Northern Ireland Assembly

But I would be failing every one of them if, in six months' time or sooner, actions that I took perhaps resulted in a Sinn Féin surge, a more emboldened Michelle O'Neill, an open hostility from Sinn Féin, meanwhile unionism pitted in the corner.

with a divided electorate, with less representation, with the potential for key protections which we rely upon within the Northern Ireland Assembly, stripped away by a Labour government who have already indicated that they want to do so, potential increased influence from a Dublin government.

Now, am I not being responsible in thinking all of that through before I would take an action? That is what is missing within unionism.

Strategic leadership that looks to the future, but not, and I repeat this, not dismissing anybody's right to have a differing view.

And that's why I say to unionists... be very careful about what we wish for for the future.

What do you mean? Because if this Labour Secretary of State is prepared to do what he did in banning the parade, that is the same Labour Secretary of State that potentially some would empower for greater...

Greater vandalism when it comes to the protections that we rely on going on to the future contained within the Northern Ireland Assembly.

It also could open the door to a greater Dublin interference and influence that I can't countenance as a unionist representative and I would be betraying them if I was not prepared to say it out loud.

Which functions the best? Which has the greatest connection to, in this instance, youth?

It has to be the Northern Ireland Assembly, without a doubt.

They have so many programmes.

And the good thing is that their youth parliament is actually run by the parliament.

So there's a lot of money that goes into the Parliament.

So they're thinking about other ways to actually reshape it in a moment.

But I think that, yeah, the Northern Ireland Assembly was good in that regard.

Well, that's a little bit surprising for me to hear, but also wonderful.

They operate across Northern Ireland some.

into the irish republic too and there are particular church scenes there that as institute staff we address and that's an important part of our work it's not the sole part of our work as you rightly point out we've got to keep ourselves appraised of what's happening in our regions with the parliament so we need we need to know what the Welsh Senate or the Holyrood Parliament or the Stormont Assembly are doing or legislating on.

So we need to keep ourselves up to speed with what's in the news and the media locally in those areas.

We also need to meet with other Christian stakeholders and sometimes other stakeholders that are maybe pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-life.

And that's quite a question that none of these people are able to answer.

what hole is there in the law that you are trying to fix with this bill? And ultimately, having read the bill and criticisms and the motivations of trans activists who want to pass this, it seems as though, not just in Westminster, but also particularly in Belfast, in the Northern Irish Assembly, it's a way of getting gender identity as a concept into law without actually defining it.

And there's this in a debate that was had in the Northern Irish Assembly, the speaker tried to stop members from asking questions about what gender identity meant.

He said, we're not here to discuss that.

Well, how can we put something into law that hasn't already been defined in law? There's no definition of it because no one knows what it actually is.

Then the final thing is that we knew subsequently that he had a conversation with the MLA for South Belfast, Christopher Stalford, one of the senior DUP MLAs, somebody who was a deputy speaker in the...

Stormont Assembly.

On the phone, they talked about politics, they talked about his family.

Christopher Stolfer dies very suddenly the next day.

So there are real problems growing for him back at home.

Then the final thing is that we knew subsequently that he had a conversation with the MLA for South Belfast, Christopher Stalford, one of the senior DUP MLAs, somebody who was a deputy speaker in the Stormont Assembly.

On the phone, they talked about politics, they talked about his family.

Christopher Stauffer dies very suddenly the next day.

It's also, like, I think it's something to do with Stormont.

I think that's what they call the Northern Irish Assembly.

Like, it's been under such, like, deadlock currently.

Like, they're not doing anything.

Some are still missing, and their loved ones desperately want to find their bodies.

Once a year outside the Northern Ireland Assembly, the families of the disappeared gather and plead for their return.

All these decades on, their grief is still raw.

We are gathered here again on All Souls Day and once again we seek the recovery of our loved ones who remain disappeared.

Well, that's utter nonsense.

You know that the DUP and indeed the unionist parties within the Assembly have no truck with loyalist paramilitaries in the sense of them directing any operations or there's very clear lines where we do not support any act of terrorism or any paramilitary groups.

And that's abundantly clear,

Stephen.

Unionism, I believe, are at the end of their tether with regards to Michelle O'Neill's behaviour.

Yes, but what does that mean? So we have, within our armoury, the ability to remove...

Michelle O'Neill from office and allow the Assembly to continue with ministers acting over the next six months which lead into an Assembly election.

I've said that.