Official Report: Tuesday 03 November 2026

Mr McGuigan: Jon Burrows, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, who has yet to receive a single vote in any election, said last week that he finds the fact that Sinn Féin gets so many votes in the North "deeply uncomfortable". We have been witnessing the DUP and the Orange Order try to turn the clock back 28 years on the Garvaghy Road to a time when they felt comfortable forcing a triumphalist and sectarian march through a nationalist community. Listening to Jon Burrows, you would think that he wants to turn back the clock even further to a time before 1969 when his party, the Ulster Unionist Party, felt very comfortable not giving Catholics the vote at all.

Let us be clear: Jon Burrows's comments are disgraceful and display the deeply arrogant, superior, supremacist attitude that allowed the state governed by his party to treat Catholics, nationalists and republicans as second-class citizens for so long. For over 50 years after partition, his party governed an Orange state in which Catholic families faced discrimination in housing, Catholics and nationalists faced discrimination in employment and electoral boundaries were designed and drawn to maintain unionist control. I wonder whether Jon Burrows would feel more comfortable with the scenario that existed in Derry when his party ensured that a nationalist majority was denied its rightful representation through gerrymandering. That was the UUP's record in government.

We will take no lectures from Jon Burrows on democracy. He also likes to lecture us on law and order, so let us look at the UUP's record on that. The Special Powers Act 1922 provided sweeping powers of repression with the sole aim of defending the unionist state for a unionist population. Its powers included internment without trial; draconian policing powers, prohibitions and censorship; and even the right to carry out public whippings. Sinn Féin was banned, republican commemorations were prohibited and political expression was suppressed. All those laws enforced discrimination, overseen by a discredited RUC and a sectarian militia in the form of the B-Specials, and, when people organised peacefully for civil rights, fair housing, fair employment and one person, one vote, they were brutalised by the armed wing of the unionist and Orange state at the behest of the Ulster Unionist Party.

That is the history of the Ulster Unionist Party. Thankfully, those days are gone, and, if that equality makes Jon Burrows uncomfortable, tough. The days when unionism could determine whose voice counted are long over. The days of supremacy and domination are over. There are no second-class citizens any more. There is no going back.

Mr K Buchanan: On Sunday past, in St Andrew's Parish Church in Killyman, I joined sir knights, families and members of the community to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in both world wars and those who lost their lives during the years of terrorism and violence in Northern Ireland. This week, Killyman Royal Black District Chapter No 1 is hosting a special festival of remembrance entitled "Service and Sacrifice". The exhibition runs for the rest of this week until Sunday evening in Killyman Orange Hall. I commend everyone who helped organise the service and artefact display. The display also honours members of the loyal orders who served and died in two world wars and subsequent conflicts.

It is vital that we continue to teach future generations about the meaning of the duty, courage and sacrifice shown by thousands from this country and beyond, many of whom never returned home. Across mid-Ulster, communities will gather at remembrance services, exhibitions and events in the days ahead. I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to attend, remember and reflect on the courage, service and sacrifice of those who served our country and the families who stood beside them through times of war, terrorism, loss and hardship.

The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal was launched on 22 October, and this year's appeal highlights an important message: when someone serves, their family serves too. Families endure separation, uncertainty, relocation and, at times, the lasting impact of injury, bereavement or hardship. Through the Poppy Appeal, the Royal British Legion provides practical, financial and emotional support to serving personnel, veterans and their loved ones.

Mr Donnelly: I rise to highlight the life-changing impact of newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and the need for it to be available in Northern Ireland. There was an event yesterday in the Long Gallery organised by Muscular Dystrophy UK and Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK at which we heard from families affected and those with experience of living with SMA. It is incredibly important that we have those conversations, as lived experience is paramount in understanding how we get it right going forward.

In the UK, around four babies are born with SMA every month. Left untreated, around 90% of babies born with SMA, sadly, will not make it or will need at least 16 hours per day of ventilation support before they reach their second birthday. I am saddened by the fact that we are in this position and that there are currently no plans to begin newborn screening for SMA in Northern Ireland, meaning that babies born here are at risk of missing out on life-changing early diagnosis and treatment. Families in Northern Ireland should not have to face a different pathway to an SMA diagnosis simply because of where the baby is born.

