- Faoi SDLP
-
Smaointe
- 1.A United Ireland
- 2.Acht na Gaeilge
- 3.Agriculture/Rural Communities
- 4.Education
- 5.Eleven Plus
- 6.Environment & Climate Change
- 7.Equality & Human Rights
- 8.Fighting Poverty
- Ionadaithe
Publication Irish News
Date Monday 25th April 2011
The SDLP wants to build a Northern Ireland which is attractive to business; which looks after its sick and respects its older citizens: a North that is a great place to work and bring up a family. But how can we get there?
We believe we can only get there, by uniting people and building prosperity.
The central question in this election is, therefore, who has the ideas, and track record? Who is best placed to unite people and build prosperity? In my view it is the SDLP.
We have shown how to reach out and embrace other traditions – bringing people together in a shared future. I myself held 14 public meetings all across the North on how to go about, step by step, building that Shared Future. The SDLP shared power before others would. We did so because in a deeply divided society it was clearly the right thing to do. Partnership is in our DNA. You cannot say that of other Parties.
So we are best placed to unite people.
Take education. We do not have an easy, readymade solution to the vexed issue of school transfer arrangements. But look at why there is a stalemate in the Executive. There is one Party saying not-an-inch, no-change, and another Party viewing it as an opportunity to wage war on the middle class and on grammar schools!
The SDLP would reframe this debate so that it simply addressed the central point, which is how to create a fair system for allocating places in oversubscribed schools. We would unite people around the quest for a sensible solution.
We have also produced better ideas on how to build prosperity in the North, how to create jobs and build the economy. Declan O’Loan and his colleagues deserve immense credit for the work they have done in this area. In “Partnership and Economic Recovery” the SDLP produced the most comprehensive set of financial proposals ever produced by a political Party in the North.
We showed how most of the £4billion of cuts, waved through without a whimper by others, could be offset or otherwise mitigated. No other Party can claim that. We have also set out a robust economic strategy which identifies clear priorities in the short, medium and long-term.
And SDLP Ministers have done really well in Government too: I think that fact is widely acknowledged. Housing has been a major success, because SDLP Ministers put their heart and soul into the job. We showed that even with significant budget shortfalls, we were able to deliver record numbers of housing starts and bring in a record amount of private investment. We also breathed new life into many towns and city-centres across the North with our urban regeneration initiatives.
I think people genuinely recognise that an Executive with more SDLP ministers would be a better Executive for the people of Northern Ireland.
I sense also that people are ready to put the SDLP back at the heart of government, but they also want to see Party renewal. I can assure them that SDLP renewal is indeed underway.
In this election, we have more candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds than any other Party, and in particular, we have more young candidates than ever before.
We have the record of delivery, the platform for change and a team of candidates with a real blend of experience, energy and imagination. We are honest about the challenges we all face but at the same time brimming over with ideas to make government work better.
With your support we promise to unite people, build prosperity and deliver better Government for you and your family.
Vote SDLP on the 5th of May.
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