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Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader and Newry and Armagh MLA Danny Kennedy challenged the DUP Leadership to explain why they agreed to the co-option of a Sinn Fein Member of Armagh City and District when they had forced a by-election in the Dromore area of Banbridge and had refused the co-option of an Ulster Unionist member.

In a statement Mr Kennedy said,

“Ratepayers in the Banbridge area can see the utter hypocrisy of the socalled leading Unionist party agreeing to a cosy arrangement in one council area with Republicans while opposing a co-option with other Unionists in another Council area.

This is a massive double-standard and I call on the DUP Leadership to explain why this decision was made.

This move is indicative of the increasing cosy relationship between DUP and Sinn Fein not just at Stormont but also at local council level.”

Commenting on this morning’s announcement by Environment Minister Arlene Foster to refuse the planning application at the Giant’s Causeway put forward by developer Seymour Sweeney, Ulster Unionist North Down MLA Alan McFarland said,

“What a farce. After being ‘minded’ to grant this application at the tail end of last year, the Minister, given the acres of negative publicity surrounding the Causeway site and the whiff of sleaze surrounding the lobbying done on behalf of Mr Sweeney by her colleague and fellow Minister Ian Paisley Jnr. has now refused the application.

This whole saga surrounding the Causeway site and how the planning application was being dealt with has been a stain on the DUP for months now. It is therefore unsurprising that the Minister has decided to limit any further damage to her and her party by refusing the application. After months of courting it appears that the DUP have left Sweeney on his tod.”

Dear Letters Editor,
It is with a genuine sense of outrage that I write to you regarding the disgraceful comments made by Nigel Dodds personal advisor Wallace Thompson regarding the Pope and other symbols of Catholicism. I would hope that his boss does not share such intolerant views and look forward to an official response from the Minister in this regard. In addition to being a direct, unprovoked attack on the millions of Catholics that live and work in the United Kingdom it is actually profoundly anti British. Would Mr Wallace like us to live in such an intolerant society were we demonise each others deeply respected religious leaders and symbols and to say that the he would “oppose plans to bring him to Northern Ireland” which would have massive tourist and economic spin offs beggars belief. Are we to oppose everyone but our own leaders just because they are not beliefs we share ourselves. Assuming that Mr Dodd’s disagrees with these sectarian comments it calls into question the process of recruiting to these high profile posts and makes his personal advisors job completely untenable. How can he help promote Northern Ireland as a great place to invest in to the millions of Catholic countries around the world when he has such intolerant views of their leader? What damage have these comments had within the Republic of Ireland marketplace in terms of our Tourism? As Unionists we should celebrate the rich cultural and social diversity that makes up the tapestry of our Kingdom and respect the very ingredients that makes Britain great. I can assure the Catholic population of Northern Ireland that these bigoted views are not shared by the over whelming majority of your fellow citizens and I hope that you realise that this is not the type of Pro Union Northern Ireland that we are trying to promote to you all. I trust the DUP leadership and the minister will issue you all with an equally strong condemnation of their Special advisor and take steps to ensure that those recruited to positions of promoting Northern Ireland to the world are not from the extreme end of any religious denomination.

Cllr Mark Cosgrove
UUP Spkesperson on Trade and Tourism

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly Member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has called on constituents to test their smoke alarms after it emerged less than three-quarters of people who have them, tested them.

Dr Coulter, who is also UUP Health Spokesman, made his call after supporting a successful Assembly motion which urged the Health Department to ensure every Northern Ireland home had a working smoke alarm.

Dr Coulter said the Assembly motion and the subsequent debate, should they achieved nothing else, they would “heighten public awareness of the smoke alarm issue”.

The successful Assembly motion, supported by Dr Coulter, stated: “That this Assembly recognises the positive work of voluntary and statutory organisations in installing smoke alarms in homes; expresses concern that many dwellings in both the private- and social-housing sectors still do not have adequate working smoke alarms; and calls on the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, the Department for Social Development and the Department of Finance and Personnel, to undertake a coordinated programme to ensure the provision of working smoke detectors in every home.”

“Dr Coulter added that statistic presented to the Assembly showed there has been an increase of 98% in ownership of smoke alarms in Northern Ireland, and this was to be welcomed.”

“However, only 72% of those are checked regularly. Therefore, the question is not the problem of finance to supply smoke alarms, but the finance necessary to educate people to check their alarms regularly.”

“It seems that the real problem with inefficient smoke alarms is that, in many cases, the batteries have run down, and the householders have not renewed them. Would it not, therefore, be better if all smoke alarms were hard wired?”

“A further statistic that has, rightly, been quoted is the number of privately owned homes with either no smoke alarm, or whose alarm is inefficient.”

“Should this Assembly not recommend that all private homes be statutorily bound to have smoke alarms fitted and hard wired? Furthermore, should it not be the case that smoke alarms are fitted all public-sector houses?”

“The statistics for deaths in house fires are alarming. Although we may congratulate ourselves that the number of deaths has gone down, even one fatality from a fire in a house with no working smoke alarm is one too many.”

“If we are to ask the Fire and Rescue Service to go a bit further, we must look again at supporting resources for its educational programme for householders with smoke alarms.”

