Commenting on the judgment in the case of John Downey Jim Allister said:
“John Anthony Downey was accused of the most horrendous crimes. The Hyde Park bombing cost the lives of four people – Roy John Bright, Dennis Richard Anthony Daly, Simon Andrew Tipper and Geoffrey Vernon Young. Continue Reading…
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“The plight of our fishermen is undeniable. Yet, Minister O’Neill continues to sit on her hands. Once more she is trying to hide behind EU rules. Bad as the EU undoubtedly is, it does allow de minimus payments of up to €7,500 per recipient to relieve hardship. Why is the minister not availing of this option?
“Thus she can help, but, so far, has refused to do so. She must now step up to the mark and assist.”
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:-
“The nigh hysterical chorus demanding the removing of flags from the Giro d’Italia route sets a recent reply from the DRD minister in an interesting context.
“I asked Minister Kennedy:
To ask the Minister for Regional Development what progress has been made in securing the removal of terrorist commemorations from his Department’s property, including that of its arm’s-length bodies. Continue Reading…
TUV leader Jim Allister has spoken out in the Assembly about the delay in Single Farm Payments to his farming constituents in the Portglenone area, whose area was chosen by DARD for remote sensing inspection.
Speaking during the debate on the topic Mr Allister said:- Continue Reading…
As NIW recruits a new Chief Executive, TUV leader Jim Allister is asking the DRD minister why, in view of the modern governmental approach to pension contributions, the £150,000 pa job has been advertised offering a whopping 26.9% employer contribution to a pension pot and a mere 3.5% employee contribution? Continue Reading…
The following is a speech by Jim Allister during yesterday’s debate on shared education:
“Shared education, from everything that I see and hear about it, is one of those fluffy buzzwords that is supposed to give you a warm glow and can really mean whatever you want it to mean. It is clear in the House that it means different things to different interests. Continue Reading…
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“The revelations in recent days about what has being going on within the Health Service in Northern Ireland have shocked us all.
“Let no one be in any doubt about it – were it not for the fact that BBC Spotlight screened a documentary there would have been no statement to the Assembly or appearance by the Heath Minister before his committee. Continue Reading…
Statement by Jim Allister MLA:
“On Tuesday evening I attended one of the Health and Social Care Board’s consultation sessions along with my TUV colleagues and representatives from Unions, care home staff and relatives of residents.
“The proposed criteria put forward by the HSC Board was quite simply a farce – it was entirely contrived to give only one sadly predictable outcome, that residential care homes would have to be closed.
“The criteria are predicated on the assumption that private facilities are better, and we all know that statutory residential homes such as Pinewood, The Roddens and Rosedale, to name but a few, are superb facilities.
“The criteria also set out that residential care homes will be judged on their admissions, but there has and continues to be a ban on new admissions! How absurd and insulting is it that this can be given any weight in the criteria. Of course there will be a trend for private care homes if no new admissions are granted to statutory homes.
“Ever since this process became public last April TUV have set out a fair way to move forward: end the ban on permanent admissions and give the residential care homes a level playing field to compete with the private sector. Only then will a comparison of services, cost, admissions etc be valuable.
“Those present also heard the ‘bombshell’ from an HSC Board representative who expressly said that it was the Minister who directed that the ban on admissions continue during the consultation period. I have written to John Compton, Chief Executive of the Health and Social Care Board, to ascertain the accuracy of this disclosure.
“Minister Poots can blame the Trusts all he wants, but the buck stops with him.”
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“On Thursday of last week I tabled amendments which were due to be debated today to remove paper bags from the ambit of the Carrier Bag Bill.
“This morning the Environment Minister, Mark Durkin, declined to move the Consideration Stage of the Bill due to “the policy implications” of my amendments. Continue Reading…
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“That a £80 million fund announced in March 2011 should lie unspent with the Office of the Joint First Ministers for almost 3 years before the allocation of any of the money is announced is bad enough but to wait that long and discover that not a penny of the initial batch of money is coming to North Antrim is scandalous. Continue Reading…
