Summary

  • Second stage of Private Tenancies Bill introduced by Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey

  • Justice Minister Naomi Long leads debate on Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill

  • Question Time for First Minister Paul Givan and Justice Minister Naomi Long

  • MLAs take part in new procedure of members' statements

  1. Bill 'both welcome and sadly necessary'published at 13:25 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Mervyn StoreyImage source, NI Assembly

    The DUP's Mervyn Storey i9s next to speak.

    The chair of the Justice Committee thanks Ms Long for bringing the second stage of the bill to the house.

    He says the committee welcomes the bill.

    Mr Storey adds that "strengthening the law on sexual offending to protect children from sexual exploitation and in particular the aim to address such behaviour at an earlier stage is both welcome and sadly necessary".

  2. The Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims Billpublished at 13:25 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Naomi LongImage source, NI Assembly

    Next on the order paper is the debate on the second stage of the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill.

    This allows members to discuss the principles of the bill.

    The debate is opened by Justice Minister Naomi Long.

    She says the bill has two principles: to implement certain elements of the Gillen Review on sexual offences, and to improve services for victims of trafficking and exploitation.

    The first part of the bill creates new offences relating to "upskirting and downblousing"

    The next part of the bill creates new offences to better protect children from child sexual exploitation, including adults grooming a child online.

  3. 'Enjoy your celebrations, Tyrone'published at 13:10 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Chris Lyttle, of the Alliance Party, congratulates Tyrone GAA.

    He says the win is "testament to the value of sport in our community and the hours of volunteering and sporting sacrifice and endeavour despite the obstacles put in our way".

    "Enjoy your celebrations," he adds.

    Gerry CarrollImage source, NI Assembly

    Mr Lyttle is followed by People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll, who turns the focus to 9/11.

    He says his thoughts are with those people affected by the terrorist attacks.

    Mr Carroll says "the families who lost loved ones in New York deserve justice for what happened to them on that day".

  4. 'Hope and glory'published at 13:10 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Jim AllisterImage source, NI Assembly

    Jim Allister of the TUV congratulates British tennis player Emma Raducanu on her victory in the US Open.

    He also congratulates Tyrone on winning the All-Ireland football final and their moment of "hope and glory" before he goes on to criticise the Northern Ireland Protocol.

    The DUP's Paul Frew is up next.

    He criticises an event to be held at Ormeau Park in Belfast on Friday where "for the first time in our history" entry will be refused to people who are not vaccinated for Covid-19.

  5. Gildernew calls on DUP not to collapse Stormontpublished at 13:09 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Colm GildernewImage source, NI Assembly

    Sinn Féin's Colm Gildernew opens by stressing the need to keep the Stormont institutions up and running during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    Last week DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party may quit Stormont "within weeks" if its demands over the Northern Ireland Protocol are not met.

    "This is the out-working of the DUP themselves delivering a Brexit and everyone and many people here said was not in our interests," says Mr Gildernew.

    He says political leadership is needed now more than ever.

  6. Timing of debate 'perhaps out of kilter'published at 13:04 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Stewart Dickson, of the Alliance Party, is up next, saying he believes passionately in the assembly.

    But he adds that the priority of business for the assembly should be things such as "the ability to be able to make bills, to listen and deal with executive business, to deal with the committees of this assembly".

    "By no means am I wishing to diminish this debate but I believe the timing is perhaps out of kilter," he says.

  7. 'Heinous attack on the United States'published at 12:53 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    The assembly chamberImage source, NI Assembly

    The UUP's Steve Aiken wants to talk about the 20th anniversary of the "heinous attack on the United States" on 9/11.

    Dr Aiken is a former naval officer.

    "For many of us ex-servicemen and women, for those whose families have been drawn into conflicts afterwards in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, this event and the precipitous and ill-timed withdrawal from Kabul and elsewhere has created a considerable degree of anguish and disquiet," he says.

  8. Removing Universal Credit uplift 'cruel'published at 12:51 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    The SDLP's Mark H Durkan rises to call on Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey to "not only oppose the plan to withdraw the £20 Universal Credit uplift but to plan and prepare to protect people here, should the Tories persist with the punitive policy".

    He says his party "has always been critical of Universal Credit".

    "We voted against the Welfare Reform Bill when others here rubberstamped it," he says.

    "Our opposition has been vindicated."

    Mark H Durkhan

    He says every week his constituency deals with people finding it difficult to navigate the benefits system and has to direct them to food banks during the "cruel wait" for first payments.

    He says that the withdrawal of the £20 uplift, introduced at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, will plunge people further into poverty.

  9. Granite kerbing and the heritage of Belfastpublished at 12:44 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Christopher StalfordImage source, NI Assembly

    The DUP's Christopher Stalford is next up with a statement.

    He says he wants to talk about "the destruction of the built heritage of the city of Belfast" and draws particular attention to granite kerbing in the city.

