“After months of lobbying the Minister on the need for the Tyrella & Minerstown areas to be kept as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, I welcome the Ministers announcement today.

“From the beginning it was clear to the community that it was impracticable and unacceptable to exclude Tyrella and Minerstown from the local AONB, and I am pleased that public pressure and influence has resulted in the Department of Environment taking the responsible and right decision not to exclude these very important and naturally beautiful areas from our local AONB.

Having not yet viewed the detail of what will be included in the AONB, I trust the Ministers statement that the AONB will include “the area around Tyrella and Minerstown “ will respond in full to the calls of the local community and the wider environmental lobby.

Ends.

Mr McGrady stated, “NI Water have confirmed to me that they are undertakeing work to separate the Drumaness flows from the Spa and Magheratimpany flows and that capital funding for the project has been approved.

I have been advised that the scheme has now been designed and new inlet screening, flow balancing tanks an augmented treatment process at the Drumaness works have been incorporated. Additional sewage storage facilities are also being constructed at Spa.

A construction team has been appointed and work began on the Drumnaess site at the beginning of this month. I will continue to pursue NI Water on this matter in order to ensure the completion of these works,  and what I hope will be improved conditions for the people of the Drumaness area.”

This new body will employ over 1000 staff in the provision of Human Resources, Accounting, Payroll and IT Services for the Health Sector. I firmly believe that the Downshire Site is the ideal location for its new Headquarters, which will oversee two other satellite offices of the Business Services Organisation based in the North & West of Northern Ireland. Downpatrick and the Downshire site are traditionally centres of Government administration, and geographically its is ideally placed  to act as the central HQ of this new organisation

I will be liaising with the South Eastern Health Trust and other relevent agencies in an effort to secure the Business Services Organisation HQ for the Downshire site.

This is a real possibility for job creation in Downpatrick and the surrounding area, and would be a great boost for the new public services estate to be based on the Downshire site.

Ends.

This clean up will add signficantly to the overall improvements in Kilkeel centre and will compliement the street improvement works that will

Mr McGrady stated, “I have now been advised by Minster Margaret Ritchie that the Housing Executive has completed an initial feasibility study and consultants have been appointed to produce a design layout. If everything remains on track, there is the potential for the scheme to commence in 2011/2012, thereby providing a boost to the town’s social housing stock and, in reality, allowing more families to move off the waiting list and into brand new homes. These new houses will be built on a piece of land that has been the focus of antisocial behaviour and it is my hope that this new development will add significantly to the standard of life of those living in the area.

I am aware of the difference that such a scheme can bring to peoples lives as they are offered the chance of new, good-quality housing and I look forward to the completion of this scheme.”

Over the past year I have held meetings with the Trust Chief Executive on the issue of the Mid-wife Led Maternity Unit and at all times the Trust were committed to providing this service within the New Downe Hospital. Thankfully the second phase of the recruitment campaign has proved successful and the highly trained and skilled staff required will be on site this month to open the doors of this state of the art facility.

I will continue to monitor services at the hospital and hope that this will be the beginning of attracting innovative and leading medical services to the Downe Hospital.

Ends.

“It is clear that the soon to be implemented European Fisheries Fund must deliver immediate funding to the industry and management plans that will assist its future development. I am concerned that under the European Fund some of the measures will require significant investment from the boat and business owners and that in this current very difficult financial climate fishermen and businesses will be unable to met the investment require of them to avail of modernisation schemes. I would hope that the Minister will be responsive to this situation and introduce measures that reflect the current economic climate and offer help not a financial burden to the fishermen

Other issues discussed during the meeting were the dreaded annual fisheries negotiation in Brussels and how year on year they place unrealistic burdens on our fishing industry. It is vital that a stronger negotiating stance is achieved by the Northern Ireland Department and I would urge that Department to use the current review of the Common Fisheries Policy to achieve a stronger bargaining position within Europe. The issue of Regional Devolution of Fisheries responsibility is vital to Northern Ireland if we are to have strong and unimpeded representations in Brussels. It is my understanding however that the Department of Agriculture has opted to stay within the UK for the purposes of Brussels negotiations and I am concerned that, as this has been detrimental to the local fishing industry in the past it may well be detrimental to the industry in the future

As we approach decisions on how the new European Fisheries Fund will be delivered it is crucial that the Department focus on the extraordinary economic and social impact that the European quota and days at sea cuts combined with the global financial crisis have had on the fishing industry, and they must look at delivering packages that are responsive to these immediate needs and that deliver a long-term future for the industry.

These seizures show us the importance of assisting the police with any information we have on drug dealers or the location of drugs.

These seizures in Kilkeel, Lisburn, Hillsborough, Lurgan and Belfast are the tip of the iceberg and represent a proportion of the drugs that are circulating throughout Northern Ireland. We can be assured that the PSNI are monitoring these high level criminals and they must be congratulated on this success and assisted by the community.”

Mr McGrady said: “I have received correspondence from Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster, who has responsibility for energy, stating that her ‘Department has not responded to earlier consultations on this issue and will not be responding to the latest consultation’. Environment Minister Edwin Poots has also confirmed that his Department will not be responding.

“Through many years of anti-nuclear campaigning I have become all too aware of the safety issues surrounding nuclear power and the pollution of the Irish Sea from Sellafield.  So I am naturally concerned that our local ministers charged with responsibility for environment and energy are satisfied merely to be ‘kept informed’ about seven new nuclear power stations so close to their territory.

“I will be calling on the Assembly’s Enterprise Trade & Investment Committee, which has responsibility for energy matters, to investigate why such a serious issue as a neighbouring nuclear power station is not being at the very least scrutinised by the relevant department.”

ENDS