Former Lord Mayor, Tom Ekin, after a meeting with Secretary of State, Peter Hain, said that the Secretary of State knows the costs of not having a ‘Shared Future’. Peter Hain has quoted Alliance’s own estimate that segregation costs Northern Ireland £1 billion annually.
Councillor Ekin said:
“What a criminal waste. Why are other parties not screaming about the continued waste of resources?
“Our politicians spend so much time playing to their own relatively small galleries, that they will never make the hard and proper decisions. Instead, they want others to do this. They continue to want hospitals, schools, new businesses, community centres, and leisure centres on their own street corners, instead of asking what is best for everyone.
“Alliance has been making a truly positive contribution to this consultation on A Shared Future.
“Northern Ireland needs leadership towards everyone sharing the future equally and with confidence. A shared future means that we all work, play and live together, in safety, and we stop the pathetic sectarian opportunism that so often dictates our future.
“It means positive change, where we use our limited resources for everyone’s benefit.”
ENDS