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.
Welcome, Minister. It is a difficult portfolio, and we all wish you well in taking it on. Minister, do you recognise that the Northern Trust's proposal is essentially one to manage failure, given the crumbling service at Antrim Area Hospital and the proposal to remove the service from the Causeway, which is currently…
I wish the Minister well in his post in the time ahead, even though his party leader cannot be here to do the same. Minister, will you refuse to close or strip out services not just at the Causeway but in every single ED across the North between now and the election? That is a reasonable demand and request, and it…
I thank the Member for South Antrim for his warm words. Indeed, he reached out to me and was probably one of the earliest to show confidence in my ability to take up some portfolios in politics. I will be forever grateful for that, Dr Aiken. It is well documented that not all clinicians will agree on all matters.…
First, Mr Speaker, I apologise for not being in my place for my question to the Agriculture Minister. I was with the Secretary of State, trying to get us more money. We will see, and, hopefully, we will be more successful at that. I welcome my good friend and political colleague Robbie Butler to the most important…
The Minister's party leader gave a guarantee that he would never support the removal of emergency general surgery at Causeway Hospital. Will the Minister commit, here and now, to the retention of all existing services at Causeway post election, or is the new committee just a time-buying tactic? We all know that the…
I thank the Member for Upper Bann. Mrs Dodds, thank you for your message: again, you were one of the first out of the traps. I recognise that I will get some "Dodds sandwiches" over the next seven or eight months, because the Member has a habit of saying something nice at the start, giving you something desperately…
I thank the Minister and welcome him to his post. Also, my thanks go to Mr Nesbitt for the work that he did. It is not an easy job, and we all recognise that. Minister, you talk a lot about getting down to work — I am sure that you are a bit disappointed that your party leader is not here to see the first element of…
I thank the Chair of the Health Committee for what is, I am sure, the first of many questions that he will pose to me. Also, thank you for the welcome. I believe that we are facing in the same direction and that everyone in the Chamber is facing in the same direction. I have inherited and commend the Department for…
I also formally welcome the new Minister to his role and thank the previous Minister for his work. I do not think that anybody will argue that the health service needs more reviews; in fact, what it needs are timely decisions and implementations. I also do not think that anybody will argue against independent…
I thank the Member for North Belfast for asking a very reasonable question. A lot of things in recent weeks have misrepresented the health transformation journey. Bengoa has not been paused. If, at some stage, anybody cares to ask me a question on that, I will take the House through the litany of changes that was…
I welcome the Minister to the post. I heard your previous answer: "the right decision" and "not a rushed decision". There has been no rush whatever in health transformation. We had the first review in 2001, and we have had many since then, the most recent being Bengoa. Minister, you said that the committee will…
I thank the Member not only for his kind words today but for being one of the earliest to contact me privately to wish me all the best. I believe that, for over 10 years, health has been a priority for many Members, be that in their service to their constituents or because they have a particular interest in the health…
I welcome the Minister to his new role. We arrived in this place on the same day, and I wish him well as he progresses to the role of Health Minister. I also record our thanks to his predecessor, Mike Nesbitt, for his work in the Department. That was the nice bit. Minister, your statement last week generated a lot of…
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for your welcome. I am not the first Health Minister to hail from Lagan Valley. I pay my respects to my predecessor, Mike Nesbitt, who performed a fantastic function as Health Minister and is responsible for bringing me to the House. Mr Speaker, I welcome this first opportunity to stand here as…
I say to you that, if we left the Windsor framework, you ain't seen nothing yet in relation to barriers. Our dairy industry would be destroyed, because, as you know, it is a cross-border industry.
Thank you, Minister. I notice that you did not answer my question on the barriers to food production that are faced by many farmers. They come from EU regulations that we still have to obey at the whim of the European Parliament. What are you doing to reduce the barriers to food production in Northern Ireland?
I struggle to match this, where I have one question asking me not to take climate action and then another one about the impacts of climate change. Climate change has a real impact on food security. We are food-insecure in Northern Ireland because, whilst we produce a lot of protein in the form of meat, we do not…
Ultimately, we have properly scrutinised the Dilapidation Bill. We will, hopefully, deliver the Bill in the Assembly tomorrow. It will be for councils to use the legislation. I urge councils to see the wider picture. By bringing buildings back into use, councils will potentially increase their rates base and see the…
Thank you, Minister. I welcome the clarification. That places a clear duty on Belfast City Council, which will have the ability to tackle land that impacts on people who have invested their life savings to buy homes but are now at risk from Japanese knotweed on unregistered land.
Fundamental to the Dilapidation Bill is identifying someone who can be gone after to recover the associated costs. That has been identified in the Bill. There is separate legislation in place for Japanese knotweed. It is important that people step up to their responsibilities, because the number of enforcement cases…
Thank you, Minister. I declare an interest in that I registered for and partially completed the training at the weekend. I commend DAERA and the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) for the relevant learning and for the accessibility of the training. Minister, will you join me in encouraging any…
Thank you, Declan. There are massive benefits associated with the soil nutrient health scheme. That is why we have rolled it out across Northern Ireland. There is also conditionality associated with the farm sustainability payment (FSP), because it delivers benefits not just to farmers but to the environment. It is a…