“I have wholeheartedly supported this very worthy motion, both personally and as a member of the Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety,” said Dr Coulter.”

Ulster Unionist Department of Social Development spokesman Michael Copeland today said that the Assembly debate which called on the Departments of Health, Social Services and Public Safety and Finance and Personnel to ensure the provision of working smoke detectors in every home was a missed opportunity.

Gas detectors, particularly in Social Housing were as much of a priority as smoke detectors he said,

“While I fully understand the merits of the Assembly motion and that smoke detectors are of vital importance in saving lives, I believe that an opportunity was missed to ensure that gas detectors were also included, particularly in Social Houses.

In East Belfast a common complaint our offices deal with is leaking gas in Housing Executive properties. Often most cases turn out to be small leaks, but gas, as an invisible killer, can have devastating consequences. I believe that both departments mentioned today should also consider the provision of gas detectors initially to Social Housing followed by all other gas receiving households at a later date.”

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”.

Ulster Unionist Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Tom Elliott today criticised the DUP for forcing the forthcoming by-election in Dromore.

In a hard hitting statement Mr Elliott accused the DUP of wasting rate-payers money in the Dromore area which could have been avoided with a simple co-option. He said,

“Tyrone Howe stood down honourably on the grounds that he felt unable to devote the necessary time and duty to the post of Councillor given his other business commitments.

From my experience in Fermanagh where Arlene Foster stood down last summer, we in the UUP did not force a by-election. We also did not ridiculously insist, as the DUP tried to in Dromore, whom our preferred candidate to replace Arlene in Fermanagh should be. It is a ludicrous, arrogant and infantile assumption for any political party to make.

As a result of this arrogant and infantile approach is that the people of Dromore will be subjected to a needless by-election that wastes rate-payers money. The DUP have a lot to answer for.”

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has said the new Roads Minister in the power-sharing Executive must make the dualling of the controversial A26 at The Frocess “a top priority before the accident death trap claims more lives”.

Assemblyman Dr Coulter said: “There is the very real danger if the new Executive minister responsible for roads does not make The Frocess section an urgent priority, that it could become one of Northern Ireland’s most notorious death traps.

“We all hope and pray the new roads minister will make a firm announcement on the dualling of this A26 accident blackspot as soon as possible after 8th May when the planned power-sharing Executive will come into force.

“Having said this, I would also continue to give my full backing to farmers from the constituency whose land is threatened by one of the proposed routes for the dualling.”

Assemblyman Coulter said he recognised that given the increased volume of traffic on this stretch of road and the continued death toll at and near The Frocess, there was “a critical need” to dual the A26 trunk road from Glarryford Cross to the A44 Drones Junction.

He added: “However, at the same time, we do not want the farming community in this locality to suffer if their farms are to be torn apart by the dualling development.

“A number of alternative routes for the A26 dualling should be considered, but I would urge the new roads minister not to literally drive the development through prime farmland.

“The agricultural community in the constituency has faced enough stresses and strains in recent decades without having the additional burden of having their land torn apart.

“This area has some of the best farmland in North Antrim and I would whole-heartedly support the farmers in their fight to stop the A26 dualling destroying their land.

“In this respect, I would also urge the roads minister to consider an alternative dualling route rather than splitting this very close knit rural community in two,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Health Spokesman, has said the restoration of a legislative parliament at Stormont “will greatly boost” the development of the Celtic Nations Autism Partnership with Scotland and Wales.

Dr Coulter, who is the UUP Autism Ambassador with the charity and awareness group Autism Northern Ireland, noted the return of the Assembly would also see moves to have a specific Northern Ireland Autism Act as well as a special autism support centre based in the constituency “shift into top gear”.

He added: “The restoring of the power-sharing Executive on 8th May will help MLAs focus on the scale of the problem facing those with Autistic Spectrum Disorder and their carers.

“At the moment, more people in the Province suffer from ASD than the combined total of people who have Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Down’s Syndrome. Indeed, several hundred children in Northern Ireland are still waiting on vital primary assessment for autism.

“In this respect, I would also warmly welcome how academics from the University of Ulster teamed up with a local charity to produce a support package for parents of children with autism.

“However, the Executive also needs to develop a number of special needs communities where young adults, post 19, could live for a short time to give ageing parents or relatives some time to relax on their own and recover from the daily strains of caring for special needs adults.

“What is also urgently needed is for all the charities and organisations which support ASD sufferers and their carers to establish a united forum across Northern Ireland.

“It is vitally important that Autism NI along with the National Autistic Society and other groups are singing from the same campaigning hymn sheet. A united forum for these groups will guarantee there is no duplication of effort and funding.

“The twin goals of ensuring the Northern Ireland Autism Act becomes law as well as securing further dedicated autism centres for the Province should act as an impetus for unity among not just the autism charities and support groups, but among all MLAs irrespective of party affiliation,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.

Responding to a statement from the Electoral Commission today, a spokesman for the Ulster Unionist Party said,

“We thank the Electoral Commission for their help and co-operation and we welcome today’s statement which sees an end to the Electoral Commission’s inquiry. This was a matter that the Party was keen to see cleared up and clarified.

We have put in place more stringent accounting and auditing procedures to ensure future compliance with the legislation and look forward to a continued good relationship with the Commission.”