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Speaking today after a heated meeting of the Regional Development Committee at which Margaret Ritchie outlined the difficulties she faced in solving Social Housing problems with her limited budget, UUP Regional Development Spokesman and North Belfast MLA Fred Cobain said in a statement,

“I agreed with the Minister that the draft budget was woefully inadequate in a field which the Executive identified as a priority - housing.

This budget is the worst budget for housing I have seen in the last number of years. The number of people presenting themselves as homeless is going to increase because this budget does not address that. You have to conclude that is deliberate.

We need to tackle poverty at a number of roots. Social Housing provision must continue to grow. It is estimated that Northern Ireland needs between 2000-2500 new houses to meet the growing numbers of homeless people. The Department of Social Development is building just 600

The Housing Executive is not to wholly to blame given their tight financial constraints, the root cause, I believe, is decades of under-investment by successive governments.

One of life’s most basic rights is a decent place to live. Currently to a great many people this is a right that is denied to them. The draft Budget does not do enough to start tackling the problem. If the draft budget stays at is I can foresee the sight of a great many more homeless people on the streets of Northern Ireland and all the efficiency savings and other DUP and Sinn Fein buzzwords won’t be able to change that.

Priorities are in fact not priorities. An example: under the last Executive the OFMDFM budget was £32m – under Peter Robinson’s Draft Budget it has risen to £73.9m. That says all we need to know about priorities.“

Ulster Unionist Chief Whip David McNarry MLA today called on the Government to compensate people who have been forced to incur bank charges through changing bank accounts as a result of the massive data protection failure by HM Revenue and Customs.

“If people have to incur bank or other charges as a result of having to change bank details because their personal details have been compromised because of this massive mistake by Government then the Government, which had admitted full responsibility, should have to pay for any costs incurred.”

“Apologies are not enough in such a massive failure to protect the public, leaving 25 million people exposed to potential fraud. People could at least expect any charges they incur making changes to personal data to be paid for. The Inland Revenue would be quick enough to demand payments from the public if they made a mistake.”

“The mechanism to pay already exists in child benefit payments. If the Government even issued a standard payment and this was worked out with the banks, they could pay it across the board to child benefit recipients who have had their personal information compromised by sloppy government procedures.”

Commenting on the problems affecting the Northern Ireland Events Company, Ulster Unionist Culture, Arts and Leisure spokesman and Strangford MLA David McNarry said in a statement,

“The reasons for such a substantial deficit in the events company must be placed in the public domain as a matter of urgency. The Executive must also demonstrate its duty of responsibility to ensure that the repercussions arising from the company’s insolvent position does not result in local supply creditors or those awaiting grant payments losing out.

This is a matter of honour and accordingly I call on the Executive to give the DCAL Minister the authority to clear the air on payments to such creditors and to such bodies awaiting grants.”

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has welcomed the support of the Environment Minister for his proposal to create more green developments through tree planting.

Assemblyman Dr Coulter gained the Minister’s support for his green development plan in an answer to an oral question during ministerial question time at the Assembly.

The UUP MLA said: “I had asked the Minister if she would undertake to explore the potential for green development, as exemplified by cities in Germany such as Rostock and Dresden, where housing densities are maintained at a high level to meet the legitimate demand for town and city homes, while, at the same time, integrating them with a green environment?

“I had also asked her if she would ensure that, in future, native trees and others that are almost native to this country will be included in any density planning?

“The Minister said she would consider my suggestion. She also took on board the view that many of our deciduous trees are not native to Northern Ireland, and wider consideration must be given to the trees that we deal with.

“Given the warnings from top scientists about the impact of global warming and the effects of greenhouse gases, it is important that Northern Ireland plays its role in protecting our environment.

“One way in which our Province can contribute to the overall world fight to maintain the planet is for the Northern Ireland Assembly to implement a comprehensive policy of green development, especially in predominantly rural constituencies such as my own North Antrim,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has called for the smoking age limit to be raised to 19.

Dr Coulter, who is also UUP Health Spokesman, was speaking in support of an Assembly motion noting the increase in the age restrictions on purchasing tobacco that has been implemented in Great Britain, and calling on the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to implement the same age restriction in Northern Ireland, as a matter or urgency.

Assemblyman Dr Coulter added: “The current age restriction of 16 years was established in 1937, at a time when the health dangers of smoking were unknown.

“A clear body of evidence from the British Medical Association, which was highlighted in 2006 when the issue was debated in Scotland, shows that addiction increases the earlier a person begins to smoke. The earlier in life a person smokes, the harder it is for them to give it up.

“In 2006, the BMA also called for an increase in the age at which people could buy drink or cigarettes. It is important to bracket those two addiction problems together, because they both account for a great deal of the spending in the Health Service budget.

“It is also important to note the threat of passive smoking. It is not simply the potential smokers who will benefit from an increase in the age at which tobacco can be purchased: day and daily, the people around them will benefit.

“The BMA’s ‘Adolescent Health’ report, published in 2003, argues that reducing the availability of cigarettes through age restrictions not only helps to reduce tobacco use, but when reinforced by the establishment of smoke-free public places and backed by media campaigns and school programmes, can reduce what the BMA called ‘the prevalence of smoking’.

“Such an integrated approach is more likely to succeed, since it recognises the complex causes of smoking, especially in relation to adolescent behaviour.

“Another example of that integrated approach can be found on the island of Guernsey, which offers a smoking quit-line, backed by free nicotine patches.

“Fining shopkeepers who sell tobacco to people who are under 18, which was introduced in South Africa, should be considered as part of an integrated approach. That approach has been taken with alcohol and knives, so why not with tobacco?

