Marshalled List of Amendments

6 March 2025

Item 5: Order Paper 88/22-27 – Monday 10 March 2025

Motion: Importance of Children’s One-Year-Old Health Review

Proposed:

That this Assembly commends the vital role that health visitors play in supporting the health and  development of children under the age of five; expresses alarm that 15 per cent of children in Northern Ireland were not seen by a health visitor for their year 1 review in 2023-24; notes with deep concern that this figure rose to 46 per cent in the Southern Health and Social Care Trust; highlights the critical need to end regional inequalities in the provision of child health reviews in order to ensure that every child and young person has the best start in life; and calls on the Minister of Health to urgently work with all Health and Social Care Trusts to drive down the number of health reviews that take place outside of the accepted timeframes or not at all.

Mrs Diane Dodds

Mr Alan Robinson

Single Amendment

Leave out all after ‘best start in life;’ and insert:

‘calls on the Minister of Health to urgently work with all Health and Social Care Trusts to drive down the number of health reviews that take place outside of the accepted timeframes or not at all; and further calls on the Minister to prioritise development of the revised Healthy Child, Healthy Future framework and ensure the recommendations concerning the role of health visitors from the Fair Start report and Independent Review of Education are implemented.’

[Mrs Michelle Guy]

[Mr Danny Donnelly]

[Mr Nick Mathison]

[Miss Nuala McAllister]

Motion: Paramilitary Groups Transition from Violence and Crime

Proposed:

That this Assembly categorically opposes proposals from the UK and Irish Governments to appoint an independent expert to scope out a new process of engagement to bring about paramilitary group transition to disbandment; agrees that, more than 25 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, there is no place for paramilitarism in our society, and that such groups should either immediately disband or face a robust law enforcement approach like other organised crime gangs; welcomes the work of the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime; and calls on the UK and Irish Governments to abandon plans for this scoping and engagement exercise and reinvest the associated funding in law enforcement approaches to paramilitary activity.

Ms Paula Bradshaw

Mr Stewart Dickson

Ms Connie Egan

Miss Nuala McAllister

Amendment 1

Leave out all after ‘Assembly’, and insert:

‘notes the UK and Irish Governments’ plans to appoint an independent expert to scope out a new process to bring about paramilitary group transition to disbandment; agrees that, more than 25 years after the signing of the Belfast Agreement, and over 30 years on from the ceasefires, there is no place for paramilitarism in our society, and that such groups should immediately disband; welcomes the work of the Executive on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime; further notes that significant funding has already been allocated to support transitioning since 1998 and believes that the necessary transition pathways should have been grasped during that period; stresses that further funding, prisoner release or sentence reduction to incentivise transitioning should not form part of any new process aimed at bringing about paramilitary group transition to disbandment; and calls on the UK and Irish Governments to ensure that they maintain the policing and justice response against those who are intent on continuing organised illegal activities while empowering those who want to move away from paramilitarism, ensuring any law enforcement approach can be better focused.’

[Mr Doug Beattie}

[Mr Steve Aiken]

[Mr Andy Allen]

[Mr Robbie Butler]

Amendment 2 (Mutually exclusive to Amendment 1)

Leave out all after "That this Assembly" and insert:

‘notes the proposals from the UK and Irish Governments to appoint an independent expert to scope out a new process of engagement to bring about paramilitary group transition to disbandment; agrees that, more than 25 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, there is no place for paramilitarism in our society, and that such groups should either immediately disband or face a robust law enforcement approach like other organised crime gangs; welcomes the work of the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime; and calls on the UK and Irish Governments to set out a short and strictly limited timeline for the scoping and engagement exercise.’

[Mr Gerry Kelly]

[Mrs Linda Dillon]