With newborn screening now being introduced in England and already available in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, there is an important conversation to be had about the disparities emerging in Northern Ireland and Wales. Without access to newborn screening, a diagnosis can take place only once the symptoms appear, usually within the first six months of life, but, by that point, the damage caused by the condition is irreversible. As a result, even once treatment is initiated, most babies diagnosed with SMA will never walk independently, and many will need mechanical ventilation, nutritional support and 24/7 care. We know that the first baby identified through screening in Scotland has already begun treatment, and I keep thinking about what that means for that family. While we are here today discussing the merits of earlier diagnosis, children across the border already receive the care that we are talking about. Every baby born should have the same opportunity for an early diagnosis, and the region in which they are born should not play a part in that.

As a registered nurse, I know how important early diagnosis can be for children and their families. We need to ensure that families in Northern Ireland are not excluded while other parts of the UK progress with the introduction of newborn screening programmes for SMA, and we must continue the conversation about how we can address that disparity. A UK-wide newborn screening programme for SMA could transform the lives of babies born with the condition. However, delivering on that depends on the UK National Screening Committee completing its review of the case for SMA newborn screening at pace.

There is also a financial case for doing it. Investing in a screening programme now can prevent disability and change the lives of children born with SMA and their families and avoid the need for more intensive medical care and support costs throughout their lives. I call today on the Minister to make that a reality.

Dr Aiken: According to leaks in the media today, Whitehall and the EU have agreed a draft deal on removing post-Brexit checks on food and agricultural exports ahead of the thrice-delayed UK-EU summit, which is now scheduled for later this month. After many false starts, the GB-EU 200-page draft text on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) arrangements has been circulated to EU nations in Brussels for consideration at a meeting tomorrow. That should be broadly, albeit cautiously, welcomed. The notoriously indiscreet European Union has been remarkably quiet on this, and I hope that the information provided to the BBC is not part of a poorly managed negotiating tactic by Whitehall, especially as the draft has to be agreed by the 27 EU nations. In addition, there remains, as always, a lot of scope for change to the circulated draft.

If the SPS agreement is agreed, checks on most agricultural goods coming from the rest of our nation into Northern Ireland will be significantly but not completely reduced. Tellingly, however, according to informed sources, the agreement is a GB-only arrangement. As we know, Northern Ireland is separate from the rest of our nation when it comes to a vast swathe of EU regulations, tariffs and duties, and it will remain so. None of the proposed SPS arrangements changes the fact that Northern Ireland remains in the European customs union. The implementation of the new Union Customs Code and the considerable divergence and disruption that it would bring, along with the resultant extra bureaucracy, mean that the cost of doing business with our largest market — our own country — will escalate.

The Assembly's most useless Committee — the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee — received evidence that the new Union Customs Code will create significant changes to the existing arrangements and ensure that divergence will accelerate. That should be of concern to everybody, but, of course, those from the Alliance Party and Sinn Féin, who are blind to the impact of the Irish Sea border, voted against our taking any action. The real costs arising from the Union Customs Code will impact on every consumer in Northern Ireland. They will damage competitiveness and burden our companies with double the level of bureaucracy in an opaque system that we have no say in regulating and from which, despite changes to the SPS agreement, there are no additional benefits, yet the Secretary of State and others persist with statements that we enjoy the best of both worlds.

Agreeing an all-United Kingdom SPS agreement and an all-United Kingdom carbon adjustment mechanism should be our Prime Minister's goals, not tinkering around the margins.

Mrs Mason: I am genuinely puzzled by what we are witnessing from the DUP. I think that a lot of people across our communities are asking exactly the same question: what on earth is going on?

Time and time again, the DUP tells us that it wants to make this place work, deliver for people, grow our economy, attract investment and build a better future. However, it seems to be doing the very opposite. At a time when we are pressing the British Prime Minister for proper funding for our public services, the DUP blocked a meeting between the First Minister and the British Prime Minister. In doing so, it also blocked itself. At a time when we have a platform from which to grow our economy, the DUP blocked our Economy Minister from attending an important economic summit. Can somebody — anybody — please explain to me how the DUP's actions make any sense? How does preventing the First Minister from representing this place, engaging with the British Prime Minister and promoting economic opportunities benefit any person living here? How does that create one job, attract one investment or help one struggling family? It does not. I genuinely cannot get my head around it. It is incomprehensible, illogical and irrational. It is just bizarre.

