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Rev Dr Robert Coulter MLA, Ulster Unionist Commissioner at Stormont, today has called for national lottery money to be used to build alternative energy schemes in Northern Ireland .
The North Antrim Assembly member added: “In Scotland , the North Harris Trust (NHT) has received £900,000 which is half the cost of a planned 1.8-megawatt wind turbine development at Monan near Tarbert from the Big Lottery Fund.
“The money will help to buy three wind turbines, seen as vital to the regeneration of the area with estimates of £180,000 in income a year over 12 years which will be re-invested into local projects.
“The Big Lottery Fund has also announced that it is providing £200,000 for another Scottish scheme in Fife to assess the feasibility of a medium-scale wind farm.
“This is a good model for future projects and I believe that big lottery funding should be used for alternative energy projects which have the potential to kick start local regeneration schemes.
“The motto should be – alternative funding for alternative energy,” said Rev Dr Coulter.

TODAY more than 30 grammar schools in Northern Ireland have announced that they are to set up a company to manage an independent test to replace the 11-Plus.

They have claimed their reasons behind this decision have been the failure of the Department of Education and specifically Caitriona Ruane to bring an alternative to the 11 plus which is to be scrapped this year.

Commenting on the issue UUP MLA Basil McCrea and education spokesperson for the party said that he was saddened that the schools had been put in this position by the Education Minister.

“The issue here is that I very much regret that these schools, the pupils the teachers and the parents have been put in this position. I do understand the significant hurdles which have been placed in front of the schools both in terms of logistics and legalities and do not underestimate the challenges which they are facing at this time.”

“I am aware this highlights the failings of the Assembly in addressing this important issue and believe the Executive should respond by solving this problem. Head teachers, staff and parents need to concentrate on educating their children and should not be faced with these difficulties. This is something which schools have been forced into by the Education Minister who has failed to provide them with an alternative.”

LESLIE Cree, Ulster Unionist spokesperson for DETI this morning expressed his concern following an announcement by Phoenix that they will be increasing the price of the natural gas by 28 per cent on May 1st this year.

Commenting on the issue the North Down MLA said that he was alarmed at the hike in prices but explained that: “Energy prices have been creeping up steadily over the last few months – however this issue does not solely lie with gas, as oil prices have also shot up significantly.”

As part of the DETI Committee, Mr Cree is meeting with Energy representatives this morning and will seek to discuss and address the issue.

“The price increase announced by Phoenix Gas will be greeted with dismay by households across Northern Ireland. I fully recognise the commercial pressures faced by Phoenix as we are living in difficult economic times however I would urge Phoenix to ensure that it does everything possible to assist consumers who face difficulties and, at the earliest possible opportunity in light economic circumstances, reduce prices.”

Mr Cress said: “This is a huge problem which will particularly affect the elderly and people on low incomes. For many they will be faced with the choice of spending money on heating or buying food as many simply will not be able to afford both.”

“This price rise does emphasis the need for the Executive to be considering how it will address the changed economic climate with regards to energy policy. Securing a competitive energy market, energy saving measures, and effective oversight by the energy regulator can all help in the face of rising global energy prices”.

Commenting on possible solutions he added: “Here in Northern Ireland we need to place more emphasis on renewable energy and the Assembly need to be more proactive in relation to this issue. It is a real issue, an issue that going to affect people on a daily basis and that is why we need to deal with it urgently. This is a time when fuel prices are supposed to be falling as we enter the summer months – however these increases mean that people could be faced with as much as a £200 increase in their gas bill per year.”

Explaining the hike in the prices, David Strahan, General Manager of Phoenix Supply Ltd, said “Phoenix, like all energy companies across the UK, is experiencing record high wholesale gas costs. We have been able to hold our price at the current reduced level throughout the peak winter heating period, when customers use most gas, but in the face of such large increases in wholesale gas costs, we have no alternative but to review our prices.”

