argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
EU Withdrawal Agreement: Legislation — House of Commons, 2018-07-24
Topic: Foreign Trade
Samuel Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I welcome the White Paper, especially the commitment that the EU will not be getting a penny of our money if it refuses to come up with a fair trade arrangement that suits both sides. On that issue, is the Secretary of State aware that the Taoiseach said this week that he had been assured by the EU that there will be no need for any physical infrastructure along the Irish border even in the event of no deal? If that is the case, is that not proof that the issue is overhyped and that there is no need for a backstop arrangement that breaks the Union? Will he assure us that he will not accede to such an arrangement?
Points of Order — House of Commons, 2018-11-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Nigel Dodds (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Given the very clear decision of the House yesterday in relation to the publication of legal advice and the reported very worrying comments of the Attorney General in recent hours, can you ensure that the advice will be brought forward in a timely way and should certainly not be very long delayed after the publication of any White Paper or any statement? These things should happen almost simultaneously if we are to have a proper and informed debate on the statement or whatever comes forward. The House spoke clearly yesterday and that must be acceded to by the Government.
Police Employer Pension Contributions — House of Commons, 2018-11-14
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on securing this Adjournment debate. This week, a chief constable said that police "may no longer be able to provide anything but the most basic services to the most vulnerable sectors of our community" Does he agree that that must be a wake-up call for the Government to ensure that resources and funding are available?
Devolution and Democracy — House of Commons, 2018-05-24
Topic: Law and Crime
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I add to the record our commendation to the Committee Chairman for doing a splendid piece of work. He has brought together some very difficult issues into a single report that was unanimously agreed by the Committee. It was incredibly difficult work. The Committee endorses several political actions with regard to how committees should function in the current Assembly, even though it has broken down. It endorses the re-establishment of the Policing Board and states that we need ministerial decisions as quickly as possible. Those recommendations, carried unanimously by the Committee, should be implemented immediately. I hope that the Secretary of State and the Minister hear that loudly and allow for normal functions to continue I understand that the judgment by Justice Keegan, as mentioned on page 25 of our report, will be referred to the High Court on 25 June. Is the hon. Gentleman confident that we will get a quick, urgent decision from the bench, so that we will know whether direct rule will be implemented speedily or whether we will go back into the state of flux of negotiations?
Devolution and Democracy — House of Commons, 2018-05-24
Topic: International Affairs
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I congratulate the Chairman of the Committee, the hon. Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison), on the leadership that he showed to all its members, enabling us to reach unanimous conclusions. There were times when we thought that that would not happen, but he managed to ensure that it happened in each case The backdrop was, of course, the stop-start, pause, start again extension of the talks process, to which pages 3 and 4 of the report refer. That, perhaps, indicates where we are at present. The Committee again took the opportunity to consider where we would go if the Northern Ireland Assembly did not function. The annex outlines—as did the hon. Gentleman at the end of his speech—the number of works still to be done and on hold Some of the Committee’s conclusions are very important. If the hybrid system for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which has operated in the past, does not work out, we shall look towards direct rule. What are the Chairman’s thoughts about how we can pull Sinn Féin out of its obstinate position? Sometimes, we need to move forward and park the issues on which we disagree I have another question, about Brexit. The Committee concluded that the Secretary of State and other Ministers should be more active. How does the hon. Gentleman think it can be ensured that Northern Ireland’s voice is clearly heard in the Brexit talks?
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community — House of Commons, 2018-05-24
Topic: International Affairs
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): Sometimes in Pakistan and across the world we speak to people at high levels of Government responsibility, but the problem is getting that down to the lower levels from where it branches out. How do we do that, because if we get that done, we can address many of the issues?
Leaving the EU: Airbus Risk Assessment — House of Commons, 2018-06-25
Topic: Foreign Trade
Samuel Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): Since aerospace regulations tend to be made on a worldwide basis rather than on an EU basis, the tariffs on manufactured goods are low or zero, and the UK is an important market for Airbus. Does the Secretary of State accept that we should take some of these warnings with a pinch of salt? If Airbus has concerns, it ought to direct them towards the EU negotiators who seem to be putting every obstacle in the way of the Prime Minister’s objective of frictionless future trade.
