Debate contribution: UK COVID-19 Inquiry: Institutional Reform

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 9 December 2025.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

9 December 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

UK COVID-19 Inquiry: Institutional Reform

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5295873

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I support the motion and the amendment. As somebody who sat in the House and on the Health Committee during COVID, I think that there is a lot of amnesia and that there has been a lot of rewriting of the history of that, no doubt, turbulent and difficult period by Members to my right, in particular those in the DUP. The COVID-19 inquiry told us that our local institutions failed and that political disputes trumped the public good and what was good for people's health. However, what the inquiry did not say loudly enough is that that was entirely predictable to anyone who watches this place, at present or in the past. While thousands of people died, often alone, and were denied the company of loved ones to comfort them, our political system was paralysed by sectarian vetoes and political point-scoring. Working-class communities bore the brunt of that failure. They could not access adequate healthcare then, and tens and hundreds of thousands still cannot today. They faced impossible choices between following restrictions and putting food on the table, and they watched as those who made the rules broke them without consequence. Our institutions are fundamentally built on a foundation that incentivises division. When the crisis hit, we saw the consequences: people died alone in hospitals, while Ministers played political games and let the virus flow and grow. Families were denied funerals for their loved ones. My grandmother died of COVID in 2022 because, in part, she could not get a care package and was forced to stay in hospital. We were lucky to have a small funeral for her, but we were denied a wake, which is so important to many families. Many families did not get a funeral at all, while the Executive lurched from one chaotic meeting to the next, leaking like a sieve. This is not just about COVID; it is about a system that cannot deliver on housing, that watches our health service collapse and that fiddles while Lough Neagh and Belfast lough turn toxic. It is a system where "transformation" means another unfunded strategy document gathering dust and where an aspirational, non-binding Programme for Government exists. Fifty-eight per cent of people who responded to the life and times survey said that they want reform, and 79% said that they think that the Assembly had achieved little or nothing. They are absolutely right; they are not wrong. People see MLAs whose votes do not count equally, depending on which box they tick when they take their seat in this place. They see a political class that is more interested in looking after wealthy and vested interests than building houses or treating the sick. Reform is not optional; it is absolutely essential. Reform must serve working-class communities across the board and not just tinker with mechanisms that protect elite and well-connected interests. We need institutions that can act decisively in emergencies, and we need accountability mechanisms that work. Citizens' assemblies could — I emphasise "could" — provide a democratic mandate for change. However, let us be honest: reforms in this Building and even talking about them threaten those who benefit from dysfunction. That is why previous attempts have failed and why Mr Buckley and others are dead set against them. Here is the terrifying reality: we are no better prepared for the next pandemic than we were for the last. It would be foolish to say when there will be another, but there is no doubt that, at some time, one will come round the corner. The COVID inquiry's recommendations have not been fully implemented, as has been stated. We still lack robust emergency planning structures. Our healthcare system remains fragile and underfunded, with a gap of thousands of health and social care workers. The cross-departmental coordination needed for a pandemic response is totally absent; it is non-existent. When — not if — a public health emergency strikes, we risk repeating the same catastrophic failures that cost thousands of lives. That is totally unconscionable, but preventable. People deserve institutions that work for them, not against them. They deserve a Government that can respond quickly and effectively to emergencies, not one that is tied to the internal dysfunction of Westminster during a public health crisis.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:07 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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