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UUP MLA and member of the Health Committee, John McCallister MLA, has expressed his disbelief that the DUP’s Health Committee Chair Iris Robinson has - yet again - sought to defend the Finance Minister Peter Robinson’s under-funding of the National Health Service.

Mr. McCallister said, “one would have hoped that by this stage Iris Robinson would have had the integrity and courage to put the NHS first, rather than continue her ill-tempered and frankly ridiculous defence of Peter Robinson’s under-funding of the NHS.

“To call Health Minister Michael McGimpsey ‘left-wing’ because he is defending the NHS demonstrates Mrs. Robinson’s desperation. The fact that all mainstream British political parties believe in properly funding the NHS has obviously gone unnoticed by the DUP. Perhaps I can explain things in simple terms for Mrs. Robinson and her colleagues. To defend our NHS is not left-wing. It is a mainstream British value.

“That the Chair of the Health Committee is putting partisan interests before the NHS is shameful. The new Northern Ireland that Mrs. Robinson has suddenly and not before time decided is a good thing, needs and deserves a NHS funded to the levels secured for our fellow citizens elsewhere in the UK. Of course, I do not expect Mrs. Robinson to agree - after all, she has decided that defending the NHS is a left-wing stance. It therefore falls to an Ulster Unionist Health Minister to remind the DUP that the NHS is a UK-wide, British institution that should be funded to UK-wide levels”.

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey today responded to comments made by Deputy First-Minister Martin McGuinness in an interview marking six months of the new power sharing executive. In a statement Sir Reg said,

“There is more to government in Northern Ireland than the egotistical cordial relationship between Martin McGuiness and the First Minister Ian Paisley. I cannot deny that the ‘chuckle brothers’ relationship has come as surprise but Mr McGuinness’ focus on personalities misses the point of why we have reservations and are critical of facets of this new administration. This administration is bigger and about much more than how cosy the relationship between the First and deputy First Minister is.

Already six months in its infancy and we are beginning to see the DUP-Sinn Fein axis at its work, attempting to stymie debate and smother any considered and well intended objections by hiding behind the Ministerial code and corporate responsibility. At its root this is profoundly undemocratic and offers not a working coalition that delivers for all in Northern Ireland but a carve up based on an incompatible Ulster Nationalist agenda as put forward by the DUP and Irish Republican Agenda being pursued by Sinn Fein.

The bottom line is not that we or the SDLP have failed to come to terms with new realities, but that the DUP and Sinn Fein have come to terms with the Institutions and architecture that ourselves and the SDLP sweated blood, sweat and tears over, then offer themselves self-congratulatory pats on the back for doing so. But this is the nature of politics and while hard to stomach, we nevertheless welcome the early stages of normal politics.

But we are not quite at the normal politics stage yet. The DUP and Sinn Fein are more interested in dividing power amongst themselves and polarising our society into DUP and Sinn Fein fiefdoms than building a shared Northern Ireland.

We want to get to the stage where the DUP-Sinn Fein hegemony can be properly and democratically dissected, debated and challenged. A politics where genuine political coalitions can be formed that move away from the tribal, divisive politics of the past that benefits only the two largest parties at Stormont. This is what the UUP is working towards and this is the new reality that both parties will have to deal with. We are not in the Executive just to make up the numbers. The DUP and Sinn Fein better get used to that fact.”

Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has stated that while the report of the former Interim Victims Commissioner Bertha McDougall should be implemented, the need for a full-time Commissioner is growing ever larger day by day.

Mr Elliott said: “The former Interim Victim Commissioners report was a welcome document that I endorsed as a start to a more extensive programme which would be headed by a full-time Commissioner. However, the appointment of a full-time Commissioner is yet to be made by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister leaving Victims throughout Northern Ireland without a method by which to express their opinions and concerns.”

Applications for the position of Victims commissioner were welcomed earlier in the year, but after failing to find a “suitable” candidate the First and Deputy First Minsters reopened the application process. This process is currently ongoing, and Mr Elliott hopes that the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister can quickly make a decision.

The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA went on to say, “The time that is being taken by the First and Deputy First Ministers to appoint a Victims Commissioner is scandalous. The need for someone to represent the victims is a real issue.

While Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness sit together having a ‘cosy’ time in Stormont many people with real issues are being left to hurt out in the public. It is not good enough.

“I have recently learned that the report of Bertha McDougall is to be used to inform the evolving policy for a Victims Commissioner. What we really want is the implementation of the areas of this report that can be introduced quickly to happen. There is a vacuum in the Victims process that needs to be filled and the only ‘show in town’ is this current report. There is a real need to support victims, including the need for immediate finance to be given to the Northern Ireland Memorial Fund which has been under funded for the last number of years.”

Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson has launched a blistering attack on the European Commission today over their stance on imports of Brazilian beef to the EU.

Mr Nicholson was speaking as the European Union’s Food and Veterinary Office published their latest report on Brazil’s failure to meet EU standards and food safety controls.

The FVO report found that:

- The Brazilian State Veterinary Service had no systematic audit system for animal health.
- No criteria for such an audit established.
- Cold stores in ports dealing with beef destined for Europe were not audited.
- There was a lack of adequate trained staff in the State Veterinary Service.
- Shortcomings that previous FVO investigations had identified had not been addressed.
- The 90-day residence rule on cattle destined for EU was regularly broken.
- Insufficient protection against rodents and insects by food Business operators.
- Operation hygiene could not be fully guaranteed.

Speaking from Brussels Mr Nicholson said,

“Once again we have concrete evidence to support the introduction of an immediate ban on imports of Brazilian beef to the EU. The Commission cannot be allowed to duck the responsibility they have to consumers and the farming industry to ban this sub standard product immediately. It is time they took their head out of the sand on the issue.

“Time after time, Brazilian beef has been proven to be of a sub – standard nature. Traceability is non-existent, there are no controls at regional borders, no controls on animal movement and there are risks of further Foot and Mouth outbreaks. Northern Ireland’s farmers must comply with the high standards laid down by the EU in terms of health, food safety and traceability so why shouldn’t imports coming into the EU from other countries do the same?

Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Tom Elliott has said that the Hillyard report into the Water charges here has not clarified what the position of farmers will be once the new billing structure is implemented in 2009.

Mr Elliott said “While the Hillyard report into water charges has stated that from 2009 the new billing structure will be introduced through the rates, it has not clarified what will happen to farmers and businesses who already pay off a metered system. I myself am just one of many farmers across Northern Ireland who for years has been paying through a meter. When the new system is introduced does this mean that I will have to pay twice for my water, once through my meter and once through my rates? This is something that needs clarification so that farmers will have clear knowledge of how the changes will affect them, just like everyone else in Northern Ireland.”

The current metering system used by farmers will remain in place at least until 2009 when the wholesale changes for Northern Ireland concerning the payment for water will take place. Mr Elliott stresses that is unfair upon farmers to not let them know what is going to happen in their situation, while the rest of the country is made aware of exactly how the changes will impact their lives.

The agricultural spokesman for the Ulster Unionist Party went on to say: “Now that un-clarified proposals for the introduction of water charges have been drawn-up, clear direction should be given as to what is really behind the proposals. Anyone who met me on the doorsteps throughout the election period in March knows that I was in strong opposition to the introduction of additional water charges. My view remains the same.”

Mr Robin Swann, the Ulster Unionist Party’s Spokesman on Social Economy, Energy and Consumer Affairs, has called for the Assembly to support the Northern Ireland Energy Agency to allow it to develop an electricity service based on wind and wave power, and further develop the province’s energy security.

And Mr Swann, who is a senior member of North Antrim UUP Association Management Committee, said the main challenge the energy agency will face will be to bring a joint approach between the Stormont Executive’s various departments.

He added: “I warmly welcome the announcement under The Programme for Government the Executive has set a firm target that 12% of our electricity must be generated from indigenous renewable sources by 2012.

“However, this is not a new target as Northern Ireland was previously set these targets as part of the UK’s overall Koyto agreement, but what is more worrying is that we are currently only at a level of 3.8% so we still have a long way to go.

“So to achieve these targets, it will take a cross-departmental approach from the Northern Ireland Assembly, as the current fragmented system is not achieving the required progress.

“In this respect, I would urge the Assembly to support the Northern Ireland Energy Agency to act in this capacity and bring a joint approach to the co-ordination of energy efficiency, renewable energy and reduction of Carbon Dioxide, across all sections of our society.

“To this extent, it is vital to realise the importance of the Northern Ireland rural and agri community’s engagement at all stages in any proposed energy development stragety.

“This was also recently highlighted at the North Antrim Agricultural Association’s very successful centenary conference, which had as a theme Developments in Renewable Energy.

“At this conference, Sir Ben Gill, a past president of the National Farmers’ Union clearly demonstrated the importance of energy security to the Ulster agricultural section when he gave a presentation on Renewables - Food or Fuel; Facts or Fiction!

“If Northern Ireland is to achieve it’s 12% target from indigenous renewable sources, then it is important to look towards wind and other non-crop based energy sources.

“As the rest of the world moves in the same direction and away from its reliance on fossil fuels, we must also look to make the best use of our land base for food crop production so that we do not become completely dependent on imported produce to sustain our agri industry, and that it why it is cruicial that we harness the readily available energy source that is within our own tides and wind,” said Mr Swann.