Debate contribution: Supporting Service Leavers, Veterans and their Families

Debate contribution by Ms Cheryl Brownlee on 4 November 2025.

MLA

Ms Cheryl Brownlee

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

4 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Supporting Service Leavers, Veterans and their Families

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5217023

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Northern Ireland has a long and proud history and an affinity with the armed forces. It is poignant that we debate today's motion during a time of national remembrance. Every one of us in the Chamber today and across Northern Ireland benefits from the immense sacrifices made by so many veterans and serving armed forces personnel. Of course, it is incumbent on us all to ensure that those who have sacrificed so much are supported. The DUP has always been clear about its strong support for our veterans and armed forces. We secured and worked on the creation of the Veterans Commissioner for Northern Ireland and the progression of legislation on the armed forces covenant through the New Decade, New Approach agreement. In my consistency of East Antrim, we have some incredible individuals and organisations that work tirelessly to support our veterans and armed forces community, such as the Royal British Legion, the UDR veterans association and the cadets association, to name just a few. There are so many incredible organisations throughout Northern Ireland, and it is a pleasure to work with them. I thank them so much for the work that they do. Veterans' champions have been appointed across a number of councils and are heavily involved in supporting our military service personnel through practical support and events such as veterans' breakfasts and social gatherings, as well as signposting them to support and advice. However, as has just been highlighted, the problem is that that is not happening across the board. It is not equal, and it is not fair. No one should ever be disadvantaged because of their postcode. The transition from life in uniform to civvy street is significant and can be fraught with uncertainty and challenge. We have heard about the high suicide rates. We have heard about addiction. We have heard about the struggle to gain a house and stay in it. I have spoken to veterans who have found a property but cannot stay there. They are not used to it, because it is not the environment in which they grew up and lived for so long. It is incredibly difficult for them, and they need additional support. Only a few weeks ago, I was honoured to attend the Northern Irish Veterans Awards. It was fantastic to see so many of our local businesses recognising and supporting our veterans and utilising their transferable skills. Both my colleagues mentioned the strategic defence review, as well as the jobs that the defence sectors across the UK create and the benefits of that for the economy. We have mentioned here today the duty that is placed on public authorities in Northern Ireland to give due regard to the unique circumstances facing our service personnel in housing, education and healthcare.

I was delighted with the response that I received recently from our Minister of Education on the topic in which he detailed the additional funding for schools, including for transport and to ensure that children of service personnel are not discriminated against in the admissions process, and the fact that they are working closely with the children's education support officer for Northern Ireland, who looks after the children of service personnel in Northern Ireland on education matters. I thank the Minister for his work in that field and for recognising how important it is. He has instructed his officials to undertake a review of current practices in order to identify opportunities for further enhancement.

We should always be looking for better ways to protect those who have sacrificed so much to protect us and our freedoms. It will never again be possible for any Minister to wrongly claim that the armed forces covenant does not apply in Northern Ireland. There is a clear legal duty on our Departments that cannot be ignored. I am immensely proud of our servicemen and servicewomen and our veterans. All of us on the Benches on this side of the House will continue to ensure that we support them in every way we can.

Thank you. I totally agree. It is incumbent on all Ministers to realise the importance of the veterans community and the disadvantage that veterans experience. Some people do not realise what it is like to come back from serving, how difficult it is and what the challenges are. I have learned so much from my engagement, and I want to see what more we can do and find out more about the challenges that veterans face. It is about all of us opening our eyes to the challenges and barriers that veterans face that we may not even have realised were there. We owe veterans so much. It is high time that we all stepped up to recognise not just their sacrifice but their continued contribution to society. The issue deserves so much more than gratitude; it demands commitment from us all.

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

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:45 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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