ways in which we can continue to collaborate across the area. We have to tackle the scourge of violence against women and girls. I want us to do everything that we can. That approach was very much embraced at the meeting, and people felt that it was an area where we absolutely should cooperate. We can do good things when we learn from and lean into one another.

The Executive discussed the matter this morning. The outworking of the judge's ruling is an issue, but let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Let us work our way through practical solutions that allow us to deliver on major capital projects such as the A5 whilst protecting our planet for future generations. We can do both, but we will have to navigate legally around what that looks like for us as an Executive. Like many others, I am concerned about what the ruling means for how we proceed with major capital projects in future, but we can navigate our way through it successfully. We can protect our environment and deliver on big capital projects that, we know, need to be delivered.

Unfortunately, as the Member knows, there is an issue with the additional funding that the Irish Government wish to put on the table. The problem lies in this jurisdiction, because Executive partners, particularly the DUP, do not want to see that additional funding coming in. That is a case of cutting your nose off to spite your face. It is additional funding to those bodies that could help trade, tourism and a range of areas. I continue to travel in hope and urge there to be a sense of pragmatism about additional funding for our bodies. We should take it.

Thanks for that question. Casement Park was raised at the meeting and subsequently at the press conference. We have momentum behind the project, insofar as we have the British Government's announcement of their commitment of £50 million towards the project. I believe in investing in sport. I believe in the investment in Casement Park, because of what it will mean for west Belfast and, nationally, for the GAA. Importantly, we must all come at it with a can-do attitude. Let us invest in sport across the board. Let us do that, because sport makes a meaningful and positive difference to people's lives. Now that we have the quantum on the table from the British Government, all attention has to be turned to charting a way forward. I will continue to work with the Minister responsible and all Ministers around the Executive table to ensure that the Casement Park project is delivered and finally brought over the line after many years of delay.

I concur with the Member: the institutions need to pay. That is important, and the Committee for the Executive Office is looking at it as part of the passage of our legislation. We took the opportunity at our meeting to raise the issue with the Taoiseach in the context of learning, because the Irish Government went through the process and took a certain approach. It is important that we engage with them on how they conducted themselves and how successful or not that was. By all accounts, it was not as successful as, you would think, it would be when it is legislated for. We are also aware of report of the independent negotiator, Sheila Nunan, for the Irish Government. She stated that they were disappointed in what they had been able to achieve and that only a few institutions had provided contributions to the redress scheme. That, in itself, is something that we have to learn from. We will have to take that on board, if we feel that a legislative approach to the issue is required. That is a part of the journey through the legislative process that we will definitely come back to.

Thank you for that question. Yes, we discussed that matter, because, as the Member will know, the Peace programme has had such a significant impact across all of our communities. We have only to look around us to see the value in some of the projects that have been delivered. The current programme is well under way, with 88% of the programme having already been committed. That is a huge investment of approximately £815 million over 102 projects. We raised the issue of a successor programme, and it was reported to us that, when the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister had a conversation about that matter, they agreed in principle to a successor programme, That, in itself, is a step forward. Our next steps will involve the continuing engagement of Department of Finance officials with the NIO and the Irish Government on the specifics of what a potential new programme would look like. Suffice to say that, for me, the signs are positive for the achievement of a successor programme.

Thank you for that. I will have to write to you with any detailed considerations. In arriving at the juncture where we have presented the legislation for scrutiny and analysis, we took into account all of the issues, and there is no doubt that it is challenging. People have different opinions about the date for posthumous claims, for example, which I absolutely understand. I encourage the Member, as part of the Executive Office Committee's scrutiny, to work through that. I have no doubt that the Committee will make recommendations that we will have to consider in due course. I am glad that the Bill has been introduced and that we are, at least, at the discussion phase, where we can shape the final legislation.

I will help you out with your confusion, perhaps. The Health Minister was unable to be at the NSMC meeting, but we discussed areas of cooperation around muscular dystrophy as part of the consideration of rare diseases. There are real advantages to working across the island to support people who have rare diseases, particularly when it comes to access to drugs. The Health Minister's counterpart raised that at the meeting, and I spoke to the Health Minister this morning about that, because we should pick up this area and run with it together. Let us support people with potentially very rare diseases in cases where we do not have the expertise in one or other of the jurisdictions, so that we can make a difference to people's lives. I assure the Member that health is always on the agenda. We have good areas of cooperation in health, and I would like us to continue to build on that.

I absolutely concur with the Member. That is my personal view, obviously, and not the view of the Office. I welcome the fact that the Assembly voted in favour of presidential voting rights. It is long past time to correct that democratic deficit and long past time for presidential voting rights to be expanded to Irish citizens here. The reality is that, as an Irish citizen in the North, you can stand in the election, you can become the Uachtarán na hÉireann

, but you cannot vote in that election. That is so out of date and needs to be rectified. It is an anomaly that needs to be immediately fixed. I continue to commend that approach. I also should acknowledge that they had this debate in the Dáil last week, and, again, there was unanimous support. Now it is time to turn that into action, to legislate for it and make it happen and to give Irish citizens in the North the chance to vote for our Uachtarán

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2,160 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:57 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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