uuptoday.org

Following the arson attack on a GAA club in County Fermanagh on Wednesday afternoon, Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey said that those responsible were playing into the hands of those who were attacking and burning orange halls.

Sir Reg said the last thing anyone needed in Northern Ireland was tit-for-tat sectarian attacks that targeted GAA clubs and orange halls. In a statement he said,

“This completely unwarranted arson attack on a GAA club in Fermanagh is exactly the kind of development we were fearing after the recent spate of attacks on Orange Halls. Those who are attempting to ramp up tensions and provoke a retaliatory response by attacking orange halls must not be given the fuel they need. It is self evident that in attacking GAA clubs those responsible are playing into the hands of those burning orange halls.

I would appeal for an end to all attacks. They are unnecessary, stupid and can only lead to further division.”

After meeting with Orange Order Leaders last week on the on-going campaign against Orange Halls and following attacks on Friday evening and Sunday morning, Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey today called for Security Minister Paul Goggins to hold a ‘summit’ meeting with the Police with a view to tackling the escalating problem.

Sir Reg said the government has been too complacent in their approach to the attacks. In a statement Sir Reg said,

‘I met with Orange Order Leaders last week to discuss the ongoing campaign against halls owned and operated by the Loyal Orders. Following this meeting, at which compelling evidence of a ‘campaign’ was produced, I wrote to both the Secretary of State and the Chief Constable.

It is now clear that what has been happening, especially this year, constitutes a deliberate and orchestrated campaign, whose motivation is blatantly sectarian. No other explanation is credible. Despite this evidence, the Loyal Orders face obstacles in obtaining compensation for these attacks. I have called on Shaun Woodward to change the law immediately to make it easier for claims to be paid for this destruction. So far the NIO has taken no action.’

I also called on the chief constable to take a more sympathetic approach to issuing Chief Constable’s certificates, which are essential if compensation is to be forthcoming.

The events over the weekend illustrate that there are still those out there who still feel that they can cause trouble and hope to provoke retaliation. There is far too much complacency about the government’s response to this ongoing threat to stability. That is why I am issuing a call for Security Minister Paul Goggins to call a summit meeting with the Police and the Orange Order to effectively tackle this problem which has the potential to destabilise communities in Northern Ireland.

It’s time for action by the PSNI and the NIO to bring this campaign to an end.”

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey has sent an urgent communication to FIFA President Joseph Blatter recording the UUP’s opposition to, and the Northern Ireland Assembly’s majority decision today to object to, the proposal by the FIFA legal Committee. The communication was faxed to the President’s private office at FIFA Headquarters in Switzerland shortly after the vote was taken.

Under the FIFA proposal players from Northern Ireland could chose to play for the Irish Republic team, a move which could place the very existence of the Northern Ireland squad in jeopardy.

In a statement today, UUP Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy, who proposed the motion which was amended but received support in a majority vote, said in a statement,

“The UUP believes that any change in the current arrangements would be detrimental to good relations in international soccer and the Assembly today has endorsed and supported our view.

We are respectfully requesting the President of FIFA to take on board our position and the view of the Northern Ireland Assembly and reject the proposal at the Forthcoming FIFA meeting in Tokyo.”

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey today called on the First and Deputy First Ministers to convene a meeting of Party Leaders to discuss the critical issues of the forthcoming economic conference, the Budget/Programme for government, and operation of the Executive. Sir Reg said only a united front would maximise potential investment. In a statement Sir Reg said,

“Northern Ireland has a window of opportunity lasting for the next six months, to secure meaningful investment from US based companies. After the Economic Conference in May 2008, US attention will switch to the Presidential election next November and the economic consequences for the US domestic economy. The Ulster Unionist Party wants the economic conference to succeed and deliver real and tangible investment. My own Department of Employment and Learning will be central to help deliver the skilled personnel investors will need, so I have every reason to work for a successful outcome.

This atmosphere will not come about naturally however, as recent events have demonstrated. The Executive must be a real coalition between parties and not just a collection of individuals there as of right. If some parties resort to riding roughshod over other parties then it is not a proper coalition in any meaningful sense of the word. Leaving aside the row over Margaret Ritchie’s decisions on the CTI money, the developments of last week, when Sinn Fein decided to ignore the Executive and press ahead with a statement on education from Caitriona Ruane, illustrates the double standard that the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP were referring to in October. There is clearly one law within the Executive for Sinn Fein and another for the SDLP.

The next few months may well be the last chance for Northern Ireland to achieve the economic kick start that we so obviously need, given that the so called economic package from London has failed to materialise. While we await the outcome of the Varney Report and the outworking of the EU taskforce on Northern Ireland, it seems to me that the spring economic conference takes on even more importance.

I repeat my call to the First and Deputy First Ministers to start a process of consolidating the Assembly by convening a meeting of the Party Leaders to discuss the critical issues of the economic conference, the Budget/Programme for government, and operation of the Executive.

The presentation of a ‘united front’ by the Assembly next spring would be an excellent background against which to attract and persuade potential investors that Northern Ireland really does have the skills and business friendly environment to maximise their investment.”

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey today called on Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to disassociate himself from the IRA calendar on sale in Sinn Fein bookshops if a serious attempt was going to be made in the USA to present a united investment front.

