SDLP MLA for South Down. Party Health & Policing Spokesperson. [email protected]
Ireland
Joined April 2010
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Great to meet HEART UK, clinicians and patients at Stormont yesterday to learn more about cholesterol and Familial Hypercholesterolaemia (FH).
Early detection and simple lifestyle changes can save lives.
Cholesterol Matters. Every Swap Counts.
#NationalCholesterolMonth
An incredibly tough, but exceptionally rewarding career and helping to make a real difference in your community. I would urge people from all backgrounds and especially under-represented groups to apply. A successful service will be a representative one @SDLPlive
Just after they said they were sick
of pantomime politics - they all stormed out, refused to participate in the debate and then came back in to vote. Oh yes they did……
The Alliance Party Leader Naomi Long has led a walkout of her MLAs from the assembly chamber during a DUP vote of no-confidence motion in Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir.
The DUP had brought the motion following heavy criticism of the Department of Agriculture's handling of a cattle cull in Fivemiletown last June.
Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
DUP have been smearing our party for 5 decades - we’ve been on the right side of the argument then and now.
Claire Hanna MP (BSc LLM 😇)
Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
I’m at the Garvaghy Road and I know people all over the place are worried about the moment we’re in.
Interesting headline about a company that, like, actually sells shelves 😃
Online furniture retailer Dusk puts £300m London float on shelf
news.sky.com/story/online-fu…
Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
Thanks @ColinSDLP
for pledging support for ending the need for food banks in Northern Ireland as we work towards a future where everyone can afford the essentials.
Interesting discussion at the All Party Group on Terminal Illness. Good presentation and updates on this Palliative Care Week. Need investment and change to procedures to help people at the end of their lives.
Assembly returns from summer recess today, and I have secured an urgent oral question for the new Health Minister on his recent statement. Shaping up to be a busy day back!
Scrutiny ✅Accountability✅Transparency✅
ALT Photo shows Colin with his arms crossed standing in front of Stormont with text reading "Today at the Assembly: Urgent Oral Question for Health Accepted" and the SDLP logo beneath it.
Got a message today to say there’d been a leak in my Stormont office, just outside the Chamber.
Arrived to find the place looking a little worse for wear…
Leaks at the heart of Stormont.
Not exactly the start of the new Assembly term I was hoping for! 😬💧
The lead partners in government. As predicted!
ALT Photo of Michelle O'Neill giving an interview saying "DUP is anti-Irish and is delaying and frustrating progress but insists power sharing efforts are not pointless" and then Emma Little Pengelly giving an interview saying "Sinn Fein are trying to ramp things up. It's manufactured outrage. I'm not sure why"
Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
Let's be clear.
The DUP is a scandal-hit wreck but Sinn Féin is trying to deflect from their total failure to deliver Casement, the A5 or anything of substance with the historic mandate they were given.
It won't work.
Northern Ireland's devolved government's institutions are in "a precarious place" as the "wheels are coming off Stormont", according to Sinn Féin.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson says Conor Murphy should “tighten his nuts” bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdew…
So very sorry to hear this news. A gentleman, local Downpatrick/Ardglass legend and a fellow Ardmeen Green man. RIP Gerry. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9d8…
🌳Great to see Newcastle featured on BBC Breakfast! #TheWoodlandTrust have a vote on for the 2026 Tree of the Year, and Newcastle's own elm "Bendy Tree" is in the running! Support this beautiful piece of our natural world and vote here: woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-w…
@JBAMartin
ALT Colin and Cllr Laura Devlin stand in front of Newcastle County Down's elm tree, known as the Bendy Tree, weathered by time and the sea
Genuinely wish outgoing Secretary of State @hilarybennmp well. Following floods in Downpatrick in 2023 as Shadow Secretary he visited, listened to reps and businesses, and engaged. His calm demeanour was always appreciated.
ALT Colin standing talking to Hilary Benn
ALT Hilary Benn listening to political reps in Downpatrick
I’m proud to have backed @bowelcanceruk’s cross-party call to the Executive to urgently fund the extension of #BowelCancer screening to age 50 in Northern Ireland. People here are missing out on up to five opportunities to take part in bowel cancer screening. #unacceptable
People in Northern Ireland can miss up to five opportunities to take part in #BowelCancer screening compared to elsewhere in the UK.
Backed by over a third of MLAs, we’re calling on the Northern Ireland Executive to urgently fund screening from age 50: bit.ly/4gO4KGY
ALT Our CEO, Genevieve Edwards, and others posing with a signed letter.
Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
The Finance Minister has a point, but it would be a much stronger point if he hadn't published the Budget and described it as 'transformative' then disowned it.
Today should be when the Executive and UK Government to end the Budget chaos for Northern Ireland.
💥NEW: 'If the British government can find money for weapons of war, it can find it for public services.' Finance Minister ahead of Hillsborough talks
🎥Chief Reporter @jamesgould23 speaks to Finance Minister @JohnODowdSF.
👥It comes as Northern Ireland’s Executive parties are due to meet the Secretary of State on Thursday to discuss the financial pressures facing the Executive.
In a statement, the Northern Ireland Office said Hilary Benn had invited the parties to Hillsborough Castle to discuss the "exact scale" of the financial pressures and to "offer support to enable them to agree a budget".
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby MP, will also attend.
A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said Mr Benn has "been engaging regularly with the Northern Ireland Executive regarding its failure to agree a multi-year budget".
They added that it is "vital" the Executive "now urgently agrees a detailed plan to put Northern Ireland’s finances on a more sustainable footing and transition toward a multi-year budget".
"The Secretary of State and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury have now invited the Executive party leaders to Hillsborough Castle on Thursday, where they will continue these engagements."
Finance Minister John O’Dowd published a draft budget in January for the 2026/27 financial year, but the Executive has yet to agree it, insisting it needs more financial support from the Treasury to plug an estimated £1 billion funding gap and deliver spending plans that avoid significant cuts to public services.
All government departments are currently operating under contingency allocations.
A disgrace that our public services could be so at risk due to a political fallout. Further evidence that the parties of government here aren’t capable of delivering for people…
Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
Major Investigation Team detectives, investigating the murder of Ellie Flanagan in Enniskillen, have charged a 45-yr-old man with murder & possession of an offensive weapon with intent. He is due to appear before Strabane Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 12th March via video link.
ALT Murder investigation update