It is very obvious that the internal dysfunction in the DUP is spilling over into the business of government. Who pays the price for that?

Ordinary people pay the price: families who are trying to make ends meet, businesses that are trying to grow and young people who want opportunities and a future here. Those people could not care less about the internal chaos, dysfunction and turmoil in the DUP. They are people who simply want their political representatives to get on with their jobs; people who are aghast at attempts to resurrect the long-settled, painful dispute over an unwanted Orange march in Portadown; people who appreciate peace and the progress that we have made over the 28 years since the Good Friday Agreement.

We have come too far and people have worked far too hard to allow politics here to be dragged back to a time when one tradition was dominated by another; a time of unionist supremacy; a time of sectarian discrimination, inequality and institutionalised injustice; and a time when unionism would not have a Catholic about the place. Just in case anyone is in any doubt, I say that those days are over and are not coming back. Michelle O'Neill is the First Minister —.

Mr Speaker: The Member's time is up.

Mrs Mason: She is a nationalist —

Mr Speaker: I call Peter Martin.

Mrs Mason: — and a proud Irish republican.

Mr Speaker: Mr Martin.

Mrs Mason: It is called democracy.

Mr Martin: On 9 October 2025, during his 'Free State' podcast, Joe Brolly compared presidential candidate Jim Gavin's campaign to a Rose of Tralee contestant who has said that she is a devout Catholic but has been caught upstairs in a bar doing the reverse cowgirl. He proceeded to simulate giving oral sex on air whilst answering questions that are commonly asked of presidential candidates. At the time, he denied that any of those references were directed towards female candidates in the election. His comments were branded, across the world, as being deeply offensive to women. One candidate in the election, Heather Humphreys, called his actions "very misogynistic". Catherine Connolly stated that what had been reported was "crude and disrespectful to women" and said:

Two days after the podcast, I wrote to the Bar Council of Northern Ireland to raise the issue of the conduct of Brolly, who is a practising barrister in Northern Ireland, and to lodge a formal complaint. Since the incident and my initial complaint last October, I have sent four emails to the Bar Council to ask for an update or an outcome. Frankly, I am astounded that there has been no action that I am aware of, no outcome and no substantive dialogue with me. That is unacceptable: it certainly is not acceptable one year after the event. Regulatory bodies exist to uphold professional standards and maintain public confidence and cannot expect the public to have confidence in their processes if people who raise legitimate concerns are left wondering whether anything is actually being done.

This is not about restricting freedom of expression or denying anyone the right to respond; it is about ensuring that standards mean something and that complaints are treated with the seriousness that they deserve. Does the Bar Council realise what message its absolute silence on the issue puts out to the public, given the strength of feeling, from women especially, regarding those frankly appalling comments? Silence is not accountability and is certainly not an acceptable response to an elected representative who raises legitimate and widespread concerns on behalf of the public. I encourage the Bar Council to engage a little with me.

Ms Mulholland: One of my North Antrim constituents, Alex Patterson, is undertaking an important challenge today. He is walking from Belfast City Hall to Stormont, accompanied by his guide dog, Angus, and his daughter, Jana. While that is an impressive walk in itself, it is about so much more than the distance that he will travel. Alex is using the challenge to shine a light on the barriers that blind and partially sighted people continue to face every day. For someone who is sight-impaired, a guide dog is so much more than a companion. Angus is Alex's independence, confidence and ability to navigate the world safely. Even with a highly trained and skilled dog, getting around can be challenging. Street furniture, poorly placed advertising boards, pavement obstructions, outdoor seating, roadworks and inconsiderately parked cars — things that many of us would barely even notice — can become significant hazards and make a journey difficult, stressful and, potentially, dangerous.

There is then the issue of access refusal. Imagine someone having navigated their way to a restaurant or to public transport only to be told that they cannot enter or board because they have a dog. It is not just an inconvenience. It is excluding the person, undermining their independence and denying them the same opportunities that would be afforded to anyone else. Importantly, it is not something that the law permits. In Northern Ireland, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 protects disabled people from discrimination when accessing goods and facilities. Service providers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments, which include changing policies such as the blanket no-dogs rule in order to accommodate guide dogs, subject to very limited exceptions. Those are rights, not privileges, and they need to be understood and respected by all. Alex has not experienced that in the past.

