Stephen Farry stated: “This year’s Alliance Conference was an outstanding success. Alliance has had several breakthroughs in 2010 including David Ford being elected by the Assembly as the Justice Minister and Naomi Long becoming Alliance’s first elected MP. Now the party is looking ahead with confidence to the 2011 Assembly and Local Government Elections.
“Alliance is leading change in this society. We are highlighting and addressing the keys issues that are necessary to transform this society, including growing our economy, promoting a shared future, and ensuring our public services are properly funded. At a time of particular financial and economic challenge in Northern Ireland, as in other parts of the world, strong political leadership is vital.
“It was a pleasure to welcome Fine Gael Leader, Enda Kenny to the Conference. It is highly likely that he will become the next Taoiseach after the forthcoming Irish General Election. It is important that good relations are maintained across the border. There are important security reasons for doing so, which Enda Kenny highlighted in this speech.
“In addition, there are also major economic opportunities that can arise from North-South o-operation. The notion of fiscal or monetary co-operation is far-fetched, but independent of political consideration, the opportunities for shared services on a north-south basis should be fully explored in order to realise economies of scale and more efficient service delivery. This could be to mutual benefit of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, especially at a time of budgetary challenge.”
ENDS