The new procedure will allow members to vote in the NI Assembly without physically being there.
Kellie Armstrong said that as MLAs are not employees they do not have terms and conditions that would support people who have become parents.Kellie Armstrong, the chair of the procedures committee, explained that "as MLAs are not employees" they did not have "terms and conditions that would support people who have become parents".
Proxy voting was one of a range of temporary measures introduced in the assembly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Subsequently, the committee considered this issue as part of its strategic planning and agreed to undertake a review of proxy voting. The DUP's Diane Forsythe welcomed the standing order and said "it should be a basic requirement whether it be here in Northern Ireland or further afield" as it reflects "the challenges faced by those elected representatives who balance the position entrusted to them by the electorate with their role as a mother, father or foster carer".Gerry Carroll said while he supported the changes he urged the committee to extend proxy voting to a wider range of circumstances.
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