Alex, Angus and Jana are walking today to make sure that such issues cannot be ignored. Their message is very simple: people with sight loss deserve to be able to move around safely, to access our public spaces and to enter businesses and use services without having to fight for the right to do so. I thank Alex for his determination and for his work to make Ballymoney a more sight-inclusive place. I thank Jana for joining him and, of course, Angus for the incredible work that he does. As a representative of North Antrim and a friend of Alex, I am incredibly proud to support his campaign, and I want to make sure that the journey towards a more accessible and inclusive society does not end when Alex reaches Stormont later. Please come and meet Alex and Angus in room 144 when he arrives after midday and have a chat with him about his experience of access refusal.

Mr Gildernew: Fógraíodh i mí Mheán Fómhair go bhfuiltear leis an scéim phíolótach le haghaidh comharthaíocht dhátheangach tráchta a leathadh nó go gclúdófar Bóthar na bhFál agus an Cheathrú Ghaeltachta ina n-iomláine. Gabhaim buíochas le Liz Kimmons, Aire Bonneagair, as a cuid oibre le cur le feiceálacht na teanga. Is cuid thábhachtach d’athbheochan na Gaeilge an teanga a chur i bhfeiceálacht ar na sráideanna agus sna pobail againn. Aithníonn an tAire an fás atá faoin teanga agus rinne sí bearta leis an teanga a chothú agus a chur chun cinn agus rinne sí sin le freastal ar líon na bhfoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge, líon atá ag méadú agus ar na daoine a labhraíonn Gaeilge i ngnáthchúrsa an lae.

Ó tharla sin amhlaidh, cáinim go neambhalbh an damáiste a rinneadh do chomharthaí dátheangacha sráide i mBéal Feirste agus in áiteanna eile ar na míonna seo a chuaigh thart. Tá an cineál sin iompair go hiomlán do-ghlactha agus is cúis mhór díomá é. Caithfear cur i gcoinne iarracht ar bith ar scanradh a chur ar phobal na Gaeilge. Ní dhéanfaidh éileamh méadaithe ar chomharthaíocht dhátheangach, ná méadú ar fheiceálacht na Gaeilge, ní dhéanfaidh sin díobháil nó dochar do dhuine ar bith. Ní bagairt í an Ghaeilge.

Taobhaím leo siud atá i mbun an iompair sin éirí as laithreach agus taobhaím ar gach comhalta den Teach seo a bheith páirteach liom ag cáineadh an iompair sin. Ba cheart fáilte a chur roimh gach duine agus meas a thabhairt do gach féiniúlacht agus gach teanga.

Mr Brooks: I welcome the official opening of the new Resurgent fabrication hall at Harland and Wolff, which took place yesterday. For a state-of-the-art fabrication facility, the name "Resurgent" is particularly fitting, because it tells a story not just of investment and renewal but of determination, perseverance and a belief in the future of shipbuilding in Belfast. It is worth remembering that that great shipyard was in administration as recently as 2019. There were genuine fears for its future, and the obituaries were literally being written for an institution that had been central to Belfast's identity and industrial heritage for generations.

Thankfully, however, that was not the end of the story. A different course was set through the efforts of many people, not least my colleague Gavin Robinson MP, who worked tirelessly to champion the yard and fight for its future. That course recognised that Harland and Wolff should not simply be remembered for its remarkable history but should have a bright and ambitious future. The 5,000-square metre extension represents a significant investment in Belfast, with a £98·5 million package forming part of Navantia UK's wider £157 million capital investment programme.

To people in east Belfast, Harland and Wolff is not just a business; it is a historic icon. Samson and Goliath stand as internationally recognised symbols of our city and a beacon not just of our past but of our people, few of whom are without family connections to the yard. This investment ensures that, from that history, there will be a legacy and a future. It is about continuing the restoration and strengthening of our industrial capability and our resurgence as an industrial force and creating the modern facilities that are needed to deliver complex defence programmes and provide opportunities for generations of skilled workers to come.

