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Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has called on the Environment Minister to introduce compulsory electronic tagging of dangerous wild animals after it emerged more than a quarter of all licences for such animals in Northern Ireland are held in the constituency.
Speaking during ministers’ question time in the Assembly, Rev Dr Coulter asked the minister to confirm the frequency with which owners of dangerous wild animals are obliged to renew their licences to own such animals and that these licences permit the owners to keep the animals at one address only.
Earlier, the minister had written to Rev Dr Coulter informing him that of the 16 dangerous wild animal licences in Northern Ireland, five were in the North Antrim region – three held in Ballymena Borough and two in the neighbouring Ballymoney Borough.
Dr Coulter added: “The desirable situation would be for every wild animal in private ownership to be electronically tagged to ensure that enforcement of the licencing provisions is made more effective.
“The minister informed me that a licence to keep dangerous wild animals was valid for one year from the date of issue and that licence-holders must reapply to the department for a licence before the expiry of their existing licence.
“She also said a veterinary inspection will then be carried out and a recommendation made to the department as to whether a lience should be granted for a further year. Each licence is issued to the applicant and is specific to the premises detailed in the application.
“She also told me that as well as the annual application for the licence and the annual inspection, vets can be called to inspect the animals if the department believed there was a reason to do so.
“While she naturally defended the current way in which the licence-holders are monitored to be effective, I would call on the minister to reconsider this position and introduce the process of electronic tagging.
“Where such dangerous wild animals are concerned, it is not just a question of their well-being which is at stake, but also the safety of the general public,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.
E-mail May 6th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has welcomed the latest moves by Translink to enhance the rail service between Ballymena and Coleraine on the Londonderry line.
Assemblyman Dr Coulter said this would be an “invaluable link between the two great constituencies of North Antrim and East Londonderry ”.
He added: “I warmly welcome Translink’s announcement that 1,500 tonnes of new rail has been delivered to Coleraine to form part of the extension project between Ballymena and Coleraine which was provided for under the recently approved Stormont Executive budget.
“I hope it will not be too long before the planned works get underway later this year, following what Translink announced was a competitive tendering process starting in May.
“I am also pleased by Translink comments that work is progressing well on the repair of what it terms ‘wet spots – areas of weakening in the stone supporting the track – between Ballymena and Coleraine.
“Translink has said this new rail will be used to enable the removal of the track joints between Ballymena and Coleraine as well as the replacement of five miles of track between Ballymena and Coleraine as part of the overall engineering works planned for autumn 2008 to late summer 2009.
“I am especially pleased by the Translink announcement that this immediate engineering work is expected to be completed later this summer.
“Once completed, the project will not only boost the comfort in which the passengers travel, but will greatly assist with developing the growing tourist trade in our constituency as well as expand the East West travel links in Northern Ireland,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.
E-mail May 2nd, 2008
Alex Benjamin
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.
E-mail April 28th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
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.
Continue Reading E-mail April 22nd, 2008
Alex Benjamin
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.
E-mail April 18th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Roy Beggs MLA for East Antrim and Ulster Unionist Party Spokesperson on Children’s Issues has reacted to the publication of an Ofcom Report into Social Networking on the internet by advising parents to take an active interest in what their children are doing online. The report highlighted that large numbers of very young children in the UK have a profile on a social network site. The Ofcom report showed that social networking is becoming a major part of young people’s lives and it is a phenomenon that adults need to get to grips with as there are real dangers for children who set their profiles onto the public domain.
In a statement Mr Beggs said,
“This report has highlighted that a quarter of eight to 11-year-olds in the UK have a profile on a social network site such as MySpace or Bebo. There is very little regulation and no technology to check the age of users on these sites and whilst most children are using such sites to talk to their friends, many children and their parents do not understand the potential danger they are in. Once a child’s profile is set up on these sites, unless they stipulate otherwise, complete strangers can access their personal information. Parents need to be aware of this and take an active interest in what their children are doing on the internet; the internet is a great resource but it also has potential dangers such as predatory adults posing as young people and identity theft. Parents need to try to understand these dangers so they can advise and so assist in protecting their children.”
“I welcome the fact that the Home Office is expected to publish a set of guidelines for the sites on Friday. I expect them to introduce tough guidelines that request social networking sites to introduce age verification technology and that any profiles setup by children will be by default private to recognised friends and family. These measures would go some of the way to protecting our children; however parents will still need to take a greater interest to ensure the well being of their children. Practical measures such as placing computers with internet access in a living room or a shared household area can help to protect children against internet predators”.
E-mail April 2nd, 2008
Alex Benjamin
The Ulster Young Unionist Council have become the first Unionist group to organise at the University of Ulster Coleraine. The well attended inaugural meeting was carried out without any problems and a full officer team for the forthcoming year was elected.
Speaking after the meeting, newly elected branch chair, Alasdair O’Hara, commented “I’m extremely pleased with how the meeting turned out. It was encouraging to see such a good breath of knowledge and capabilities coming through within the young people in the Unionist community. Hopefully this association will be something that young Unionist students at Coleraine will relate to.”
The Young Unionist branch at has been officially recognized by the UYUC; the youth wing of the Ulster Unionist Party. This gives it full constitutional rights within the organisation.
