Speeches by Swann.

“Are you saying that reform of Stormont is a prerequisite for your party to come back into the Executive after the next election?”

“So it is not about parties refusing First Minister and Deputy First Minister; you want those positions to be allocated through D’Hondt as well.”

“Thank you for attending. You used the phrase “point of destruction” and “inability to change” and referred to the ineffectiveness of the Stormont institutions. Do you think there comes a point where, if there is an inability to reform, Stormont then ceases to serve its purpose?”

“Matthew, you used the phrase “cannot go on like this”. Without reform, what do you see as the future of the institutions?”

“On a point of clarification, not all Ministers didn’t attend scrutiny committees. As a former Minister who attended 14 times in two years, there is an opportunity to do that. I agree that there are some who avoid the scrutiny committees. Jon, you spoke of fundamental changes to strand 1. Some of the changes that you ar…”

“Thank you, Mr Robinson, for attending. I am sorry, but I think, Gavin, you have taken the wrong attitude towards what this session is about. It is about teasing out how reforms could come about and could actually be supportive; it is not to denigrate and say that if we change the titles for First Minister, everything w…”

“Thanks for coming to give evidence, Matthew. In your comment there, you talked about the impact of not making decisions on spending money. We are now 10 weeks into this financial year, and the Executive have yet to agree a budget. You are Chair of the Committee for Finance, so what impact is that having and what impact…”

“The Secretary of State has said that the UK Government are “open to conversations about ideas which can command a consensus” on reform; are you saying that you will not engage?”

“In what timeline do you think that that should be done? Before the next election, or after? That is why I asked you at the start about the synchronisation of Programme for Government and budget before d’Hondt. A review could be put in, but—I say this as someone who was also involved in earlier conversations: the Stormo…”

“That is what I wanted to be clear about. I do not want to portray that they were DUP changes, because the changes of designation at St Andrews that Claire mentioned, to appoint the First Minister and Deputy First Minister rather than have them elected by the Assembly, were actually a detriment, from a personal view and…”

“The Secretary of State has said that the UK Government are “open to conversations about ideas which can command a consensus” on reform; are you saying that you will not engage?”

“You mentioned Opposition. I was there at the time when both our parties went into formal Opposition voluntarily. Some have said that the reason for collapse at that stage was because of the pressure we put on the DUP-Sinn Féin duopoly at that stage, and the fact of politics. You mentioned a number of reforms such as ch…”

“So it is not about parties refusing First Minister and Deputy First Minister; you want those positions to be allocated through D’Hondt as well.”

“Regarding those reforms, if they do not come, what will your party do? You said you will watch the turnout at the next election. It will be a joint Assembly and council election. If the turnout drops, what is your reaction to that? What does your party do?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Desmond. I thank and congratulate the hon. Member for Southport (Patrick Hurley) on securing this debate. I should also declare that I am a graduate and alumnus of the Open University, so I recognise many of those of its attributes that he mentioned. Unfortunately,…”

“I fully support the Member’s contribution. In fact, one in five Northern Ireland students is registered as having a disability. So the Open University opens up not just geographical and regional abilities but all abilities to lifelong learning. Other Members have spoken about Jennie Lee, but I would like to diverge at …”

“Reflecting on the contributions so far, it is also worth noting that the Open University supports the members of our British armed forces through its courses.”

“The Minister said that the defence investment plan will be published following a “line-by-line review”. It is obvious that the previous Secretary of State resigned because he could not review it downwards any further—because of the actions of the Treasury. The Minister also said that the plan is “scalable”. What assura…”

“As the father of two teenagers, and on behalf of other parents, can I thank and congratulate the Secretary of State on bringing forward this legislation? She has already said a number of times that children will find a workaround, but big tech will also always be looking for a workaround to the legislation and the rule…”

“The victim, Stephen Ogilvie, is a health service worker, a radiographer. Our health service across the United Kingdom, but especially in Northern Ireland, depends on many workers with many nationalities and from many communities. It was therefore abhorrent to see some of those health service workers being attacked last…”