In a statement Sir Reg said,

“While I welcome any united front of behalf of OFM/DFM to attract investment and that this visit to the United States is a curtain-raiser for the massive investment conference scheduled for the summer, I think it is important for the Deputy First Minister to send out a strong message and disassociate himself from the IRA calendar on sale in his party’s bookshops.

For a Deputy First Minister, representing all of the people of Northern Ireland and lobbying on our behalf on the benefits of a peaceful Northern Ireland for companies to invest in, it is unacceptable and a clear mixed message to be a member of a party that glorifies terrorists by selling calendars of armed gunmen in their party shop.

Martin McGuinness should call for the removal of this calendar from his party’s shops.”

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey, in a no-nonsense statement, today re-iterated the status of both the Draft Budget and Draft Programme for Government, accused the principal parties of exhibiting signs of control freakery and said that the Coalition system at Stormont was not like any other comparable coalition and had a two party cabal that needed to be addressed.

In a statement today, Sir Reg said,

“We are currently engaged in a process where we are discussing drafts - I repeat drafts - of the programme for government and budget. It is an opportunity for MLAs and the general public to openly debate and offer alternative viewpoints. The threats from certain Ministers to attempt to stifle debate by threatening the collapse of the government if these matters are not agreed to their liking reeks of throwing all the toys out of the pram and is a dagger to the heart of the democratic process. MLAs and parties must have the right to discuss and debate these draft proposals.

We are now beginning to see signs of control freakery being exhibited. The UUP regrets Mr Robinson’s thinly veiled threats in his closing remarks yesterday. Mr Robinson implies that there is a four Party coalition at Stormont. The reality is much different. A coalition, by definition, is where the parties of government come together to agree an agenda for implementation. At no time since the 8th May have the leaders of the parties represented in the Executive met to discuss, let alone agree an agenda. The confidentiality requirement means Ministers are inhibited from sharing fully with their parties emerging proposals on policy.

Ulster Unionist Party Ministers have approached their portfolios in a genuine attempt to deliver the best possible service to the people of Northern Ireland and we believe strongly that the only way a coalition can work is by consensus between the parties. This is not the way things are going. On the one hand DUP and Sinn Fein Ministers want to be fireproofed and blameless on sensitive and contentious issues such as health cuts and water charges by insisting on unanimity, while on the other they are getting into a two party cabal and deciding what they want and how to do it. This is a fundamental inconsistency that needs to be addressed. The UUP are currently exploring options of how to address it.”

The Officers of the Ulster Unionist Party note with regret the death of their esteemed colleague, Lord Cooke of Islandreagh (Alec).

Alec was above all one of nature’s gentlemen, a dedicated family man who was always concerned about the welfare of others. He led a productive life, starting his career as an Engineer Officer in the Royal Navy and later served as Chairman of Henry R Ayton Ltd., the Belfast Savings Bank, Springvale EPS and Harland & Wolff of which he later became a Director. He was also Director of Northern Ireland Airports and a Senator in the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1960-68 before being appointed as Deputy Lieutenant for Country Antrim from 1970 -1996 and received an OBE in 1981.

Alec Cooke was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Cooke of Islandreagh in 1992 where he served the Party well until his recent lengthy illness which he bore with great fortitude and was deeply respected across all sections of the community both at home and on the mainland.

The Party Leader, Officers and members of the Ulster Unionist Party extend their deepest sympathy to Lady Alison and the entire Cooke family at this sad time.

Ulster Unionist Party Leader and East Belfast MLA Sir Reg Empey today expressed his total delight that the Connswater Community Greenway has been awarded £23.5 Million to transform the banks of the Connswater River into what Sir Reg has described as a mini-Laganside by the National Lottery Big Lottery Fund.

In a statement Sir Reg said,

“I am totally delighted that the Connswater Community Greenway is receiving the £23 Million. This is a project that I have been involved in championing since its inception a couple of years ago.

We can do much better than the stinking mess that the Connswater River currently is. At present it is full of junk, shopping trolleys and in the summer it stinks to high heaven and I have long been advocating a Laganside style development along the banks of the Connswater.

The River, thanks to the vision of the Greenway project, whose efforts today were given the ultimate accolade by receiving this huge cash boost by the Big Lottery Fund, will now be utterly transformed.

I would like congratulate the staff at the project and all of those involved at local community group level. It was this community effort that no doubt swung things in their favour, coupled with the cross party support from local representatives and Belfast City Council.”

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.”

Commenting after one of the UUP’s most successful and united conferences in recent years, Sir Reg Empey said….

“Bearing in mind that we had called delegates to an EGM the previous evening, I was delighted that so many of them—along with many others—attended our annual conference the following day. I was also struck by the sheer good nature and high spirits of everyone there. The conference is an opportunity for our grassroots to get together and what I saw on the day was a grassroots which was determined to get this party back on its feet and back in business.”

There was standing room only for Sir Reg’s keynote speech and a warm and enthusiastic ovation for his commitment to “re-shape and re-fashion our great party and return it to its role as the primary voice of Unionism.”

Later in the day a packed hall welcomed Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie as guest speaker; and applauded her view that the SDLP and UUP should improve their contacts with each other.

As he left the conference after an early evening reception, Sir Reg commented….

“I think that was one of the most successful weekends that the UUP has had for a very long time. We have dedicated ourselves to the changes needed for the way ahead and proved, both to ourselves and the outside world, that we are still here and deadly serious about the role that only the UUP can play in Northern Ireland.”