National Policy Statement: Airports — House of Commons, 2018-06-25
Topic: Transportation
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I thank the Secretary of State for his statement. This is clearly more than just about the constituencies around Heathrow and London; it is about connectivity for all the regions, as he has outlined. It has been said that Belfast City, Belfast International and Londonderry airports will gain by some 15% in new domestic routes. Can the Minister confirm that the increase will be of 15%?
National Policy Statement: Airports — House of Commons, 2018-06-25
Topic: Transportation
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): As someone who represents one of the regions of the United Kingdom, I understand that the hon. Gentleman wants certainty and clarity about this issue. But does he accept that an expansion, by its very nature, will necessitate more domestic passengers and, hence, more routes will open up locally?
National Policy Statement: Airports — House of Commons, 2018-06-25
Topic: Transportation
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): But by necessity more passengers will be required to travel through Heathrow. Those passengers are going to come from Northern Ireland, Scotland and the north of England. That is a fact. Some 700,000 passengers annually already travel from Northern Ireland. That number will expand, and it will also expand for Scotland.
National Policy Statement: Airports — House of Commons, 2018-06-25
Topic: Transportation
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I really appreciate the hon. Gentleman giving way again because it is absolutely essential that the House understands that four out of eight of the domestic routes that are already available go to Scotland. Scotland already stands strong in this area. It does not need protection measures. Indeed, British Airways has already expanded its routes to Inverness.
National Policy Statement: Airports — House of Commons, 2018-06-25
Topic: Transportation
Samuel Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): Unlike the hon. Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi), who kept us waiting for four minutes—until the last sentence of his speech—to know whether he was going to support this project, may I say at the very start that I and my colleagues will be supporting the Government on this tonight? This is a project of national interest. It is one on which our economy depends, and that will help us in our pursuit of increased productivity, in our pursuit of being a global trading nation and in regenerating the regions. As someone from Northern Ireland, that is an important aspect of this particular project, because we rely on connectivity We have had Members telling us today that we can have regional airports or hubs in different regions all across the country, but the truth of the matter is that most regional airports are not in the centre of populations that can support all the international connections that are needed, and we therefore need an international hub. If we are going to have an international hub, we need to have local connections. Given that places are currently at a premium at Heathrow, the only way to get those connections, despite what the Scottish nationalists have argued, is to expand Heathrow. They cannot wish for more flights into Heathrow and say that they are ambivalent about whether it should be expanded. This is important to us for that reason Northern Ireland is of course an exporting part of the United Kingdom. High-value engineering exports and high-value food exports depend on having a good cargo infrastructure to enable us to send our goods across the world.
Veterans and Soldiers: Statute of Limitations — House of Commons, 2018-06-25
Topic: Law and Crime
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on introducing this debate. A previous British Government were able to find a legal mechanism to help a specific group of people called the on-the-runs, over 130 of them, who were all in different jurisdictions—the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and the United States—and got "get out of jail free" cards. Surely there must be some way in which Her Majesty’s Government can protect those who are there to serve our nation.
Leaving the EU — House of Commons, 2018-09-05
Topic: International Affairs
Nigel Dodds (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): May I bring the Minister back to the question asked by the Chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, which he did not answer? The issue highlighted by the Chief Constable of the PSNI, which we have raised directly with the Prime Minister, is what extra resources are being given to prepare for Brexit. Those resources have been requested by the Chief Constable, since he has made it very, very clear that he has not had a fair allocation.
Leaving the EU — House of Commons, 2018-09-05
Topic: Law and Crime
Nigel Dodds (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): With the greatest respect, we are not asking about issuing guidance; we are asking about the allocation of resources. I really want to press the Minister on this issue, since it will have a very big impact on the resourcing of policing in Northern Ireland more widely. What are he and the Government going to do—this has been on their table for many months now—to allocate to the Chief Constable the resources that he needs and that he fairly has asked for?
Border Infrastructure — House of Commons, 2018-09-05
Topic: International Affairs
Questions: What discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential implications for border infrastructure in Northern Ireland of legislative proposals for a single UK customs territory.; What discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential implications for border infrastructure in Northern Ireland of legislative proposals for a single UK customs territory.