    The South Belfast MLA says that granite kerbing has been ripped out of Ravenhill Avenue in his constituency and replaced with "something of no architectural merit whatsoever in the form of concrete".

  10. Congratulations for Tyrone GAApublished at 12:41 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Linda Dillon

    Sinn Féin MLA Linda Dillon opens by saying she is "a very proud south Armagh woman but equally to represent east Tyrone and I rise to congratulate our Tyrone All-Ireland winners".

    She says the GAA is "a very close family and right across the 32 counties there will be very few homes that won't have had an eye to the All-Ireland".

    "Whether you were supporting Tyrone or whether you were supporting Mayo, I think what you saw on that field was young men who played the shirts off their backs to entertain all of us."

    She says the players were a credit to their clubs, counties and all of the volunteers in the GAA.

  11. 'Both a leader and a lady'published at 12:36 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Speaker Alex Maskey pays his own tribute to Pat Hume.

    "Pat was obviously both a lady and a leader," he says.

    Alex MaskeyImage source, NI Assembly

    He then moves on to a new form of business.

    Members' statements will allow MLAs to speak for three minutes on a matter of topical interest.

    Up to half an hour has been set aside for these statements.

  12. 'John Hume's rock'published at 12:28 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    The UUP's Mike Nesbitt, who is a director of the John and Pat Hume Foundation, extends his condolences to "fellow directors, the Hume family and the people of Derry and beyond, and to Nichola Mallon and colleagues in the SDLP".

    He says he did not know Mrs Hume that well but it was clear that she was Mr Hume's "rock back in Derry, someone to mind his back".

    Mike Nesbitt

    Alliance Party MLA Andrew Muir, who was previously member of the SDLP, says he got to know Mrs Hume while canvassing for the 1998 Stormont elections.

    He says he was struck by "her total and utter dedication to peace and also to her family".

  13. 'A central role in Irish politics'published at 12:27 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    John O'DowdImage source, NI Assembly

    John O'Dowd of Sinn Féin offers his party's "deepest condolences to the Hume family".

    He says Pat Hume played "a central role in Irish politics since the civil rights movement alongside John".

    The DUP's Foyle MLA Gary Middleton says Pat Hume always took a personal interest in people.

    He says that any time they met she would ask about his wife or his newborn son.

  14. 'Pat Hume made everyone she met feel special'published at 12:22 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Pat and John HumeImage source, Pacemaker
    Image caption,

    Pat Hume, the widow of the late SDLP leader and Nobel prize winner John Hume, died after a short illness

    SDLP deputy leader Nichola Mallon describes Pat Hume as "always so wonderfully warm".

    The infrastructure minister has been given time at the beginning of the assembly to pay tribute to Mrs Hume, the wife of the SDLP's former leader John.

    Addressing the Hume family, Ms Mallon says: "The loss we feel pales to yours but I hope you have drawn some comfort from the outpouring of love expressed and the very many beautiful tributes paid."

    She adds: "The Covid-19 pandemic has robbed us all of so much but, in a sense, its restrictions placed Pat and John back at the heart of the Hume family, giving them a few precious, private, days by the Lough Foyle shore, to grieve and say their goodbyes."

    Ms Mallon says that Mrs Hume "made everyone she met feel special".

  15. Speaker Maskey opens the Assemblypublished at 12:14 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Alex MaskeyImage source, NI Assembly

    Speaker Alex Maskey opens the assembly to the public.

    He welcomes the two new Sinn Féin MLAs, Pádraig Delargy and Ciara Ferguson.

    They replace Martina Anderson and Karen Mullan who have resigned as MLAs for Foyle.

    Mr Maskey announces that the SDLP's Nicola Mallon has been given the opportunity to pay tribute to Pat Hume, the wife of the SDLP's former leader John Hume.

    Mrs Hume died at the start of this month.

  16. Sinn Féin's new Foyle MLAs start their first day at Stormontpublished at 11:59 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    Sinn Féin's new Foyle MLAs have arrived at Stormont.

    Pádraig Delargy and Ciara Ferguson replace Martina Anderson and Karen Mullan in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

    Mr Delargy, a primary school teacher, and Ms Ferguson, a community development worker, were chosen at a party selection contest last Wednesday.

    Ms Anderson and Ms Mullan stood down following a review and restructure of the party in Foyle.

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  17. What's on today at the NI Assembly?published at 11:45 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    agendaImage source, NI Assembly
  18. Good morningpublished at 11:44 British Summer Time 13 September 2021

    StormontImage source, bbc

    Welcome to Stormont for our live coverage of the first official sitting since the Northern Ireland Assembly split up for the summer recess.

    Today Paul Givan will be appearing at Question Time for the first time since becoming first minister, while Justice Minister Naomi Long will also answer MLAs' questions.

    MLAs will also be debating the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill and the Private Tenancies Bill.

    The assembly meets at 12:00. Do stay with us.