Northern Ireland Assembly backs mandatory Covid certification laws – How did your MLA vote?

The mandatory Covid-19 certification scheme has been approved by MLAs.

Out of 83 MLAS, 59 voted for the legally enforceable coronavirus passport scheme, while 24 voted no and one member voted in both lobbies, meaning their vote does not count.




Coronavirus Data Graphs

The vote was held on Tuesday after a debate which ran late into Monday ran out of time.

The initiative was introduced in Northern Ireland late last month with a two-week grace period to allow businesses to adjust.

MLAs were asked to retrospectively approve the measure.

Regulations are legally enforceable and venues who breach them could face fines of up to £10,000.

Customers must show either proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from Covid to enter licensed premises and entertainment venues.

The initial debate, which was set too be concluded on Monday, had continued for around five hours.

Speaker Alex Maskey eventually halted discussions at around 9pm as he was advised of a danger of legal action if the debate continued. He said there was a possibility the Assembly’s own rules could be broken.

Speaking to Assembly members on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the vote, Health Minister Robin Swann said: “We’ll see this through, we’ll come through it as a stronger service and health service because of the changes, we’ve had to evolve necessarily”.

The UUP minister said the scheme was necessary to curb the spread of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus over the winter months.

The DUP was opposed and voted against it following the Stormont debate.

During Monday’s sitting, the party’s Jim Wells said “what I’m going to say is going to be controversial”.

He told the assembly that as far as he was aware he was only one of two members who was not vaccinated.

“It does not make me someone who should be discriminated against, or shunned in public.”

The South Down MLA repeated his objections to taking the current vaccines on offer in NI.

Mr Wells said he was not anti-vaccine but would want to be at the door of the vaccine clinic the day that there is a vaccine I can take as he expressed personal concerns about those on offer in the UK.

His party colleague DUP MLA Paul Frew said bringing in vaccine passports amounted to “coercion and discrimination”.

Dr Steve Aiken AYE

Mr Andy Allen AYE

Mr Jim Allister NO

Ms Caoimhe Archibald AYE

Ms Kellie Armstrong AYE

Ms Clare Bailey AYE

Mrs Rosemary Barton AYE

Mr Doug Beattie MC AYE

Mr Roy Beggs AYE

Mr John Blair AYE

Mr Cathal Boylan AYE

Mr Maurice Bradley NO

Ms Paula Bradley NO

Ms Sinéad Bradley AYE

Ms Paula Bradshaw AYE

Ms Nicola Brogan AYE

Mr Keith Buchanan NO

Mr Thomas Buchanan NO

Mr Jonathan Buckley NO

Ms Joanne Bunting NO

Mr Robbie Butler AYE

Mrs Pam Cameron NO

Mr Gerry Carroll ABSTAINED

Mr Pat Catney AYE

Mr Alan Chambers AYE

Mr Trevor Clarke NO

Mr Pádraig Delargy AYE

Mr Stewart Dickson AYE

Ms Linda Dillon AYE

Mrs Diane Dodds NO

Ms Jemma Dolan AYE

Mr Stephen Dunne NO

Mr Mark Durkan AYE

Mr Alex Easton NO

Ms Sinéad Ennis AYE

Mrs Deborah Erskine NO

Ms Ciara Ferguson AYE

Ms Órlaithí Flynn AYE

Mr Paul Frew NO

Mr Colm Gildernew AYE

Ms Deirdre Hargey AYE

Mr Harry Harvey NO

Mr David Hilditch NO

Mr William Humphrey NO

Ms Cara Hunter AYE

Mr William Irwin NO

Mr Declan Kearney AYE

Mrs Dolores Kelly AYE

Mr Gerry Kelly AYE

Ms Liz Kimmins AYE

Mrs Naomi Long AYE

Mr Trevor Lunn AYE

Mr Chris Lyttle AYE

Mr Declan McAleer AYE

Mr Daniel McCrossan AYE

Mr Patsy McGlone AYE

Mr Colin McGrath AYE

Mr Philip McGuigan AYE

Mr Maolíosa McHugh AYE

Ms Sinead McLaughlin AYE

Mr Justin McNulty AYE

Ms Nichola Mallon AYE

Mr Andrew Muir AYE

Ms Áine Murphy AYE

Mr Conor Murphy AYE

Mr Mike Nesbitt AYE

Mr Robin Newton NO

Ms Carál Ní Chuilín AYE

Mr John O’Dowd AYE

Mrs Michelle O’Neill AYE

Mr Matthew O’Toole AYE

Miss Aisling Reilly AYE

Mr George Robinson NO

Ms Emma Rogan AYE

Mr Pat Sheehan AYE

Ms Emma Sheerin AYE

Mr Christopher Stalford NO

Mr John Stewart AYE

Mr Mervyn Storey NO

Ms Claire Sugden AYE

Mr Robin Swann AYE

Mr Peter Weir NO

Mr Jim Wells NO

Miss Rachel Woods AYE


Parliamentary reports show first speaker only - follow this lnk for the full transcription.
Articles may come from parliamentary reports, various public news feeds and Google News Search. Content is republished here for context. Copyright is respected and remains with the original author at all times. Original Article:https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/coronavirus/ni-assembly-backs-mandatory-covid-certification-laws-how-did-your-mla-vote-41148779.html

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