Alliance leader says abuse ‘unacceptable' as colleague targeted
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long has described homophobic abuse that one of party colleagues was subjected to as 'despicable'.
Earlier this week Stormont Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir said he had experienced 'vile homophobic comments' and spoke out about misogynistic remarks directed at some of his officials, as well as racism against workers in the agri-food sector recently on social media.
It comes during heated opposition from the farming community to Mr Muir's proposed Nutrients Action Programme 2026-2029 which is currently out for consultation.
Mr Muir has been urged to scrap the proposals which are aimed at improving water quality and the wider environment by reducing and preventing pollution caused or induced by nutrients from agricultural sources.
Opponents say the proposals could devastate agriculture, reduce livestock numbers and undermine food security.
Speaking to media in Belfast on Wednesday, Ms Long urged constructive engagement around policy.
'I think it's despicable that any politician in any role is subjected to the kind of abuse, threat, intimidation that we see commonplace now being directed at politicians, and what Andrew has been subjected to in particular is appalling and unacceptable,' she said.
'People have a right to disagree with Andrew's policy, they have a right to disagree with his direction of travel as minister, they do not have a right to harass, intimidate, threaten and abuse him, and there needs to be a clear line drawn between the two.
'A constructive engagement around policy, around practice, is entirely reasonable. Abuse is unacceptable.'
Speaking in the Assembly on Tuesday, Mr Muir contended there is 'a lot of misinformation' around the proposals, adding that social media commentary has been 'disgraceful'.
'There's been misogynistic comments against officials in my department,' he said.
'There's been racist comments in relation to people that we are very, very fortunate to have working within our agri-food sector.
'And not for a very long time have I seen such vile homophobic comments about myself.
'I am a gay man, and I am proud to be a gay man, and it has no relevance whatsoever to the Nutrients Action Programme nor my ability to do this job.'
Disappointment was expressed at the social media comments referred to across the chamber, including from Opposition leader Matthew O'Toole, Sinn Fein MLA Aoife Finnegan, UUP MLA Robbie Butler and DUP MLA Trevor Clarke, who said opposition to the programme 'should not be personalised against anyone'.
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The assisted dying movement is gaining momentum. These opponents are pushing back
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Its fate now rests with the state Senate, where it needs 32 votes to pass and currently has 26 co-sponsors. Currently, 12 jurisdictions — including Oregon, Colorado and the District of Columbia — permit what's commonly known as 'medical assistance in dying' (MAiD) or 'assisted suicide.' On May 20, Delaware became the latest state to legalize medical assistance in dying, and at least 19 other states are considering similar laws. Canada, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands have adopted MAiD laws, some extending eligibility to people without terminal illnesses. The United Kingdom is also reviewing a similar bill, with a vote expected later in June. 'Passing this bill is about love, compassion, and reducing needless suffering. No one should have to endure agony when there is a better, humane choice available. This is not a political issue — it's a human issue, and we owe it to New Yorkers to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Act,' said the bill's sponsor, Assemblymember Amy Paulin, D-Westchester, in a press release. Supporters argue that allowing patients to choose death in the face of unbearable suffering respects their dignity and autonomy. For those speaking out against the bill, legalizing physician-assisted suicide devalues life and puts vulnerable populations at risk, including people with disabilities, poor people and people with mental illness. Dr. Lydia Dugdale, a physician and ethicist at Columbia University, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed that the debate isn't about dying well. 'It is about relieving society — government, medical systems, even families — of the responsibility to care for those who need the most help: the mentally ill, the poor, the physically disabled,' she wrote. Opponents worry about a 'slippery slope,' arguing that vague eligibility requirements could lead to the kind of expansion seen in Canada, where assisted suicide has become available to people suffering not only from terminal illness, but also from conditions like loneliness, eating disorders and mental illness. 'I cannot get through a day ... It's physical torture,' said a Canadian woman with a series of nonterminal diagnoses, whose journey seeking, and receiving, MAiD is the focus of a recent New York Times story. 'Once we go down this road, there is no going back,' said Ed Mechmann, the director of public policy at the Archdiocese of New York, speaking at a recent event in New York hosted by Communion and Liberation, a Catholic lay movement, along with other opponents of physician-assisted suicide. 'It will change the nature of health care, of living and dying forever,' Mechmann said. The terms 'physician-assisted death' or 'assisted suicide' typically refer to a medical practice in which a terminally ill person is provided a lethal dose of medication they can take to end their life. The term 'medical assistance in dying' is commonly used in U.S. and Canada policy discussions and often refers to both assisted suicide and euthanasia. Euthanasia, by contrast, involves a medical professional administering a life-ending medication, typically by injection, at the patient's request. Euthanasia is not legal in the states that have legalized MAiD, whereas countries like Canada and the Netherlands allow both. Although the proponents of MAiD often frame assisted suicide as a matter of personal autonomy, those who oppose it believe that in reality, it would accomplish the opposite and endanger vulnerable patients who struggle to access care and support. 