Concluding, Mr Strahan said: “We understand this increase is unwelcome news, however, our customers can be assured that we are committed to delivering gas at the lowest possible price both now and into the future. If, as we hope, world-wide prices fall, Phoenix will reduce its prices accordingly.”

Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott today welcomed the visit of British Army Chief Sir Richard Dannett to Northern Ireland to launch a £2 million a year scheme for former Ulster Defence Regiment and Royal Irish Regiment Soldiers.
The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA said: “The £2 million a year service for former members of the UDR and RIR is a very welcome initiative. Almost three hundred men and women paid the ultimate sacrifice to defend their country against terrorism, both at home and abroad. Many hundreds more were left injured or scarred for life. I was proud to stand among them in the past and I will always be honoured to have served with some of the finest men and women this country ever produced. It is only right that past members and their families should receive care that was earned through loyalty, bravery and sacrifice.”
The service was part of the resettlement package promised by the government following the disbandment of the three home service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment last year. One of the offices for the project is to be situated in Enniskillen, with the main office in Palace Barracks, Holywood.
Although the official launch of the project was only this week, I understand the service had been functioning since May last year. It is vital that those entrusted with the efficient functioning of the service make sure it reaches the members and that it is properly advertised.
He went on to say: “Many former members of the UDR and RIR may be unaware that the service has been in place for some time. It needs to achieve the necessary levels of efficiency required to make it fully effective. While I welcome the service, it is vital that it reaches the past members and families who need the support it can provide, and that it is promoted so that awareness of the initiative reaches all those who may be able to benefit from it. I hope that the main development of the project will not be confined to the East of the Province but will help everyone, including those in areas like Fermanagh and Tyrone.”
“I have a sincere hope that the service can provide for those whose loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice, along with those of us who remain as past members and the brave men and women in the 1st Battalion RIR who continue to fight in Afghanistan today. This service was earned by the heroic acts and service of many brave men and women, who were willing to live and fight for their country surrounded by those wishing to murder them. It is fantastic news that this heroism is to be recognised, and it is vital the service receives proper promotion among the members who fought, and continue to fight, for Queen and Country.”
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Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has called on tighter checks on dangerous wild animals after it emerged more than a quarter of all such licences in Northern Ireland are located in the constituency.
Assemblyman Dr Coulter unveiled the information in a written answer he received to a question to the environment minister on wild animal licences, which showed that five of Ulster’s such licences are held in North Antrim.
Dr Coulter said: “In the minister’s response to my question, I was told of the five wild animal licences, three are held in the Ballymena Borough and two in the Ballymoney Borough.
“I had asked the minister to detail the number of people that hold current dangerous wild animal licences, and their location by district council area.
“As a result of this information, I am calling on the minister to ensure these dangerous wild animal licences are renewed annually, and that they should state specifically where the wild animal may be kept and nowhere else.
“I also want the minister to ensure these licences enable the authorities to say exactly where each wild animal is or when it was last there.
“In the interests of public safety, the minister must implement a form of licensing which builds up a database of regular checks on registered dangerous wild animals, not just in my constituency, but across Northern Ireland.
“For example, there are some dangerous wild animals exist which can have a wide range of roaming. Take a Black Panther – it has a range of 70 miles for its territory, so one of these animals could roam from Co Donegal to North Antrim,” said Rev Dr Coulter.

Ulster Unionist spokesperson for education Basil McCrea MLA has reacted angrily to a leaked Sinn Fein document which has exposed the Educations Minister Caitriona Ruane’s intention to bullying Northern Ireland grammar schools into submission.
In a statement he said: “This internal Sinn Fein paper demonstrates that the promises supposedly negotiated at St Andrews by the DUP are worthless. Despite all the claims made by the DUP, the Sinn Fein Education Minister is determined to introduce guidance for post-primary schools that will make any use of academic criteria in the transfer procedure next to impossible.”
“The DUP has conned the parents of Northern Ireland and unless urgent action is taken the destruction of the grammar school sector will be completed by stealth and political inertia.”

