Alliance Councillor David Alderdice has said cool heads will be required in East Belfast over the next few days if fatalities are to be avoided. “I spent most of today visiting the communities affected by this serious violence in East Belfast. Clearly there has been trouble emanating from both sides, and having heard both sides […]
Alliance has called for an independent ‘Citizen’s Jury’ to pass judgement on Assembly members’ future salary recommendations. Alliance Leader David Ford said that the current recommended increases were based on comparison with other bodies across the UK, and assumed that the Assembly was working effectively. Alliance has expressed serious reservations about the effectiveness of the […]
Alliance councillor David Alderdice has said it is now up to Alex Maskey to prove to all the people of Belfast that he will live up to his word to be inclusive. Councillor Alderdice, the Alliance group leader in Belfast City Council, was speaking after his party’s three votes allowed Sinn Fein’s Alex Maskey to […]
Alliance Leader David Ford has accused the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister of using ‘too many cooks to spoil the broth’ after it was revealed that the Department employs more people than Downing Street and the Taoiseach’s Department in Dublin-put together. According to the latest Democratic Dialogue report, OFMDFM employs 424 people, […]
Alliance South Belfast representative Councillor Geraldine Rice has condemned a display of far right symbols by loyalist paramilitaries near Tate’s Avenue bridge. Cllr Rice said that a display of flags had been joined by a painted swastika and the initials ‘KKK’ close to Adelaide railway halt in South Belfast. The flags were removed on Tuesday […]
Alliance MLA Kieran McCarthy has written to the Minister for Regional Development, to ask him about the possibility of a monorail for the Ards Peninsula. The Strangford Assembly member was speaking ahead of a Stormont Assembly adjournment debate this Monday on the lack of investment in the A20 Newtownards to Portaferry Road. Mr McCarthy said: […]
Alliance sports spokesman councillor Michael Long has branded Belfast Councillor Jim Rodgers “an apologist for paramilitary symbolism and sectarianism”, after the Ulster Unionist reportedly defended the flying of UVF flags at a football supporters’ club. In today’s Irish News, Mr Rodgers claimed that UVF flags erected at the First East Belfast Northern Ireland Supporters Club […]
If there is one thing that unites the entire Northern Ireland community right now, it is the justified and outright frustration with paramilitary groups on both sides of the sectarian divide. Everyone agrees that something must be done to ensure that ceasefires are really ceasefires – but, so far, no one has been quite sure […]
Castlereagh Councillor Michael Long has called for the withdrawal of threats against all health workers, following today’s rally at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald. Cllr Long, a dentist, said he was present to show solidarity with other health workers in his constituency as they took a stand against sectarianism. Condemning the threats, Cllr Long stated: “The […]
The Northern Ireland Executive is “highly unlikely” to do anything on the issue of paramilitary flags, murals, graffiti or emblems before the start of next year, the Alliance Party has claimed. Despite a unanimous call last September from the Assembly, the Executive has consistently refused to set up a working group to deal with the […]