Samuel Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): Collecting duties on trade across the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic currently happens and does not present any problems. The real damage to Northern Ireland and to the integrity of the United Kingdom would be to have regulatory alignment between Northern Ireland and the Republic, giving the EU, rather than London, control over our laws in Northern Ireland. Will the Secretary of State give an assurance that in no circumstances will she agree to the backstop arrangement demanded by the EU, which would split the United Kingdom by having laws—
Leaving the EU — House of Commons, 2018-10-25
Topic: Foreign Trade
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): Does the Secretary of State agree that Brexit represents a real opportunity to become a global United Kingdom, free to make vital trade deals with countries across the world? Does he feel that increasing the backstop would be unhelpful because it would only hamper our ability to negotiate trade deals and would not help to resolve any outstanding issues?
Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill: Committee Stage — House of Commons, 2018-06-19
Topic: Government Operations
Nigel Dodds (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I am listening with interest to what the hon. Lady is saying. Will she clarify something for me? Under the current instructions to the Boundary Commission and the principal legislation, a new review is carried out every five years and the number of seats allocated to each constituent part of the United Kingdom is adjusted according to the number of people on the register. Is it the purpose of her hon. Friend’s Bill to fix in perpetuity—or until such time as the legislation may be amended—the number of seats for Northern Ireland at 18?
Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill: Committee Stage — House of Commons, 2018-06-19
Topic: Government Operations
Nigel Dodds (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): There have been references to the boundary commission review as though there is just one review, but of course there are reviews in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. On a point of process, does the Leader of the House intend to table separate resolutions on each of those Boundary Commission reviews, or will they be taken together?
Business Promotion — House of Commons, 2018-10-31
Topic: Foreign Trade
Emma Little Pengelly (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): For business to export and grow, it needs adequate support. What actions will the Secretary of State to take to ensure that Northern Ireland’s businesses can benefit from some of the initiatives announced this week, including in relation to the high street?
Police: Border Funding — House of Commons, 2018-10-31
Topic: Government Operations
Questions: Whether the Government have plans to provide additional funding to the Police Service of Northern Ireland to police any potential border in the island of Ireland.; Whether the Government have plans to provide additional funding to the Police Service of Northern Ireland to police any potential border in the island of Ireland.
Samuel Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): The funding application now rests with the Treasury, so will the Secretary of State ensure that it is treated quickly? Will she also assure us that recruitment to the PSNI will not be blocked as a result of Sinn Féin’s closing down of the Northern Ireland Assembly?
Political Parties: Loans and Donations — House of Commons, 2018-10-31
Topic: International Affairs
William Paul Girvan (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): Does the Minister agree that the loophole that allows millions of pounds of donations, including money from America, to be channelled to Sinn Féin through the Irish Republic drives a coach and horses through the UK’s financing rules that seek to prevent foreign influence on elections in the UK? This loophole needs to be closed for Northern Ireland to be brought in line with the rest of the UK.
Air Pollution: A10 and Broxbourne — House of Commons, 2018-10-31
Topic: Environment
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising the issue of air pollution. Air pollution is not a significant issue in only one constituency—it also applies to my own. To address pollution in Northern Ireland, the ecarNI project consists of a consortium of public and private sector organisations working together to bring benefits to our environment, society and economy. I spoke to the hon. Gentleman about this beforehand. Does he agree that more needs to be done to increase both the number of electric cars on our roads and access to charging points through grants and other incentives, thereby reducing air pollution?
Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme — House of Commons, 2018-09-06
Topic: Law and Crime
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I thank the Solicitor General for his response. Will he carry out a review of sentencing on the basis of the successful applications to the unduly lenient sentence scheme? I think that it is important to have a review.
Northern Ireland Government — House of Commons, 2018-09-06
Topic: Government Operations
Gregory Lloyd Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): My party welcomes the Secretary of State’s announcement, particularly on reducing MLAs’ pay. The DUP is the party of no preconditions: we want to get into government tomorrow. Unfortunately, others who walked out of the Executive have set preconditions. Hopefully, she will get on with that job. May I draw her attention to the part of her statement where she said that MLAs "will not be performing the full range of their legislative functions", thereby justifying the reduction in pay? Does she not apply the same logic to abstentionist Members of Parliament? Yesterday, we had a very important business reception at which the Secretary of State spoke. A Sinn Féin MP actually boasted that they did not have to leave the reception to come up here to vote and go through the Division Lobby. They claim hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money for not performing their full legislative function.