“It is clear from the statistics that adolescents are the most effective group to target in an anti-smoking drive. Scottish statistics show that 6% of 13-year-olds and 19% of 15-year-olds are regular smokers; approximately 14% of 15-year-old boys and 24% of 15-year-old girls smoke.

“Although that is a reduction from 30% for both boys and girls, the figure remains significantly higher among girls. The changing pattern from 30 years ago is that smoking is a much more persistent problem among teenage and young adult girls than boys.

“The significant gender shift in tobacco addiction is of great concern to the medical profession, as is the prevalence of binge drinking among teenage girls and young-adult women.

“In 2005 and 2006 respectively, the Scottish and Westminster Parliaments passed legislation on this matter; it is only reasonable that the Northern Ireland Assembly follows their examples.

“Australia, Malta, Norway, Finland and the Republic of Ireland all have a purchase age of 18 for tobacco, and South Africa is considering measures to reduce smoking prevalence.

“Six out of eight Canadian provinces set the cigarette purchase age at 19, and several states in the USA are considering raising the legal age from 18 to 19 to stop high-school students buying cigarettes and sharing them with their classmates.

“Action must be taken against substances, such as tobacco and alcohol as well as drugs that significantly impair the health of the people who use them and, in due course, contribute significant additional costs to the Health Service.

“In future, those costs could prove so great that the Health Service would break down. It also raises the spectre of the need for selective treatment for people who use such substances.

“It would be prudent to impose a ban on smoking until the age of 18, or even 19, and to take positive action to improve the level of public health that we all know is necessary to protect the Health Service budget and to look after the well-being of our young people,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.

Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy said he was disappointed at the DUPs reaction to a UUP motion aimed at strengthening and reinforcing ties between Edinburgh, Cardiff, London and Belfast.

In a statement Mr Kennedy said,

“It is disappointing, to say the least, that the DUP has responded negatively to my Party’s motion on a Royal Commission to strengthen the Union. Since 1998, the Constitution of the United Kingdom has experienced quite unprecedented reform through the creation of devolved institutions in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. Nearly a decade on, it is surely reasonable to ask for a Royal Commission to review how the devolved administrations are working with Westminster as the sovereign Parliament.

“While there are nationalist minorities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, each of these regions have unionist majorities – with little evidence that this is likely to change. I am, therefore, at a loss to know why Sammy Wilson has talked up the chances of nationalism winning a referendum in Northern Ireland when such a prospect belongs to the realm of political fantasy. I trust that, despite the somewhat ill-tempered nature of its initial response, the DUP is not seriously suggesting that it will vote against a motion aimed at strengthening the relationship between Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London.

“The purpose of a Royal Commission on the Union is to ensure that devolution does what was promised – strengthen the bonds of co-operation and common purpose between the regions of the United Kingdom. While nationalists throughout the Kingdom obviously have a different aspiration, the Belfast Agreement declares that the wish of the people of Northern Ireland ‘freely exercised and legitimate, is to maintain the Union’. Our motion seeks to ensure that the devolved arrangements throughout the United Kingdom and their relationship with the Westminster Parliament reflect that democratic choice”.

Danny Kennedy MLA, Deputy Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, wants an investigation into top civil servant and public sector pay levels, pay rises and bonuses in Northern Ireland. His call comes after a report from the Taxpayer’s Alliance in the UK revealed that the highest earners in the public sector have seen their pay rise by six times the rate of inflation and more than three times the national average.

“The top 300 bosses in the state sector in the UK saw their salaries increase by 12.8% last year, boosting their pay to an average £237,564. Seventeen earned more than £500,000 per year. This is alarming given the fact that their job security is considerably in excess of high paid private sector bosses. I want to find out what the real situation is here in Northern Ireland for public sector pay.”

“With the failure of Finance Minister Peter Robinson to negotiate a financial package for Northern Ireland, we cannot afford to underwrite inflated public sector boss pay raises and bonuses. We need to get value for money and I am not sure we are getting it. The UK figures certainly alarmed me.”

“There will have to be clarity about the performance of public sector ‘fat-cat’ bosses who earn so highly. There are 10 top civil servants of this UK fat cat rich list complied by the Taxpayer’s Alliance. So we need to find out exactly how well they are performing. There needs to be specific measures of performance set against these payments. In many parts of the public sector things are not improving and people are asking where the money is going?”

Ulster Unionist Member of the European Parliament Jim Nicholson MEP said today that over the years the PEACE Programme in Northern Ireland has made a significant contribution to moving Northern Ireland forward.

Mr Nicholson was speaking after a public hearing, in the European Parliament’s Regional Affairs Committee on the PEACE Programme, to assess the work it has carried out since its inception and prospects for the future.

Last week the SEUPB made the first call for applications under the new PEACE III and INTERREG IVA Programmes for 2007 – 2013.

Speaking after the hearing Mr Nicholson said,

“I think it is important to recognise the contribution the PEACE Programme has made in moving Northern Ireland forward. It is easy to find faults with or criticise many of the projects but the truth of the matter is that because of the PEACE Programmes, thousands have had an opportunity to become involved in and be part of a process of reconciliation in the Province.

“It is very unfortunate that Barbara de Brun was unable to present her report on the PEACE Programme at this time. It would have been a good time to have had her report debated.

“The PEACE Programme must now move on to deliver projects which are sustainable and which have the ability to stand alone when European support ultimately disappears. Northern Ireland has come a long way since the start of PEACE in 1995 but still has some distance to travel and it must not be presumed that all Northern Ireland’s problems have disappeared. We still need and require the type of support that the PEACE programme provides.”