Colin McGrath 🇺🇦@ColinSDLP

SDLP MLA for South Down. Party Health & Policing Spokesperson. colin.mcgrath@mla.niassembly.gov.uk

 Ireland
sdlp.ie/colin_mcgrath
Joined April 2010
2,252 Photos and videos
Interesting headline about a company that, like, actually sells shelves 😃
Sky News
@SkyNews
Sep 14
Online furniture retailer Dusk puts £300m London float on shelf news.sky.com/story/online-fu…
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Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
Trussell Northern Ireland@Trussell_NI
Sep 8
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.
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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.
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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✅
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.

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.
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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! 😬💧
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The lead partners in government. As predicted!
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"

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"
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Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
Matthew O'Toole@MatthewOToole2
Jul 31
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.
Darran Marshall@DarranMarshall
Jul 31
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…
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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…

Former UTV and BBC presenter Gerry Kelly dies at age of 77

The journalist and broadcaster, whose career spanned four decades, died at his home on Sunday morning.

bbc.co.uk
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🌳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
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

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
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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.
Colin standing talking to Hilary Benn

ALT Colin standing talking to Hilary Benn

Hilary Benn listening to political reps in Downpatrick

ALT Hilary Benn listening to political reps in Downpatrick
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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
Bowel Cancer UK@bowelcanceruk
Jun 30
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
Our CEO, Genevieve Edwards, and others posing with a signed letter.

ALT Our CEO, Genevieve Edwards, and others posing with a signed letter.
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Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
Matthew O'Toole@MatthewOToole2
Jul 2
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.
Cool FM News
@newsoncool
Jun 30
💥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.
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Our Party leader, a former Welsh First Minister and a Scottish & Irish government minister - what a panel!Really expert panel discussing change across these islands. @SDLPlive #change
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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…
Matthew O'Toole@MatthewOToole2
Jun 22
If the Executive does not agree a Budget they will be imposing a £1bn cut on all of us. That could mean hundreds fewer nurses, teachers, police officers and cuts to infrastructure. We all want better funding from London but the Executive cannot play chicken with our services.
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Colin McGrath 🇺🇦 retweeted
Police Service NI
@PoliceServiceNI
Mar 11
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.
Murder investigation update

ALT Murder investigation update
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🔉Have a read of my platform piece in today’s Mourne Observer, with a question we all need to ask ourselves: is Stormont working for you? Is this Executive making your life any better? Read on for more! #nipolitics
Platform piece in Mourne observer from Colin McGrath MLA posing a question as we enter 2026: is Stormont working for you?

ALT Platform piece in Mourne observer from Colin McGrath MLA posing a question as we enter 2026: is Stormont working for you?

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As a new Assembly term commences, I'm really looking forward to seeing all the Assembly Questions responses that come through...given the amount that remain outstanding! Get those Ministerial pens ready!
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What does it take to fix a road here? Well, we know the length of time but not the money!!! Austerity must be preventing the disclosure of cost! 🚗
The Irish News
@irish_news
Jan 5
Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins has been accused of shielding her department from “embarrassment” by refusing to reveal the bill for Co Down roadworks that have been in place for more than two years. Read more: tinyurl.com/5n6pb682
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A frankly bizarre response from the Infrastructure Minister. A road has been closed for two years, and we cannot know the cost as it is "commercially sensitive". Though it's a departure from blame British austerity! 🤷‍♂️ @SDLPlive | @SJAMcBride
AQW response from DFI Minister Kimmins to Colin McGrath: AQW 36624 & 36625 22-27 DATE FOR ANSWER: FRIDAY 5 DECEMBER 2025 Colin McGrath MLA (South Down) To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail the financial cost, to date, for the roadworks on the B27, outside Shannon Park, Hilltown; and to detail when the roadworks on the B27, outside Shannon Park, Hilltown, will be concluded. ANSWER I recognise the inconvenience caused by the temporary closures of one lane on the B27 Kilkeel Road Hilltown following the land/verge slip caused by the unprecedented weather in November 2023. The requested financial information is considered commercially sensitive. Disclosure of such data could enable others, particularly economic competitors, to identify commercial rates and costs associated with these works, which may potentially undermine the legitimate economic interests of the Department and its contractors. I can confirm that site investigation works were completed in recent days and..

ALT AQW response from DFI Minister Kimmins to Colin McGrath: AQW 36624 & 36625 22-27 DATE FOR ANSWER: FRIDAY 5 DECEMBER 2025 Colin McGrath MLA (South Down) To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail the financial cost, to date, for the roadworks on the B27, outside Shannon Park, Hilltown; and to detail when the roadworks on the B27, outside Shannon Park, Hilltown, will be concluded. ANSWER I recognise the inconvenience caused by the temporary closures of one lane on the B27 Kilkeel Road Hilltown following the land/verge slip caused by the unprecedented weather in November 2023. The requested financial information is considered commercially sensitive. Disclosure of such data could enable others, particularly economic competitors, to identify commercial rates and costs associated with these works, which may potentially undermine the legitimate economic interests of the Department and its contractors. I can confirm that site investigation works were completed in recent days and..

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RT @southern_fsu: As we step into 2026, we’re taking a moment to reflect. Take a look at some of the highlights from the past year, includi…
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