Criticising the DUP’s public meetings on post-primary education he added: “These public meetings throughout the country purport to listen to what worried parents and teachers have to say but in truth they can offer no reassurances. They know that the St. Andrews agreement does not do what the DUP claims. It does not safeguard academic selection and it only ensures that it cannot be made illegal - This is not the same as saying schools will be allowed to use it. Sinn Fein as their internal paper makes clear are confident in their position, preferring to end academic selection by agreement if possible but able and willing to use other means if necessary.”

“In secret meetings with Sinn Fein, DUP negotiators are reduced to arguing for ‘the retention of academic selection at least in a number of schools.’ Hardly a ringing endorsement of the use of academic criteria in the transfer procedure.”

“In truth the DUP and Sinn Fein positions are not that far apart. They both believe that the greedy grammar schools are destroying the non-selective sector by poaching more and more pupils. They both agree that there should be a significant reduction in the number of grammar schools places – this is something that is evident from the document which went public today.”

Looking specifically at the leaked document he said: “The Sinn Fein paper uses coded-phrases such as ‘persuade the majority of grammar schools’, ‘the objective realities of the introduction of the guidelines’ and ‘a number of factors will cause them [i.e the grammars] to adopt a more pragmatic approach’ – these words are merely code for the Education Minister’s intention to bully the grammar schools into submission. She will refuse to fund any transfer tests. She will refuse to assist any grammar school facing legal action from disgruntled individuals, and she will use her powers to set enrolment numbers in such a way as to undermine post-primary schools that use transfer tests.”

“It is also extremely worrying that the DUP’s new policy of reducing grammar school places shares the same values outlined in this Sinn Fein paper. The paper attacks the grammars for being successful schools, attractive to parents. Any school – whether grammar or non-grammar – that is succeeding and attracting parents should be allowed to expand, rather than being artificially capped by the Department.
We should be about giving choice to parents, allowing them to choose successful schools for their children.”

He explained that the vast majority of grammar schools particularly those outside Belfast will not be able to attract sufficient pupils to be economically viable. They will be faced with the choice of charging top up fees or becoming all-ability and as the Sinn Fein paper makes clear the Minister for Education does not intend to make life easy for them.

“The position of those schools that chose to remain grammar schools would become increasing untenable as top up fees prevent children from poorer backgrounds (no matter how gifted) from taking up places destroying any semblance of equity. Eventually such schools will go private, he added.”

The UUP believes in putting informed parental choice at the centre of education system and the expansion of successful schools to meet demand.

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has branded the recent attack on fire fighters and their appliance in Ballymena’s Dunclug estate as “mindless thuggery of the lowest kind”.
Assemblyman Dr Coulter, who served three terms as Mayor of Ballymena in the mid 1990s, called for every responsible citizen who knew anything about the attack to give the information as soon as possible to the police.
He added: “Over the last number of years, I have campaigned for much tougher sentences for those convicted in court of attacking health workers.
“I fully support our Health Minister Michael McGimpsey in having these tough sentences extended to those yobs convicted of attacking our fire service personnel and their equipment.
“This irresponsible thuggish behaviour of attacking fire crews must be stamped out by introducing laws to give the courts the power to heavily punish – both with fines and jail terms – those convicted of such crimes against society.
“Just as Minister McGimpsey has implemented my zero tolerance call for attacks on health workers, it is a matter of urgency that the same zero tolerance be introduced regarding violence against any mercy workers, and especially our much-valued fire service,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.

Roy Beggs MLA, Ulster Unionist Spokesperson on the Public Accounts Committee has welcomed the inclusion of Northern Ireland into the National Fraud Initiative as a result of its inclusion in the Serious Crimes Bill and which can into effect on 6th April 2008.

In a Statement Mr. Beggs said,

“I welcome the inclusion of Northern Ireland into the National Fraud Initiative which will result in significant data matching and will increase the likelihood of identifying fraud which may have gone previously unnoticed. This new provision will not only detect additional fraud and error but I believe will also deter many acts of fraud from taking place in the first place, as those contemplating fraud become aware of the increasing likelihood of detection.

