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.
I start by thanking Sian and the other Members who tabled today's motion. It is hard to imagine that, in 2025, there are still people without enough food to eat, but, unfortunately, that is the reality for so many families in our society. Food insecurity is defined as a lack of: "regular access to enough safe and…
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank the Alliance Party for tabling the motion on this important matter, and I hope that the Assembly will accept our amendment, which captures current progress on the updated anti-poverty strategy. The Democratic Unionist Party continues to stand by families across Northern Ireland,…
I beg to move: I rise not out of duty but out of a profound sense of sadness and quite a lot of anger that, in 2025, children in Northern Ireland still rely on food banks to survive; that 62,000 children face hunger in Northern Ireland; that the number of emergency food parcels distributed to children has increased by…
I thank the Member for his question. It is an important one, because many of those people will have waited for some considerable time — too long. We know that it is too long, and we have tackling waiting lists as a priority in the draft Programme for Government. You can only imagine how disappointing it is for…
I echo the thanks expressed to front-line staff and NIE. However, I would like to add that, in the early hours of the storm, an army of domiciliary care workers went out in that weather to try to help vulnerable people. They did not shirk from their responsibility. They should also be acknowledged and thanked. In the…
We are acutely aware of the significant impact that the storm is having on all households, particularly people who are still to be connected. I have set out for the House everything that is being done, not least the fact that the multi-agency approach continues, we are very much moving into recovery mode, we are…
I thank the First Ministers for being with us in the House. I also want to thank front-line workers and those who played their part and assisted people in our communities, including the community workers and the Red Cross, which played a vital role, particularly in my constituency. Right now, First Ministers, as we…
I thank the Member for her important question. As I indicated earlier, there is a vulnerable persons' cell, which is coordinating work as part of the civil contingencies approach. That is carried out by way of a number of different measures. In particular, NIE has been dealing with what it calls its "vulnerable list".…
I thank the Northern Ireland Executive for their response since Thursday, because that has, ultimately, saved many lives. What impact has the storm had on the hospitals? We are hearing that people who did not have access to medical equipment were being admitted and, indeed, people who were in hospital were probably…
We can all accept that these events that we call "unprecedented" will happen more often, so we have to be able to respond and we have to meet the evolving situation. We have tried-and-tested civil contingency arrangements here. I imagine that they have already been published, but I am happy to share them with you if…
I thank the front-line workers and community volunteers for the work that they have done over the past few days. Presumably, First Minister, there was a plan in place to deal with the storm. Will that be released for people to scrutinise? I presume that there is a TEO team that works to respond to extreme weather…
I thank the Member for his question. Some of the detail of that question might best be directed at the Infrastructure Minister. There was an unprecedented level of, I believe, some 2,800 reported obstructions across the network. Some of those involved multiple trees and other things that had been felled. I understand…
On Friday, at approximately 7.30 am, a large tree fell on a car, blocking Craigs Road outside Cullybackey. Despite that incident being logged shortly after and several calls being made to DFI to warn it of the dangers and to request "Road Closed" signs, those signs appeared only when it was too late. Sadly, the signs…
All our agencies worked together in advance of the red warning. All the preparatory work was in place. All our messaging and information was ramped up as soon as we were aware that there was going to be a red warning, which the Met Office confirmed early on Thursday morning. We were already working behind the scenes…
I pay tribute to the NIE front-line workers, council workers and those from all the other agencies who have bravely stepped up through the storm. Huge credit is due to my fellow politicians Pete Byrne and Thomas O'Hanlon for their responses on the ground in helping people, responding to issues and providing…
I thank the Ministers for their answers thus far. Do the Ministers believe that agencies here could and should have been better prepared? Given that the red weather warning in the South existed about 24 hours before the warning here was escalated to red, do they recognise the ridiculousness and the risk of having two…
I assume that it comes under the Department of Infrastructure. As you will appreciate, it was an emerging situation. We had just come out of a red alert period, and it was not safe for staff to be out between 6.00 am and 2.00 pm. They then moved at pace to alert people. I imagine that it was imperfect, but the staff…
I record our appreciation of our Health and Social Care staff, who continued to provide a service during the storm. Can the Minister clarify who has responsibility for putting in place signage to warn of a road that is closed because of a fallen tree? The response in that respect was slow in some instances; in fact,…
I thank the Member for his question. The Education Minister has put out a number of statements about the ongoing situation. Two categories of schools are impacted. Well in excess of, I think, 150 schools were damaged in some way by the storm. However, only a small number of those were at risk of not opening. The…
I thank the Ministers for their answers so far. My question has already been answered in part, but I would be grateful if the Ministers were to provide more detail on the Executive's engagement with schools and, in particular, on how to communicate that to parents and families.
I cannot give a date for the water connection. All I can say is that we are working to push them to ensure that everybody is connected as quickly as possible. That is why we are looking at the provision of generators, for example, to try to get water connected to the last approximately 2,000 people who are still…
I associate myself with all the comments about the front-line workers and their support staff, who have been doing sterling work throughout this. What support will be provided by the Executive to assist the many people in critical care, who are often housebound and, in many instances, bed-bound? Could we have a date…
I thank the First Minister and deputy First Minister for their update. Power companies in other parts of the United Kingdom have been clear that they will make goodwill payments to their customers. NIE makes huge profits on the back of people across Northern Ireland. To date, it has failed to confirm whether it will…
I will have to check with our strategic contingency group about any messaging in that regard. To be blunt, I do not know whether there is any such messaging, but, obviously, you would want people to discard any food that is not safe to eat and not to make themselves ill. I will take that away as a point to see whether…