The Fleet Solid Support programme, which will deliver three new ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, is central to that ambition. It will provide vital operational support to the Royal Navy, while ensuring that the expertise and capability to build complex vessels remain in the United Kingdom and in Belfast. The refurbished cranes, robotic plasma-cutting technology and new mechanised panel line demonstrate that the shipyard is embracing modern manufacturing and advanced engineering. At the heart of all of that are people: the workforce, the engineers, the apprentices and the wider supply chain, whose skills and commitment will make the ambitions a reality.

For Belfast, the investment represents jobs, opportunity, economic confidence and the chance to build on the extraordinary engineering heritage of the city. We should all be immensely proud of our shipbuilding history, but it is even more important that we create a future in which young people can look at the iconic cranes and the shipyard and see opportunity for themselves. In noting the opening of the new Resurgent hall, we join the workforce and all to whom the yard is dear in celebrating how far Harland and Wolff has come, even over the past six or seven years. We recognise those who helped to secure its future and look forward with confidence to what can be achieved.

Mr Kingston: I rise to highlight the impact that the refusal of waste water connections is having in preventing development in north Belfast and the greater Shankill area. I have raised the matter in multiple meetings with Northern Ireland Water, as well as in correspondence with the Minister for Infrastructure and the Minister for Communities. It is resulting in planning refusals from NI Water for social housing and private housing developments in the area. It is also preventing the advancement of long-awaited new community facilities and commercial premises.

In Glencairn — an uphill, mile-long estate that is known as the longest cul-de-sac in western Europe — there is a lack of facilities. At long last, funding was received from Belfast City Council and the Department for Communities for a much-needed community facility, but the waste water connection needed for that facility is being refused by NI Water. Funding has likewise been received from Urban Villages for replacement community centres in the Westland estate in north Belfast and at Sunningdale, both of which are being prevented by the refusal of waste water connections, even though there were existing centres on those sites. We are told that there are unsatisfactory intermittent discharges (UIDs) from combined sewer overflows. We know that that is a problem in various areas, and Members will be aware of those.

The Minister for Infrastructure has approved special initiatives to enable housing developments in other areas, such as Andersonstown in west Belfast. I will continue to call and lobby for similar special initiatives to address waste water infrastructure problems in the greater Shankill area and in north Belfast. In recent correspondence, the Infrastructure Minister, Liz Kimmins MLA, pointed out that a development was upstream from unsatisfactory intermittent discharges.

She said that those were not currently planned to be upgraded as part of the current price control period, PC21. The projects were included in an NI Water submission to the Utility Regulator for the next price control period, PC28, for the betterment programme.

I will continue to argue for that along with community representatives involved in the BUILD Shankill partnership and the Shankill Plan to Grow initiative. For one development on the Woodvale Road, it was failing six combined sewer overflows. That is unacceptable.

Mr Speaker: The Member's time is up.

Mr Kingston: There must be a special initiative for the greater Shankill as there is for other areas.

Mr Robinson: There is huge strategic importance to the A26. When you consider that the A26 takes us to and from the huge tourist honeypots of the north coast, I find it dumbfounding that either side of it is mostly single carriageway. Indeed, at the very least, a climbing lane has been asked for many times for the A37 Coleraine mountain road, and a bypass for Ballykelly is an absolute must.

I also want to focus on the urgent need for a significant upgrade of the A26 between Coleraine and the Ballycastle Road roundabout. That is an important road for the people of Coleraine and the wider Causeway Coast and Glens area. It is also part of a much wider strategic transport corridor to connect people across the north-west with Ballymena, Antrim and Belfast. Yet despite the importance of the route, there is an obvious gap in the quality and capacity of the A26 as motorists approach and leave Coleraine.

We have seen major investment in the A26 further south. The £55 million Frosses Road dualling scheme provided 8 kilometres of new dual carriageway between Glarryford and the A44 Drones Road junction, which has been a huge success since it opened in 2017. We, as north coast and north-west MLAs, use that road every day and feel the benefits. That section previously carried around 18,000 vehicles every day. That investment was welcome, but it also highlights the problem that DFI cannot continue to improve sections of the A26, while leaving important remaining sections that carry significant volumes of traffic without the capacity and infrastructure that modern Northern Ireland requires.

