UUP DEPUTY LEADER AND NORTH BELFAST MLA SUPPORT NORTH BELFAST CLERGY STANCE ON BUILDING GOOD COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Following the publication in today’s Newsletter of an article by 5 north Belfast clergy, urging a greater commitment from the Executive to building good community relations, Ulster Unionist MLAs Danny Kennedy and Fred Cobain have given their support to the statement.
Deputy Leader of the Ulster Unionist Assembly Party, Mr. Kennedy, said, “in my capacity as Chair of the Committee of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister, I met with the north Belfast clergy group towards the end of 2007. They made a powerful case – as they do again in today’s Newsletter article – that if Government is truly committed to the common good of our society then it must invest in building a shared Northern Ireland, challenging sectarianism and building respectful relationships between the various political, cultural and faith traditions in Northern Ireland.
“The key point made by these clergy – that the Draft Programme for Government fails to acknowledge the need to invest in a building a shared Northern Ireland – demands an urgent and positive response from the Executive”.
Ulster Unionist MLA for North Belfast, Fred Cobain, also voiced his support for the statement. Mr. Cobain said, “the statement by these north Belfast clergy underlines the risk Northern Ireland now faces – of a society governed by a ‘separate but equal’ principle. A Northern Ireland truly at ease with itself needs to be much more than two communal power blocs governed by parties happy and content with ‘separate but equal’. The challenge given by the clergy statement is that the Draft Programme for Government falls far short as a template to build a shared Northern Ireland. This needs to be carefully heeded by the Executive and Assembly”.