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.
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any plans he has to ensure continued access to cybersecurity readiness and digital inclusion funding for voluntary and community sector organisations in Northern Ireland.
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any support his Department has provided to foodbanks, churches and charitable organisations to deal with poverty in the Strangford constituency in each of the last five years.
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) whether the Discretionary Support self-isolation grant is still active; and (ii) the number of applications that have been made to the grant in the last three years, broken down by (a) successful; and (b) unsuccessful applications.
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the number of applications for the Social Fund Sure Start Maternity Grant that have been made in the last three years, broken down by (i) successful; and (ii) unsuccessful applications.
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Given the late hour and the fact that a number of us in the Building tonight have young families, I will make my speech as short as I can. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the issue, given that diabetes is recognised as a public health challenge in Northern Ireland, with…
Deputy Speaker, thank you. I acknowledge some of the points and questions that have been raised by Members, including Mr Dickson, and will attempt to get as close as I can to providing a definitive answer to them over the next few minutes. I start by taking you back to 2016, when the Department launched the diabetes…
I thank my East Antrim colleague Cheryl Brownlee for proposing the motion. It is a very important one. Like others, I can speak from personal experience. My wife is a type 2 diabetic. For her, the constant need to prick her finger and watch her diet has been dramatically changed by the sensor that she wears. It is the…
I want to add some words to the areas that have been covered in the debate. I thank the Members who have spoken. The subject has a wide range of issues, but there is also wide consensus across the Chamber that we need to do something about it. As has been mentioned, diabetes is one of the most significant long-term…
The examples that have been given by Members who have family members and relatives with lived experience of diabetes are really interesting. I have no one closely connected to me who lives with diabetes, and, sometimes, if you do not have that lived experience, you are in the dark, so it is important to hear Members…
If we were to spend £1 million a day to give our children free sweets, I am sure that there would be absolute outcry — maybe not from the children, but from everybody within the health sector. In Northern Ireland, however, we spend in excess of £1 million every day to manage the consequences of diabetes, and the…
There is no doubt that diabetes is one of the biggest health threats of our time. The number of people who are living with the condition is expected to rise dramatically in the coming years. In just a decade, from 2014 to 2024, the number of people who are on the diabetic register jumped by 40%. Similar increases have…
I am pleased to speak in support of the motion, which highlights the challenge facing thousands of people across Northern Ireland: the growing impact of diabetes on individuals, families and our health service. I thank Cheryl Brownlee, a DUP member, for tabling the motion for debate. I had not heard of the balloon…
I will begin by declaring an interest as my wife has been a type 1 diabetic for 37 years and my son is a type 1 diabetic of nine years. Whilst I do not have first-hand experience, I have been party to thousands of hours of conversations on blood sugar levels, the sugar content of various foods and the number of units…
I beg to move Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. Diabetes is a chronic illness, the complexity of which is often misunderstood. For a person living with diabetes, managing the condition is not something that is left until a check-up or a hospital appointment. It is every moment of every day and involves a constant cycle of…
Go raibh maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate and to make a winding-up speech on the motion, which, I think it is safe to say, has had broad agreement across all parties. As suggested by the Member who has just spoken, it is not worth going through…
Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I rise to wind up the debate on the Alliance amendment to the motion. I do not need to reflect in too much detail the points of the debate, as I think that there has been broad agreement across the House, maybe with slightly different emphases. There seemed to be agreement that a…
Go raibh míle maith agat, a Phríomh-Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion on behalf of Minister Archibald and thank Members for bringing the issue to the Floor. As the proposer of the motion stated, people should be free to study anywhere on the island. To support that, we need to…
I support the motion. It is an important conversation for us. I was born in the USA: Up Stairs Altnagelvin. At the time when I was born, a few miles over the road, several cousins of mine were born in Donegal, in the Twenty-six Counties. I have cousins — I am one of something like 35 grandchildren on my mum's side —…
Recognising not only the progress that has been made towards achieving parity in university admissions across the island but the challenges that still exist, I welcome the motion and the amendment. For too long, students from the North have faced unnecessary barriers when trying to access higher education in the…
I thank the Member who moved the motion and will speak in favour of the motion and the amendment. The motion discusses the disparities between the two systems. Of course, it is a positive aspiration to increase all-Ireland student mobility, but I want to look at this from another angle. We absolutely should want young…
I was just outlining a point of difference. I do not plan to get into that particular debate. I am going to address the issue, but I was outlining how we come from a different angle in that regard. There is a degree of uncertainty when those big choices have to be made. If more clarity can be provided for students…