'As a practicing physician, I will tell you this does not become a matter of choice for most people,' said Dugdale, author of the 2020 book 'The Lost Art of Dying,' speaking at the New York event. 'The concern is that once you have a choice legalized for the privileged few, it will then threaten life for many others who find it difficult to maintain life for a variety of reasons.' Weak safeguards of the laws and ambiguous definitions would likely contribute to eventually including a wide range of chronic conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer and even mental health disorders like anorexia, Mechmann noted. In such cases, choosing death may not reflect true autonomy but rather systemic neglect, he said. In Colorado, for instance, patients with anorexia have already qualified for assisted death on the grounds that the condition can be fatal if untreated. In 2024, Quebec, a province in Canada, established the right for a person with a serious and incurable illness to choose a medically assisted death in advance. Also in Canada, patients with a mental illness as an underlying medical condition will be eligible for MAiD in 2027. But even with long-term patients, it can be difficult to determine whether a desire to die stems from informed decision-making or untreated depression, Dugdale said. 'The people who tend to seek to end their lives through lethal prescription, who want assisted suicide, are at high risk for depression demographically,' Dugdale said. Among those groups are older adults with advanced cancer, especially white men. Depression is often overlooked or misdiagnosed, despite being treatable. In Oregon, where MAiD has been legal the longest, less than 1% of patients requesting lethal prescriptions are referred for psychological evaluation. 'This is a major oversight that fails to protect depressed people from making flawed decisions,' Dugdale wrote in her op-ed. Opponents also challenge the popular narrative of MAiD as a carefully considered choice made by an informed patient with a long-trusted physician. 'Very few patients have a doctor they call their own anymore, or a doctor who knows them,' said Dr. Eve Slater, a physician and Columbia University professor at an online event hosted by Plough, a Christian magazine, on June 2. Slater, who previously served as assistant secretary for Health and Human Services, said that for many today, especially in New York, care is fragmented, which makes it more challenging to make intimate and ethically sound decisions. She added that legalizing physician-assisted death could further erode the foundational trust between doctor and patient. Physicians also often misjudge how long terminally ill patients will live, according to Slater. 'I've been thankfully proved wrong on many occasions,' Slater said. ' I think there is a fallacy in the premise that you qualify if you have less than six months to live, because any doctor who declares that is assuming a crystal ball that they don't have.' In reality, legalizing assisted death risks creating a new social norm — one that pressures vulnerable individuals, especially those who are alone, seriously ill or unsupported, into feeling like death is their best or only option. In 2019, Kate Connolly, a communications professional in New York City, received a call that her mother had been rushed to the hospital with a brain aneurysm, she recalled while speaking alongside Dugdale and Mechmann. For the next four and a half years, her mother remained confined to her bed and wheelchair, on a feeding tube, unable to do much without assistance. Yet, even in a severely disabled state, her mother's presence was cherished by her family before she died, Connolly said. 'Her family's role, which was also a great sacrifice, was to be steward, not dictators, but respectful stewards of a precious gift,' Connolly said. Around the same time, Connolly learned her unborn son had developed a cystic hygroma — a condition often considered incompatible with life. Both with her mother and her son, Connolly described pressure from medical professionals to end their life prematurely — through abortion or withdrawal of care, which were presented as practical and compassionate choices. She chose to continue her pregnancy, giving birth to a son and holding him after he died. Although hastening death may sometimes seem like a more compassionate and pragmatic decision, this mindset fosters a view of suffering lives as disposable, Connolly said. 'The truth is, from what I've seen, dying is not a problem to be solved,' she said. 'It is an experience to be lived and even embraced. It is a sacred time, truly set apart from any experience.' End-of-life decisions must involve thoughtful, peaceful conversations between patients, families and doctors, Connolly noted. 'What is the right course of action? What is reasonable or what is needlessly extending pain and suffering?' she said. 'You cannot ask these questions thoughtfully or with any real meaning when you're being pushed to just do the expedient thing and end the life in front of you.' According to studies from Canada, the top reasons that patients say they seek a lethal prescription are more social rather than physical. In Canada, the 2022 annual report revealed that the most commonly cited reasons for requesting MAiD were loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities (86%) and loss of ability to perform daily activities (81%). While supporters of MAiD often argue that alleviating pain is one of the main reasons for hastening the death of a patient, about 59% are concerned about 'controlling pain.' 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