“The National Fraud Initiative has been successful in identifying up to £400m worth of fraud and overpayments to date. The 2004/05 figure of £111m of fraud and error is suspected to increase substantially to £125m for the last full financial year of 2006/07. Significant amounts of public funds have, by fraud or in error, been allocated and this leaves less money available for the public purposes that it was originally intended for”.

Ulster Unionist MLAs Danny Kennedy and Tom Elliott have called on the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to heed the calls made in today’s Assembly debate on a Bill of Rights to ensure that the Commission’s advice on the matter to the Secretary of State has cross-community support. A shared UUP-DUP motion expressed grave concern at the lack of cross-community support for the recommendations contained in the Report of the Bill of Rights Forum, and strongly urged the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to ensure cross-community support for its advice to the Secretary of State.

Mr. Kennedy said, “today’s debate and vote is another emphatic demonstration of the absence of cross-community support for the Bill of Rights proposals contained in the recommendations of the Final Report of the Bill of Rights Forum. The combined votes of the UUP, DUP and Alliance have underlined the failure of the Report’s recommendations to win broad support across society in Northern Ireland.

“It should be startlingly obvious to anyone that a proposed Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland must have cross-community support. The fact that the Forum’s Final Report, and today’s debate and vote illustrates the complete absence of cross-community support, must be carefully considered by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission as they now reflect on the way forward.

“If, when the Commission comes to give its advice to the Secretary of State in December about a Bill of Rights, it fails to secure cross-community political support, then the Commission will have fundamentally failed and fundamentally compromised its standing in Northern Ireland society”.

Mr. Tom Elliott urged the Commission to “read, mark and learn from” the Forum’s Report, and its failure to gain cross-community support. “There is now a weighty responsibility placed on the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. It has the benefit of the experience of the Bill of Rights Forum. It knows what recommendations and proposals do not have cross-community political support. I hope an important lesson has been learnt”.

North Down MLA Leslie Cree Ulster Unionist Enterprise Trade and Investment spokesperson has welcomed the debate in the Assembly today concerning the development of the Northern Rail Corridor between Londonderry and Belfast. Mr. Cree considers the debate to have raised wider issues and specifically the need for a long-term strategy for the rail-network in Northern Ireland. Mr. Cree is concerned that the Minister for Regional Development and the Enterprise Minister are not co-operating and are lacking in ideas when it comes to improving infrastructure links between tourist attractions and economic hubs in the province.

In a statement Mr Cree said,

“We are not maximising the potential of our rail system. With limited trains, carriages and track restrictions the number of commuter services and long distance journeys are well below what they should be. We are now reaching a situation that growth in the sector is being directly hampered by the lack of rolling stock and decaying train-tracks. This is nowhere more apparent than on the Londonderry to Belfast line. Good commuter services between our economic hubs are essential for the growth of the economy and equally our tourist infrastructure is reliant on links between key destinations; currently we are lacking in both these areas.

For example I think it is something of an embarrassment that there is no direct rail link to either of our two major airports. Sydenham Station which previously linked the City Airport to Belfast and North Down is now floating in no man’s land. With some strategic thinking and relatively limited investment we could create a link that provides both for the airport and the new Ikea store. Similarly with relatively little investment the International Airport could be linked to the existing rail network. These are the types of issues the Regional Development Minister and the Enterprise Trade and Investment Minister need to be discussing sooner rather than later so that the necessary plans can be put in place as soon as possible.

Our Ministers need to start thinking more strategically to gain the most out of our commercial and tourist market and also the opportunities that inward investment from India and the United States will bring to the Northern Ireland marketplace. Excellent commuter and tourist services are expected by tourists and inward investors. We need to ensure that we are moving towards the delivery of these essential services and a integrated strategy for our rail-network is sorely needed”.