Northern Ireland Government — House of Commons, 2018-09-06
Topic: Government Operations
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I thank the Secretary of State for coming to the House today and for the statement that she made. She has rightly related and referred to the strategic decisions on investment in agri-food sectors, which I have discussed with the Minister of State, and on issues of health and education, roads, fishing and so on—things that are critically important. There is a need to address the issue of social deprivation, as well as tackling paramilitarism, which is rampant in my constituency, as the Secretary of State knows The announcement on MLA pay is the right decision—I put that on record—although most MLAs, including my own colleagues, want to get the Assembly working fully and immediately. However, everyone is being punished due to the refusal of one party, namely Sinn Féin. If we are going to hit the pockets of Northern Ireland Assembly Members, which is right, does the Secretary of State agree that the same principles being applied to Northern Ireland Assembly Members should now apply to those who refuse to do their work in this House?
Official Development Assistance: Endangered Species — House of Commons, 2018-09-04
Topic: Environment
Questions: What recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Development on using official development assistance to help protect endangered species abroad.
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): It is good to be back, Mr Speaker. Last week the press informed us that 10 black rhinos, which are an endangered species, were moved from one location to another without the water there having even been checked. It turned out to be salt water and the 10 rhinos died. Is it not possible to do things better when trying to save endangered species, rather than letting such things happen?
Peace Process: Israel and Palestine — House of Commons, 2018-09-04
Topic: International Affairs
Nigel Dodds (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): To follow up on that point, there needs to be the renunciation of not only violence, but of the idea of the annihilation of Israel as a state. If we are to have proper negotiations, is it not critical that they are based on a mutual recognition of people’s rights and not on the basis of Hamas and others wanting to see the destruction of Israel?
Brexit Negotiations and No Deal Contingency Planning — House of Commons, 2018-09-04
Topic: International Affairs
Nigel Dodds (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I sometimes wish that people would actually travel the road from Belfast to Dublin and Dublin to Belfast because people already pass camera infrastructure on the border. As the right hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said, there is already a currency, excise and other border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. The fact is that there are people in this House, the European Union and the Irish Republic who are using the issue of the Irish border—and, more despicably, the Irish peace process and political process—either to thwart Brexit or to mould it in their own way. The reality is that this House would never accept any kind of backstop that created regulatory or other differences between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom because that would constitutionally break up the United Kingdom. Will the Secretary of State reassure the House that he will stick to that going forward?
Brexit Negotiations and No Deal Contingency Planning — House of Commons, 2018-09-04
Topic: International Affairs
Samuel Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): The Secretary of State has given an assurance today that there will be no customs border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain down the Irish sea, but can he also give an assurance that there will be no regulatory border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, especially since it is clear that that demand by the EU would lead to the disruption of trade between Northern Ireland and GB, would make Northern Ireland subject to EU law rather than UK law, would give a foot in the door for the European Court of Justice, and, as Michel Barnier has said only this week, might even result in Northern Ireland being in a different time zone from the rest of the United Kingdom?
Brexit Negotiations and No Deal Contingency Planning — House of Commons, 2018-09-04
Topic: Agriculture
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): The Secretary of State will be aware of the importance of fishing in the Brexit negotiations, particularly for the village of Portavogie in my constituency. He will also know about the attacks on British fishing fleets just last week. I have received information that boats from the Northern Ireland fishing fleet are heading to their legal fishing grounds. What discussions has he had with his European counterparts to ensure that fishing rights are protected in the Brexit negotiations?
Civil Liability Bill [Lords] — House of Commons, 2018-09-04
Topic: Foreign Trade
Emma Little Pengelly (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): Is the right hon. Lady surprised to learn that, due to the ongoing political situation in Northern Ireland, the tariff reduction still stands at 2.5%; that those in Northern Ireland who suffer significant injuries continue to get less compensation than when the adjustment was made, which will also be the case in GB under this Bill? Does she agree that that needs urgently to be addressed?
Cycling: Gilligan Report — House of Commons, 2018-09-04
Topic: Transportation
Richard James Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party, Right): I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this debate, as it is important that cycling reaches its potential in her constituency. We have done something similar in Strangford with the Comber greenway, which encourages cycling between Comber and Dundonald, and by doing so we have enabled people to see the area’s greenness and be environmentally friendly and to experience the health benefits of cycling I commend the hon. Lady for what she is doing. Many constituencies across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have done similar things. We have done it in Strangford, and so far it has been successful and we are looking towards other schemes.