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Ulster Unionist Party Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy met with IFA Chief Howard Wells today to discuss the on-going campaign to overturn a FIFA proposal that could allow people born in Northern Ireland to play for the Irish Republic team. Mr Kennedy has concerns that the proposal, if ratified, could put the very future of the Northern Ireland squad in jeopardy.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Kennedy said,

“The meeting with Mr Wells was very useful and the UUP remains fully supportive in the stand that the IFA is taking against this proposal.

It appears that the critical FIFA meeting to decide on the proposal will be on the 12th December in Japan but we are hopeful to have matters resolved with FIFA before then.

We will continue to stay in touch and we lend our full support to the IFA and have pledged to do all we can to see this proposal scrapped.”

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 MEP Jim Nicholson has taken the row over FIFA’s proposal to allow players born in Northern Ireland the opportunity to play for the Republic of Ireland onto the international stage this evening as he told fellow Members of the European Parliament in a debate in Strasbourg that if FIFA’s proposal went ahead it would be a kick in the teeth for Northern Irish football.

Speaking to MEPs Mr Nicholson said,

“I would like to bring to the attention of the House a proposal by FIFA, the global governing body for football, to allow players born in Northern Ireland the opportunity to represent the Republic of Ireland at international level.

“The Northern Ireland football team has a proud history going back many decades and over the years has produced many great footballers and defeated many great teams.

“Northern Ireland has had many difficulties over the past 35 years and during those dark days soccer was able to bring people together in our community. So I say very clearly to FIFA that they are wrong to go down this road. At a time when I believed that society in Northern Ireland was becoming normal and moving on from the past, this has come as a major shock and may even harm efforts to move society forward.”

Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy has tabled a motion in the Assembly that seeks support in opposing the recent eligibility proposal outline by FIFA that could mean players born in Northern Ireland can opt to play for the Irish Republic team.

Mr Kennedy’s motion reads:

“That this Assembly opposes the recent eligibility proposal outlined by FIFA;

Believes that it has the potential to cause serious harm to international soccer relations on the island of Ireland; and calls upon the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to assist the Irish Football Association in opposing the ratification of this unfair and unjust proposal.”

In a statement Mr Kennedy said,

“I am hopeful that the business committee in the Assembly will fit this motion in at short notice. It is, I believe, an issue of high importance. The FIFA recommendation quite literally shifts the goalposts and places the very future of the Northern Ireland squad in jeopardy. FIFA should not be swayed by assertions about the Good Friday Agreement or subsequent agreements. The Constitutional position of Northern Ireland has been settled through the principle of consent.

Therefore we remain a separate national entity from the Irish Republic. Therefore there is no choice to be made. Players born in Northern Ireland should only play for Northern Ireland. Any changes to the current set up could effectively spell an end for the Northern Ireland squad. This is not something that I, or I believe a majority of people in Northern Ireland want. The Assembly can send a strong signal to FIFA and those advocates of this ill conceived proposal that they are barking up the wrong tree.”

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.

Ulster’s Anglers and Conservation groups had a good catch today when the Assembly gave cross party support to an Ulster Unionist motion which will see the Fisheries Conservancy Board (FCB) wound up and powers for fishing being transferred to DCAL.

The Minister for DCAL is also expected to welcome the move. Angling is one of Northern Ireland’s largest participatory pastimes. Many anglers and conservation groups has expressed reservations about the ability of the FCB after successive years of dwindling fish stocks, particularly salmon, and financial mismanagement.

In a statement, UUP Chief Whip and Strangford MLA David McNarry, who proposed the motion said,

“Many Anglers have raised concerns with me that little is being done to protect their fish, which in many cases the anglers have invested large amounts of money in conserving. So bad was the situation that representatives from the Ulster Angling Federation met with the DCAL Minister to raise their concerns.

The FCB have, for some time now, been unable to fulfil their main function of fishery protection, salmon stocks have been depleted, staffing has been systematically reduced, boat patrols have not taken place and the boat meant to patrol the East Coast is not seaworthy.

Some problems were also uncovered regarding £150,000 of funds which in some cases rightly belonged to angling clubs which have been misused by the Board. DCAL, despite requesting a full explanation were never provided with an answer.

Enough is enough. Anglers want fish stocks preserved so that they can carry on their sport, which attracts fishermen and women from all over the world to Northern Ireland for our rivers, lakes and inlets. Angling is a hugely popular sport and anglers, like conservationists care passionately about the river environment and ensuring an abundance of sustainable marine life.

I am delighted that the Assembly has backed my motion that will see an end to the FCB, who were not up to the job, and powers for fishery conservancy moving to DCAL. We should see a dramatic improvement and a fresh focus on ensuring that this wealth generating pastime and sport can continue to flourish, that environmentalists are kept happy and above all that our rich waters are full of healthy fish.”

Kenny Donaldson, Ulster Unionist Party Officer responsible for Youth Development has called upon the Northern Ireland public to join with fellow United Kingdom partners in remembering Guy Fawkes Day, the 5th of November.
Guy Fawkes Night (traditionally known as Bonfire Night) is an annual celebration (but not a public holiday) on the evening of the 5th of November primarily in the United Kingdom, but also in former British colonies New Zealand, the island of Newfoundland (Canada), Vancouver Island, Canada, parts of the British Caribbean including the Bahamas, and to some extent by their nationals abroad.

