Marshalled List of Amendments

Tuesday 30 September 2025

Item 5: Order Paper 122/22-27 - Tuesday 30 September 2025

Motion: Addressing Skills Gaps between Young People and Businesses

Proposed:

That this Assembly notes the importance of promoting economic opportunity to deliver social justice and a truly reconciled society; recognises the significant job creation delivered by investment in Northern Ireland over the past few years; acknowledges that a lot of that investment was based on the linkage in skills development, between higher education and businesses in receipt of investment; regrets that opportunities are being missed because too many skills gaps remain and there are too many occasions when that skills linkage does not exist; expresses support for prioritising support into skills development and employment for the 19,000 young people in Northern Ireland not in education, employment or training; and calls on the Minister for the Economy to establish a talent development agency, similar to Skillnet Ireland and other similar agencies in Europe, to ensure greater alignment between skills development in further and higher education and what businesses actually require.

Mr David Honeyford

Mr Eóin Tennyson

Ms Paula Bradshaw

Mrs Michelle Guy

Amendment

Leave out all after 'employment or training;' and insert:

'and calls on the Minister for the Economy to work with her counterparts in the Irish Government on the creation of an all-island talent development agency, to ensure greater alignment between skills development in further and higher education and what businesses across the island of Ireland actually require.'

[Ms Sinéad McLaughlin]

[Mr Colin McGrath]

Motion: Drug Testing Schemes

Proposed:

That this Assembly recognises the role of harm reduction initiatives in preventing drug-related deaths at festivals and concerts; acknowledges that the Health Service Executive's rapid drug checking schemes have operated successfully at events such as Electric Picnic for a number of years, providing warnings to concertgoers on potent and potentially lethal substances; notes the ongoing work between the PSNI, Forensic Sciences Northern Ireland and Queen's University to develop a rapid drug testing scheme which would enable harmful drugs to be identified and public alerts issued within 24 hours; further notes that we remain the only part of these islands without such provisions; stresses the need for collaboration between the Forensic Sciences laboratory at Seapark and the Health Service Executive, who have developed the capacity to deliver onsite drug testing at festivals across the rest ofthe island; and calls on the Minister of Health to confirm when these schemes will be rolled out by his Department in conjunction with the relevant agencies.

Miss Órlaithí Flynn

Mr Philip McGuigan

Mrs Linda Dillon

Amendment

Leave out all after 'Assembly' and insert:

'recognises that there are no safe ways of taking illegal drugs; acknowledges the role of harm reduction initiatives in preventing drug-related deaths at festivals and concerts; believes this must complement the existing PSNI approach of identifying, arresting and placing before the courts those involved in the supply of illicit drugs; further acknowledges that the Health Service Executive's rapid drug checking schemes have operated successfully at events in the Republic of Ireland, such as Electric Picnic, for a number of years, providing warnings to concertgoers on potent and potentially lethal substances; notes the ongoing work between the PSNI, Forensic Sciences Northern Ireland and Queen's University to develop a rapid drug testing scheme which would enable harmful drugs to be identified and public alerts issued within 24 hours; further notes that we remain the only part of these islands without such provisions; stresses the need for collaboration between the Forensic Sciences laboratory at Seapark, the Health Service Executive in the Republic of Ireland, and the Home Office, in relation to developing the capacity to deliver, and license, onsite drug testing at festivals across Northern Ireland; and calls on the Minister of Health to confirm when these schemes will be rolled out by his Department in conjunction with the relevant agencies.'

[Mrs Diane Dodds]

[Mr Paul Frew]