The approach into Coleraine, particularly between the Newbridge Road area and the Ballycastle Road roundabout, experiences significant pressure at peak times. Anyone who uses that road regularly knows the problems and queues for drivers travelling into and out of Coleraine. There are particular concerns when traffic volumes increase during the summer months, when the Causeway coast experiences a huge increase in visitor numbers on that road network.

While we focus on road safety, there is also the potential for towns and businesses to grow. Coleraine is a major economic and educational centre for the north coast. It is home to Ulster University, Causeway Hospital and a significant number of businesses and services. The A26 is therefore a vital artery for the north coast. DFI needs to recognise that that road serves much more than Coleraine. It connects people in Portrush and Portstewart with employment, education, healthcare and services in Coleraine and beyond. For many who live in the isolated parts of the region, there is no realistic alternative to the private car. That makes the quality and reliability of the road network in that region absolutely critical.

We have also seen significant investment —.

Mr Speaker: The Member's time is up.

Mr Robinson: Thanks, Mr Speaker.

Dr Archibald (The Minister for the Economy): I beg to move

Mr Speaker: In accordance with convention, the Business Committee has not allocated a time limit to the debate.

Dr Archibald: Credit unions have a proud and distinctive place in communities across the North. As member-owned and locally rooted organisations, they provide a trusted institution for savings and affordable credit. They promote financial inclusion and help to keep money circulating within local communities.

The legislative framework within which credit unions operate must keep pace with changing member needs and modern business practices. The Bill provides a focused package of reforms to give credit unions greater flexibility to serve their members and grow sustainably while preserving their cooperative ethos and maintaining appropriate safeguards. The measures have been informed by engagement with the credit union sector, its members, the general public and other interested parties such as the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

The measures respond to calls for a modern framework that allows the sector to properly meet the evolving needs of members and communities. Specifically, the Bill modernises the services that credit unions provide. It enables specified additional financial activities, including conditional sale, hire purchase and insurance distribution. It allows referrals between credit unions and wider collaboration on and participation in loans. It permits charges to be made for ancillary services and provides a power to prescribe further activities and conditions. These are enabling provisions, and regulated activities will remain subject to the applicable regulatory framework.

The Bill also updates membership arrangements. It sets 18 as the minimum age for full membership, with transitional protection for existing members and applications, while retaining age-appropriate savings arrangements for younger people. It also permits admission to a credit union through a family connection where relatives do not live in the same household. This will be subject to a 5% safeguard to protect the credit union's principle of common bond. The Bill strengthens the sector's financial capacity by, for example, providing for deferred shares as a longer-term basis of capital and widening the circumstances in which surplus funds may be applied. It also clarifies the power to acquire and hold land where premises are not used wholly for credit union business. The Bill supports modern and efficient administration. It expressly enables electronic communications and remote meetings, protects ordinary members' information on the register and modernises provisions for auditors, credit union names and the making of regulations. Finally, the Bill improves continuity when credit unions merge or consolidate. Following such a transfer of engagement, the transferor's common bond will become part of the transferee's common bond, allowing the receiving credit union to continue to serve transferred members and to admit new members who satisfy that inherited element of the bond.

Taken together, these reforms will reduce unnecessary constraints, support sustainable development and maintain appropriate protections for members, savers and the wider sector. They do not alter the fundamental character of credit unions; they reinforce it by ensuring that these cooperative member-owned institutions can adapt to a changing financial and social landscape. My Department will continue to work constructively with the Committee for the Economy, the credit union sector and other stakeholders as the Bill progresses through the Assembly. Where detailed provision is to be made by regulations, that work will be taken forward transparently and in consultation with those affected.

For generations, credit unions have served our communities with unwavering commitment and integrity. The Bill provides a practical and balanced framework to help the credit union sector to continue and to strengthen its work, to widen its reach and to meet the evolving needs of members. I am therefore pleased to commend the Credit Unions (Amendment) Bill to the Assembly.

Ms Nicholl: I will speak on behalf of the Committee for the Economy in the absence of the Chair and Deputy Chair. This is the sixth Executive Economy Bill that has got as far as Second Stage. The Department briefed the Committee on proposals for the Bill in 2025, and officials briefed us again on the legislation just before Halloween.

As the House is well aware, credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives that are owned and controlled by their members. They exist in communities up and down Northern Ireland, and they provide gateway savings services and access to loans to those for whom credit may be hard to obtain. They are a key part of the fabric of our communities, enjoying higher membership levels here than in most parts of the United Kingdom.

