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Speaking during today’s debate on an Ulster Unionist motion on Fuel Poverty, UUP proposer for the motion Roy Beggs said,

“In bringing this motion forward again I was concerned at possible complacency on the part of Department of Social Development Officials.

In entering a new Assembly term we wanted the issue to be fresh on everyones minds. We are now also approaching the winter and the cold and fuel poverty are much more real issues than when we were entering the summer when the last debate came up. But most importantly it is because we are approaching the critical budgeting process.

By having this debate fresh in our minds I hope that all of us will be able to translate it into actions as we approach budget priorities within our committee system and as an assembly as a whole.

There are serious concerns, not least from the Director of National Energy Action, who was delighted that this debate was happening again, that the set objectives to eradicate fuel poverty in vulnerable households by 2010 and by non-vulnerable households by 2016 would be missed.

The UUP is keen to ensure that these dates will most definitely not be missed.”

The announcement that the Dentistry service in Northern Ireland is to receive a 6.4 million pounds boost has been greeted with delight by local Ulster Unionist MLA, Tom Elliott.

Mr Elliott said: “This is great news for the local area as many people in Fermanagh and South Tyrone are struggling to find a dentist that caters for NHS users or to afford the rates of private dentistry services.

“Within Fermanagh, many people have to spend months attempting to find a dentist but with the new incentives laid out by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey I am hopeful that we will see more dentists providing NHS treatment in Fermanagh and South Tyrone and indeed across Northern Ireland.

“The number of dentists in Northern Ireland has never been the problem, and indeed we have the highest ratio of dentists per head of the population in the United Kingdom. The problem has been that many of these dentists have gone private in recent years and it was vital that there was a move like this to encourage them to become available once more for the majority of citizens in Northern Ireland who use the NHS.”

The announcements include financial packages concerning four main areas of dentistry treatment. 2 million pounds will be used to help with continuing price rises in the operational costs of running a dental practise. 1.5 million will go towards helping increase the standards of sterilisation and disinfecting practises. £500,000 will go towards training allowances with a further £400,000 to be used as subsidy for current dentists and to encourage dentists that have left the NHS service to return. Of the 6.4 million pounds that will be injected into the service this year, 4.5 million pounds of investment will be recurrent, an increase of over 50% in funding for the service.

The Ulster Unionist MLA concluded: “Within the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland has the worst dental health. For example, in comparison to the rest of the UK our 12-year-olds have almost three times the level of dental decay. With these new investments I firmly believe that inadequacies such as this will improve dramatically or disappear completely within the coming years. As more dentists return to providing NHS care this will make it easier to receive the dental health provision that we all deserve without having to pay large amounts of money to private practises.”

Ulster Unionist Education spokesman and Lagan Valley MLA Basil McCrea today said Education Minister Catriona Ruane was dodging key questions in education. In a statement Mr McCrea said,

“We have many great schools in Lagan Valley. The threat of closure, merger or take over weighs heavily on every bodies mind. Confusion, fear and Stress stalk the classroom and those waiting outside the schools. What is happening they ask? If one of the problems with the 11+ was the stress that it induced, the current situation is 10 times worse. Some pupils in Year 5 have now started tests again. We look to the Minister for Education for some guidance and get nothing only smiles and soft words.

Her decisions appear muddled and confused. Why did she open the three schools and close the fourth. Why has she not tackled the more pressing issues which require urgent attention?

It does seem rather arrogant, provocative even and it certainly does not appear to be a strategy designed to encourage engagement, cooperative working and buy-in.

This may be a misunderstanding, I have heard her say on many occasions that she will meet with the committee and she will listen to their views but and there is always a “but”, if she can’t convince them she will then do it her way.

This does not appear to be a winning strategy, it suggests a lack of confidence, an inability to make a cogent argument and such an approach has profound implications for the long term future of this Assembly.

There are decisions to be made, hard decisions and but these decisions should not be made in an arbitrary manner. Given the divided nature of our society and the need to build a consensus before anything happens, the central role of the Assembly in this process must be respected.

When will the Minister bring forward for debate issues such as academic selection, Irish medium, numeracy and literacy, early years?

These issues are of huge interest to the public and would inform both her and the public. The Minister appears to believe that if she smiles sweetly, and uses comforting words that this will suffice. It won’t! Education in all its forms has profound implications for society and it is time we talked about the issues and made some decisions.”

Danny Kennedy MLA, Deputy Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, speaking in the Assembly has said that continuing attacks on Orange Halls was doing serious damage to efforts to attract inward investment into the Province.

Drawing attention to the fact that the Assembly was debating the issue on the anniversary of 9/11, the Newry and Armagh MLA also called on the republican and nationalist communities to marginalise groups and individuals who carried out these attacks by informing the Police.

“Make no mistake: the world is watching. Every attack on an Orange Hall and every sectarian incident is logged by overseas investors and reported in the world’s press in the most unlikely places. The eyes that are scrutinising those events are not casual observers — they are potential investors. We had better take notice and listen when they ask whether the Troubles have really stopped.”

“None of us can be half in or half out of the process — an à la carte approach to law and order only when it suits, and when it does not upset any of our supporters. There is nothing more insidious and damaging to the whole political process here than a partial application of the principles of law and order.”

