Every imported question, contribution and motion, with its classification. Unflagged, uncertain and not-yet-analysed records are all included so the analysis can be checked independently.
In my role as the Alliance representative on the Justice Committee, I will make some short remarks regarding the Department of Justice's financial position. The Bill indicates a positive allocation for the Department of Justice, which has been underfunded to a significant degree over the past decade. In this year's…
As Chair of the Education Committee, I will speak on behalf of the Committee in the first instance. The Committee was comprehensively briefed on this year's resource budget by officials on 7 May and had a briefing on the capital budget in March. Along with other Committee Chairs, I have spoken extensively on the…
I apologise for not being here for the entirety of the debate. Unfortunately, we had to attend the funeral of a very dear member of the Ulster Unionist Party, Pamela Stewart. I think that every member of our party, and the many people who knew her, will pass on their condolences to the family at this very sad time.…
I begin this latest debate on the Budget by highlighting the importance of the British Government's spending review, which will be delivered this week. The decision by the Labour Government to continue with a decade and a half of Tory austerity measures following the party's election victory last summer has left us…
I am nearly finished, Eóin; I am sorry. Now is the time for wisdom, fiscal prudence, common sense and effective and efficient stewardship of the taxpayers' hard-earned funds.
It has been raised with me that some of the people who were affected by bullying at the Royal were targeted because they are members of the LGBT+ community. Are you aware of that and, if so, do you know how many people were impacted on by it? More crucially, what are you going to do about it?
Can we be assured that, at the end of the day, the Belfast Trust has the appropriate human resource responsibilities available to it so that it cannot and will not shy away from any appropriate disciplinary or dismissal actions that may be required as an outcome of all this?
I appreciate the fact that the Minister has engaged with the unions on the issue. That is positive, and I hope that it continues throughout the process, either through Peter McBride or the Department. Minister, you have yet to receive the Belfast Trust's action plan. Will you reassure me that, in the interests of…
Will the performance accountability process as it is reviewed look at the wider issue of the trust's complaints process? I had one experience with Belfast Trust when I complained about a clinician. It took the trust a year and half to close that complaint. Will the Minister commit to saying that the performance…
As my colleague Andrew McMurray just said, we need to build back patients' trust. Will Mr McBride be able to look at issues such as the number of appointments that are delayed because the consultant is not in the hospital? I have personal experience of a patient whose operation has been delayed five times. On one of…
What is the Minister doing to rebuild public trust in what is a vital service and to reassure cardiac patients and their families that it is safe and effective?
A few days ago, I met a constituent who is going in for cardiac surgery in the next week. She is genuinely scared, given the revelations that she has read. She is getting open-heart surgery. If there is a wider cultural problem across the health service — Patricia McKeown of UNISON thinks that it is symptomatic of a…
I am grateful for the Minister's urgent response to the crisis to date. I also very much welcome the appointment of Peter McBride to a role of independent support in the Belfast Trust. Is it the Minister's belief that Mr McBride is not the sort of person to shy away from shining a light into dark corners when…
Minister, it will come as no surprise that, following the leaked report on the cardiac surgery unit at the Belfast Trust, members of staff from other trusts are contacting MLAs to say that they, too, are working in toxic environments. What do you say to those staff? Will you support an individual duty of candour?
I can only repeat what I said to Mr Donnelly: you have a copy of what levels 1 to 5 entail. As to the practicalities of that, Peter McBride will be available to me from the beginning of next week. He will, in effect, be my ears and eyes in the trust while it implements the recommendations of the independent report…
Minister, the response to the Committee's request for departmental officials to attend a meeting so that we could interrogate the details of your written statement said the following: "The Department is not yet in a position to provide any further detail ... The Minister will need time to consider the advice from his…
Minister, when the behaviour became public knowledge, you said in the Chamber that six patients had had their operations cancelled. Given that cardiac patients are very ill and at risk of life-threatening events until they get surgery, are you aware of how long it took for those six patients to get their operations…
Assigning an issue to my Department's support and intervention framework creates a focused request for improvement by that trust. Level 5 is the highest intervention level and brings with it external support and escalated oversight. The Member will be aware that, at the Health Committee meeting on 29 May, when I…
I am always happy to have those conversations with colleagues where there are areas of mutual benefit and interest. However, we require much more investment in sporting facilities across Northern Ireland. I was delighted to be able, last week, to announce the Your School Your Club programme for this year. The budget…
Thank you, Minister. Given that hockey operates successfully on an all-island basis, are you having any conversations with the Irish Government around the possibility of accessing Shared Island funding for pitches in Northern Ireland?
That has been raised with me as an issue of concern. I was at Lisnagarvey Hockey Club recently, and we talked about some of those issues. There are good facilities there, and I want to see more such facilities across Northern Ireland.
That is something that I have raised on a number of occasions with UK Government Ministers, and it was the subject of a discussion last week between my counterparts in Wales and Scotland. It is a move that, if made, would have a considerable impact on poverty in Northern Ireland. Again, it is a reminder that, when it…