To become a member of a credit union, individuals need to demonstrate that they satisfy a common bond. A key element in that regard is a savings account offered by the purchase of shares. The minimum initial shareholding is usually very small and differs for each credit union. Credit unions in Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland are subject to different legislation and regulatory regimes. Credit unions in Northern Ireland can usually offer only a range of basic financial services such as share accounts, loans and life assurance. Elsewhere, however, credit unions can offer extra services, such as current accounts and other insurance services. In other places, they can also lend and borrow from other credit unions, which is generally not the case in Northern Ireland, although I understand that, since 2025, at least one credit union in the north-west has been approved to offer mortgages.

The Ulster Federation of Credit Unions (UFCU) and the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) have long campaigned for legislative reform and financial support for all credit unions in Northern Ireland. The Bill and the accompanying departmental measures are therefore very welcome. As the Minister indicated, before summer 2025, she launched a consultation on proposed changes, with a view to introducing legislation in this mandate. Thirty-two reform proposals were included in the consultation, and many of those have made it into the Bill. Following the consultation, the Department is understood to be in the process of undertaking a number of non-legislative actions. Those include, first, establishing a permanent credit union advisory group, bringing together regulatory bodies, subject matter experts and key stakeholders to explore best practice and co-design solutions that reflect the unique needs of the sector; and, secondly, supporting the development of credit union support organisations that would provide shared services, including back-office functions and IT support, thereby providing economies of scale. Those services may, in future, include compliance, core banking platforms and payment systems, cybersecurity and digital banking tools.

The Bill covers a lot of ground, the detail of which I have just referred to, as well as providing some tidying-up measures around family membership, the transfer of members and the provision of officer information. Interestingly, the Bill also changes the minimum membership age to 18. Officials advised that credit union representative organisations deemed all those measures necessary for good governance.

Mr Speaker, as you may have noticed, from time to time, there are disagreements in the House, and it may seem as though Members find it hard to get along. That leads to some people suggesting that the Assembly simply cannot get anything useful done, but the Bill shows that those assertions are just not true. The Committee was unanimous in its support for the legislation. On behalf of the Committee for the Economy, I am therefore happy to commend the Bill to the House. That concludes my remarks on behalf of the Committee.

I will now say a few small things as an Alliance MLA. When I think of credit unions, I think of John Hume. Colleagues from the SDLP are right to have a lot of pride in him. That is such a wonderful legacy. Credit unions offer hope, financial stability and independence when people need it most. They prioritise the needs of members, not shareholders. The legislation is really welcome.

Finally, I thank the officials, some of whom are in the Chamber today, who briefed us so well on the Bill. It is really important legislation and an example of how we can all come together on something that will benefit everyone in Northern Ireland.

Ms McLaughlin: I begin by indicating my support for the general principles of the Credit Unions (Amendment) Bill. The credit union movement has a very special place in the history of my home city of Derry and, indeed, the history of the SDLP. In October 1960, six people came together in Derry to establish the first credit union in Northern Ireland. Among them was a very young John Hume, who was 23 years old at the time. They recognised that ordinary, working-class people were being denied access to financial services that many others took for granted and that many of us take for granted today. Families who needed to borrow money to furnish their homes, provide for their children or meet an unexpected expense had little choice but to turn to moneylenders. John Hume and his colleagues wanted to change that. They pooled their savings — just £8 and 10 shillings — and established the Derry Credit Union. From those very modest beginnings, the credit union movement grew into something that was to make an enormous difference to families and communities across this island.

It is worth remembering that, despite everything that John Hume went on to achieve in his life, including the Nobel Peace Prize and his contribution to securing peace on this island, he regarded establishing the credit union as the achievement of which he was proudest. He said:

When we consider the difference that credit unions have made to generations of families, it is not difficult to understand why he felt that way. Credit unions have helped people to buy their first car, contribute to and pay for some of their children's education, improve their home and get through financially difficult periods. I am a proud member of the credit union. It was drummed into me from an early age. Like many others in my home town, I was taken along to the credit union and became a member.

Credit unions provide affordable credit to people who might otherwise struggle to access it. Their contribution goes beyond the financial services that they provide.