“We cannot afford to have a society frayed around the edges, with the residue of lawlessness hanging over it from its troubled past. Our potential to attract inward investment must not be harmed. The best way to effectively marginalise individuals or groups who indulge in attacks on Orange Halls is to inform the police — that is the way to deal with these activities. If the nationalist and republican communities were to do that, it would help to build a lasting peace and to convince the unionist-minded community that nationalists and republicans are sincere about a shared future.”

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey has appointed Carrickfergus Cllr. Mark Cosgrove as Trade and Tourism spokesperson.

Speaking on the on-going Giants Causeway fiasco Mr Cosgrove said,

“Following last weeks daily DUP pantomime which dragged Northern Ireland’s prime natural tourism asset into disrepute, I would call on all parties to start providing some much needed transparency.

Firstly and critically, it now appears that far from being a casual acquaintance as was suggested, Ian Paisley Jnr knows the potential private sector developer Mr Sweeney well. It also appears that he has put his DUP colleague and fellow Northern Ireland Executive minister Arlene Foster in a very difficult position because it appears she knows nothing of her party colleagues relationship with her party member Mr Sweeney. With open war fare breaking out within the DUP over this issue and some Councillors rejecting their own ministers statements it is now time for answers as opposed to spin and bluster. We have all seen only too well how such matters can affect public confidence as has happened in the Republic of Ireland and it is now necessary for Ministers Foster, Dodds and Paisley to answer some fundamental questions.

DETI ran an International competition to appoint the architects to build the Causeway visitor centre. The public have already outlayed a significant seven figure sum. How does the minister propose the private developer gives the people of Northern Ireland their investment back or is it simply going to be written off? Mr Sweeney himself must be completely disgusted at how his good name has been dragged through the gutter at a time when we are all trying to encourage entrepreneurial spirit and help build up our private sector. Let me make it clear I believe that him lobbying his local elected representative is perfectly acceptable.

What is unacceptable is that a representative he has had many dealings with indicated that he hardly knows his own party colleague that he has done business with. Mr Sweeney must be seething.

This project it has to stay in public ownership. As part of the new Northern Ireland the UUP started in 1998 we have seen our tourist figures continue to grow at record levels. This growth has already benefited and will continue to benefit private sector business in all parts of our province but I do think that selling of the profits of our Jewel in the Crown - the Giants Causeway - is short sighted and simply not in the public interest.

This leads me on to my final point and it is crucial. The DUP had told us all that no longer could ministers act on their own and that all such matters would have to secure a vote in the Assembly. All of the stakeholders including DUP Councillors in the area, the National Trust and Moyle District Council say one thing, two DUP ministers say another, the property developer is an acquaintance of another DUP minister and this is all supposed to be a system with a lot more checks and balances than its predecessor!! No wonder so many constituents simply vote with their feet and stay at home on election days.

I call on the Executive to convene urgently to restore some public confidence to this process.”

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has said his party’s perference for the development of the much-needed Giant’s Causeway Visitors’ Centre is that the project should remain in public ownership.

The proposed centre will be constructed within Dr Coulter’s North Antrim constituency, but the recent media debates about the emergence of a private developer as the favourite to construct the centre had raised issues of transparency and accountability in the minds of the general public.

“Given that the Giant’s Causeway is deemed as being suitable as a UNESCO world heritage site, my preference, along with that of the Ulster Unionist Party, is for the development of the planned visitors’ centre to be in public ownership.

“In terms of accountability regarding decisions as to future development at what is regarded as the Eighth Wonder of the World, it is vitally important that all such decisions appear to have complete integrity in the minds of the electorate.

“If our Northern Ireland public, and the electorate in particular, are to have full confidence in the legislative Assembly, then they must view all decisions as being above board.

“And if our public are asking questions, then the Assembly has a moral imperative to ensure those questions are answered with integrity.

“Our electorate and wider public must have that 100 per cent assurance there is complete transparency and accountability in Stormont Executive decisions,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.

In a statement Sir Reg said,

“The Ulster Unionist Party has been calling for the normalisation of politics in Northern Ireland. We want a transition to dealing with the normality of life here and the concentration on our social and economic policies. With the return of Stormont the door has opened once again to achieving this progress to normality.

Hardly has this been achieved but Bertie Ahern and Finna Fail throw a grenade into the middle of Northern Ireland politics by announcing their decision to organise here and fight some elections.

The last thing we need is another abstentionist party organising here. Bertie Ahern at a stroke has transformed himself from a potential partner in the process of normalisation, to a rival.

The prospect of Fianna Fail Ministers being in both the NI Executive and the Dublin Government could put unbearable strain on the political process before it has had a chance to settle down. A most unwise and unhelpful decision from Bertie Ahern. It will fuel demands from unionists to seek further links with mainland parties as a counterbalance to the Fianna Fail move.

At a time when all our energies are directed at achieving stability, we are having instability injected by one of the two governments that pushed agreement as the way forward.

It seems clear that the hugs and the handshakes between Ian Paisley and Bertie Ahern have been interpreted as weakness by Irish Nationalism not as a gesture of friendship. Was Ian Paisley made aware of this move by his friend the Irish Prime Minister”