'DUP must sell devolution better'
FIRST Minister Peter Robinson has said that the DUP must do a better job of selling the benefits of devolution, as he presented his new ministerial team for the first time at Stormont Castle.
Praising his new team - three of whom come to the Executive table and three of whom were already there - the DUP leader said that the reshuffle represented a “new approach to decision-making and governing” by the DUP.
“As part of our commitment to listen all our elected representatives, including ministers, must spend more time interacting with the electorate and demonstrating the good work which has been done to date,” he said.
“It is essential that we make people aware of the benefits of local decision-making.
“Whether it is the young couple who want to live in the countryside or the elderly couple struggling to make ends meet, devolution has delivered in a way which would not have happened under Direct Rule.”
But the Green Party’s European election candidate, Steven Agnew, said that the decision to remove Sammy Wilson as Environment Minister, moving him to the Department of Finance, left a “mess” for his successor Edwin Poots to deal with.
Speaking of the new Environment Minister, Mr Agnew said that Mr Poots’ recognition of climate change and proposals for a plastic bag levy were a tacit acceptance that Mr Wilson had got it wrong.
“Minister Poots, by adopting Green Party policy rather than challenging it, has effectively admitted the DUP’s mistakes in the area of environmental politics to date,” he said.
“A plastic bag levy should have been introduced in Northern Ireland several years ago, the fact that Minister Poots is considering its introduction now is a clear indication that both Sammy and Arlene got it wrong on this issue in the past.”
n The DUP has denied a report that its MEP-elect, Diane Dodds, has joined a EU Parliament group of right-wing parties.
A report on the EU Observer online newspaper claimed that the DUP’s MEP had joined a new “mosaic of right-wing eurosceptics and hard-right anti-immigrant parties” in the Parliament, which it said included the UK Independence Party.
But a DUP spokesman said: “Mrs Dodds has not joined any group in the EU Parliament, despite having been approached.
“Mrs Dodds will make her decision in due course after taking into consideration the party’s beliefs and core policies.”
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Weather for Belfast
Friday 25 May 2012
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