Alliance Health Spokesperson Kieran McCarthy MLA has commended Health Minister Shaun Woodward for finding the money to eliminate waiting lists for MS sufferers. The move comes after Alderman McCarthy led a delegation to meet the Minister on the subject late last year. Alderman McCarthy stated: “I called for the Minister to take this action last […]
The Alliance Party has called on the Government to establish an all-party economic forum aimed at providing a package of measures to end Northern Ireland’s overdependence on the public sector, and ensure people are in a position to meet the demands or rates rises and rising energy costs. The call was central to the party’s […]
David Ford will say: “We welcome the opportunity for engagement in all-party talks, and the Government’s stated aim of a fully inclusive process. “People now see the political process as little more than a bad soap opera. It is up to us to address that. “For real progress to be made, political leaders must be […]
Alliance Party Deputy Leader Eileen Bell has said the party welcomes commitments from the Government for a fully inclusive talks process. Responding to comments by the Secretary of State prior to talks with him, the North Down Assembly member stated: “We welcome the fact that the Government has recognized a process involving side deals achieves […]
Alliance Party Deputy Leader Eileen Bell MLA has said further delays in the launch of the Government’s Anti-Poverty Strategy prove the need for the return of locally accountable politicians. Mrs Bell, also the party’s Equality Spokesperson, stated: “Lord Rooker stated last week that the ‘Anti-Poverty Strategy’ would be delayed, effectively indefinitely. This is yet another […]
Alliance Castlereagh Councillor Sara Duncan has said that soaring personal debt across the UK and Ireland has got to the extremes that it requires Government intervention. Cllr Duncan, who is heavily involved with the local Citizens’ Advice Bureau, stated: “Latest Government figures for Northern Ireland, as well as England and Wales, show personal debt is […]
Antrim Alliance Councillor Alan Lawther has said the right to free speech is fundamental to democracy, stating that recent debate over apparent insults to Islam is equally applicable to disputes closer to home. The Antrim South East representative stated: “A Danish paper printed cartoons which are offensive to Muslims around the world, and this has […]
Alliance Party Justice Spokesperson, Stephen Farry, has responded to Sinn Fein’s rejection of the latest IMC report, by repeating that the IMC is actually in Sinn Fein’s interests. He said that it has the capacity to create the context for a return to power-sharing government and all-Ireland institutions. Dr Farry stated: “Sinn Féin has responded […]
Alliance Health Spokesperson Kieran McCarthy has said that research by the Joseph Rowntree Trust proves the big four parties in the NI Executive should have introduced free personal care for the elderly when they had the chance. Alderman McCarthy stated: “When I was in the Assembly I called on the big four parties to make […]
Alliance Deputy Leader Eileen Bell has said an attack on a baby in County Fermanagh has left many people wondering what kind of society we are living in. The North Down Assembly member stated: “Last week we had a series of attacks on elderly people, this week we have an attack on a one-year-old baby […]