It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot in which a group of Catholic conspirators, led by one Robert Catesby, and including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in Westminster on the evening of 5 November 1605, when the Protestant James I of England (James VI of Scotland), his eldest sons, and the majority of the English Parliament were within its walls. The conspirators were later tortured and executed.

The celebrations, which in the United Kingdom take place in towns and villages across the country, involve fireworks displays and the building of bonfires, on which “guys”, or dummies, representing Guy Fawkes, the most infamous of the conspirators, are traditionally burnt. Before the fifth, children traditionally use the “guys” to beg for money with the chant “Penny for the guy”. In recent years the night is becoming increasingly known as “Guy Fawkes Night”.

In a statement Kenny said: “Protestants, Roman Catholics and those of a secular disposition will have a different interpretation of the events and circumstances, which led to Guy Fawkes (an English Catholic) and others being burnt at the stake.

“However it is undisputed that this particular period in history has commonality and importance across all these strands.

“In other areas of the United Kingdom, the event has transcended religious and cultural affiliations and is recognized as a ‘major cultural festival.’ I would like to see that festival extended across the whole of the United Kingdom.

“Whilst Halloween night (31st October 2007) is widely celebrated within Northern Ireland, I believe there is a market for the celebrating of Guy Fawkes Night. History is history and in the new cultural, religious and political dispensation Northern Ireland and the wider UK finds itself, there is in my view, a need to acknowledge events which divided our peoples in the past. Only by learning from the Past can we hope to build a brighter future,” concluded Kenny.

Ulster Unionist Planning Spokesman, Sam Gardiner MLA, has said he was glad the Environment Minister Arlene Foster had agreed that a revised rural-planning policy to replace PPS 14 would take account of environmentally friendly housing.

“The Minister was responding to a question I asked after her statement on PPS 14 to the Assembly on 25 Oct. She assured the Assembly that she would look at economic development in the countryside and environmentally friendly housing in any replacement for PPS 14.”

“I have been pressing for some time for a rational set of new guidelines to replace the overly stringent PPS 14. These should include the needs of the rural economy, the social cohesion of rural communities, and a sustainable rural environment in environmentally friendly schemes.”

“Even though the Minister has taken over PPS 14 from the Department of Regional Development this will be short lived. All parties have said it must be dismantled and that will happen. We must keep the pressure on to make this happen sooner rather than later – certainly well before any review of the Planning structures in 2010. I am not happy with the delays in some of the Executive’s timescales for action.”

The European Commission has announced today that it is taking legal action against the United Kingdom for not complying fully with judgements issued by the European Court of Justice in two separate cases.

One of those cases involves the Treatment of urban waste water in seven UK towns, four of which are in Northern Ireland. The European Commission has accused the UK of failing to fully abide by a European Court of Justice January 2007 ruling on the Urban Wastewater Directive.

Portrush, Coleraine, Bangor and Donaghadee have all been highlighted by the European Commission for failing to comply with the Directive.

The European Commission has initiated the first part of formal legal proceedings against the UK Government by sending the UK a first written warning.

Commenting on the Commission’s decision to initiate legal proceedings against the UK Government, Ulster Unionist Member of the European Parliament Jim Nicholson MEP said that the situation was indicative of the problems facing the new Executive at Stormont in the area of waste management.

Speaking from Brussels Mr Nicholson said,

“Clearly today’s decision is not good news for Northern Ireland and I would urge the Executive to move urgently to address the problems highlighted by the European Commission.

“The problems with our sewage system and wastewater infrastructure can be attributed to thirty years of neglect by successive Direct Rule administrations and to the Troubles. Over the years when we should have been investing in upgrading our sewage infrastructure the Government was instead putting money into rebuilding our towns and villages, many of which were blown apart by terrorist violence.

“This situation also serves to highlight why the Northern Ireland Executive should be seeking to obtain further financial assistance from Brussels.”

Mr Robin Swann, the Ulster Unionist Party’s Spokesman on Social Economy, Energy and Consumer Affairs, has “warmly welcomed” the announcement that Rathlin Island has been connected to the Northern Ireland Electricity grid for the first time.

And Mr Swann, who is also a senior member of North Antrim Association Management Committee, added that this power move meant the island “will now have a more reliable and secure energy supply”.

He said: “This connection is a more positive step made by Northern Ireland Electricity, compared to its recent announcement of a more than three per cent hike in its prices.

“Rathlin islanders in the past relied on three diesel-powered generators, which restricted the equipment the islanders were able to use as part of their daily lives.

“The island in the past had received additional electrical supplies from wind turbines, which are no longer in operational use.

“But this new NIE connection could actually provide a further blessing, not just for Rathlin itself, but across a substantial part of the Province.

“If the NIE connection is at a high enough electricity specification, and if the wind turbines were to be restored to fully operational status, there is an opportunity whereby the electricity generated by the turbines as a renewable energy source could be sold back to the NIE grid.

“This would give Rathlin an additional revenue stream as well as its current tourism potential. Taking Northern Ireland as a whole, it must not be forgotten that the Province is in a prime location on the north west corner of Europe to fully exploit both wind and tidal energy from the Atlantic sea board,” emphasised Mr Swann.