Addressing the members Mr O’Hara laid out his vision of a positive future for Young Unionists at the University. He remarked that “whatever certain politicians, such as Alistair Ross, try to claim there remains considerable interest in the Ulster Unionist Party within the student population. I am convinced that many of those duped in recent years are becoming increasingly agitated at the way they were told lie after lie by the DUP. Once power was within their reach the DUP ran for it dropping all principles along the way.”
Mr O’Hara however was realistic enough to admit that there were tough times ahead. “The so called ‘political protocol’ which the University of Ulster has in place is extremely prohibiting and makes the life of any political organisation difficult. Although I recognize certain restrictions should be in place to monitor the activities of students, I feel a blanket ban on anything political goes too far.”
The Ulster Young Unionist Council was first formed back in 1946 and is seen by many as a training ground for future generations of UUP politicians. Many of the current assembly team are past members including leader Sir Reg Empey and Chief Whip David McNarry.
Continue Reading E-mail March 14th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Copies also sent to David Cameron and Nick Clegg
Dear Prime Minister,
Remuneration and allowances for MPs, MSPs, AMs and MLAs
The above topic has exercised the minds of many in Parliament in recent weeks, and it has had a spill-over in the devolved regions as well.
I find it difficult to believe that we continue year in year out with a system that subjects public representatives to ridicule and derision from the press and public alike, due to the anomaly that we are responsible for setting our own rates of pay, at the same time as we are setting the rates of pay for large numbers of public sector workers.
As Minister for Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland, my Department has been trying to resolve a long running pay dispute with college lecturers and defending public sector pay policy of confining costs of living increases to 2% in the current year.
Last week there was a rumour that the Senior Salaries Review Body was intending to recommend that Stormont MLAs receive a 16% increase in pay; and as you can imagine there was uproar, even though the Body will not be reporting until July.
Taken together with the matter of MP’s allowances, it all goes to convince me that there must be a better way of restoring public confidence in the political process and ridding ourselves of the responsibility for setting our own pay and allowances.
There are a range of other matters which I believe are bringing politics into disrepute. These include:
The employment of family members in unjustifiable circumstances.
Multiple mandates and responsibility allowances (these are rife in Northern Ireland but may not be such a problem in the rest of the UK).
Lack of clarity and consistency in the management of public representative’s constituency office costs allowance.
Confusion over the rules for the payment of rent for constituency office purposes.
I have no doubt that other Party Leaders share similar concerns and I am copying this letter to them with a view to seeing if a consensus can be reached on urgently needed and far reaching reforms.
I have no doubt that if these matters could be resolved we would have an opportunity to restore public confidence in the political process and ensure that future generations of politicians are not subject to inevitable criticism for operating a system that has long since past its sell-by-date and would not be tolerated in other walks of public life.
I understand that Parliament is asking a number of senior Members to look into some of these issues, but I believe that with widespread devolution in the UK the time has come for a national solution to cover Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
If we are seen to be tackling this on a national scale, then the public will see that the issues are being taken seriously throughout the United Kingdom, so that we can all get on with our work without these periodic episodes which undermine our collective credibility.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that public representatives should no longer be setting their own payment and allowances; that representatives should not have multiple mandates; and that the processes for handling allowances should be open and transparent.
I would be interested to know your views on these issues, and I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Yours Sincerely,
Sir Reg Empey OBE MLA
Leader
The Ulster Unionist Party.
Continue Reading E-mail February 19th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Sir,
After the disgraceful lack of media coverage given to Carol Black specifically and the UUP campaign, I would urge the media not to write off the “original and still the best” brand of unionism around of the 101 year old Ulster Unionist Party. During the one sided media campaign there was no cognisance given of the fact that the DUP never told the people what they were going to do before the last assembly election and castigated us for simply telling the truth. They also told the voting public that you “cannot give guarantees about restoring devolution until you have secured a financial package”, again another broken promise as the recent reality check of very much competing demands in a very finite budget proved. The truth has caught up with the DUP leadership and I am sure as a result of their 20% drop their hawks will be telling them to harden the message and stop the “chuckling” but the reality is that having spent 10 years criticising our every waking move a very significant number of their core support were never conditioned to accept the new power sharing realities.
The UUP told the people the truth, in this election we ran a quality local candidate, and I hope the media consensus will get a very clear message that “we have not gone away you know”!!
Cllr Mark Cosgrove
UUP Trade and Tourism Spokesperson
Continue Reading E-mail February 14th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Ulster Unionist Parades spokesman Michael Copeland has described the latest fiasco surrounding the seriously wounded Parades Commission as resembling something from an episode of ‘Yes Minister’.
In a statement Mr Copeland said,
“Were the situation not so serious it would be laughable. The recent announcement by the Law Lords which ruled the appointments of Mr MacKay and Mr Burrows illegal must surely call into question the legality of any decision taken by the Parades Commission during their tenure.
I have written to the Parades Commission asking several questions.
The number of meetings at which Mr MacKay and Mr Burrows were present?
The number of decisions taken while they were present which resulted in determinations being applied to Parades?
The number of prosecutions for alleged breaches of Parades Commission determinations arising from any such meetings?
The status of those remaining Commissioners who have publicly declared themselves as unavowedly and unashamedly republican must now come under the microscope of public scrutiny. We await with interest the findings of Lord Ashdown’s review which I hope will consign this Commission to the dustbin of History, where in my view, it properly belongs.”
Continue Reading E-mail January 31st, 2008
Alex Benjamin
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