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15 May 2013

McNarry challenges Education Minister over rural schools

David McNarry MLA, UKIP Assembly Leader, has challenged the Education Minister over the closure of rural schools. The Strangford MLA has cited evidence from Scotland that rural schools, far from being educationally ineffective, are among the most academically successful schools with perfect 100 / 100 / 100 attainment results in reading, writing and mathematics. “Is Northern Ireland any different? asks Mr McNarry.

“The Minister’s assault on rural schools just like his persistent abuse of Grammar Schools is based on the assumption that rural schools are by their very nature educationally ineffective. Who is saying this is really the case ? There may be no data for Northern Ireland, but there is data for Scotland where people take fact-based and data-led decision a great deal more seriously than they appear to do in Northern Ireland. Here Communities, parents, pupils and teachers are meant to roll over and acquiesce in this bullying style of government. UKIP, will not roll over and acquiesce in Sinn Fein absolutism.”

“Look at the Scottish experience. Publications by the Scottish Government it tell us quite clearly and explicitly that there is a tendency for Local Authorities with high proportions of rural schools to spend less not more per pupil on devolved school management. Perhaps the Minister can enlighten us on this ?

“Then there are the hidden costs of schools closures. The Scottish Rural Schools Network indicated in its supplementary submission to the Scottish Government that data disclosed by Local Authorities shows that transporting children 5 miles costs at least £1,000 a year on average. These costs are often heavily underestimated at the time that closure is proposed, and can frequently outweigh possible savings. Have transport costs been factored in to proposed closures of rural schools in Northern Ireland? The Minister needs to answer this.”

“The effect of deprivation on student outcomes was also much less marked in rural schools than elsewhere in the educational system in Scortland. Far from showing educational disadvantage, the measure used by the Scottish Government demonstrates a positive relationship between education and rurality. It also indicates that the areas benefiting the most are those rural areas with higher degrees of deprivation.”

“Accessible early years provision and wraparound care are very important in rural areas. We need innovative solutions including using rural schools as community hubs for integrated services. This is something I have argued for many times before. I counsel the Minister to think again and I say to the Assembly that it is high time we started to take decisions based on facts and not on questionable party dogma and deliberate social engineering agendas.”
ENDS

David McNarry MLA UKIP Leader NI Assembly News Release
​Date: 9 May 13

Online Petition to stop a “terrorist shrine” at the Maze Prison site is launched by Unionists

An online petition opposing the creation of “a terrorist shrine” at the site of the former Maze Prison has been launched by ‘Raze the Maze’, a group which includes members from the Ulster Unionist Party, TUV and UKIP.

Speaking after the launch, UKIP MLA David McNarry said: “The aim of the petition is to give people across Northern Ireland an opportunity to show their opposition to the proposals for a Conflict Resolution Centre at the Maze Prison. There is a very real fear within a large section of the community that any centre will simply become a shrine to deceased paramilitaries, and we’re hoping that my making a petition available, both in various offices and online, that the voices against the project will be heard.

The petition calls for three things – For the Minister of the Environment to de-list and demolish the remaining prison buildings at the site; for the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to withdraw the current proposals for a Conflict Resolution Centre at the site; and for the European Commission to withdraw funding for a Conflict Resolution Centre at the site.

I would encourage anyone who shares our concerns to sign the petition. Applying your signature only takes a minute, and you’ll be helping to send a very clear signal to those with power over this project that it does not have your support.”

You can sign the online petition at the following web address –
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-a-terrorist-shrine-at-the-former-maze-prison-1

Footnote: David McNarry urges resurgence of Pro Union people to take this forward.



​Ends

David McNarry MLA UKIP Leader NI Assembly News Release contact 02897 510 705
07 May 2013
McNarry says DUP are in enough trouble over Maze without adding a flags deal with Sinn Fein to the list
David McNarry MLA, UKIP Assembly Leader, speaking on the First and deputy first Minister’s announcement of progress on the flags issue has said :
“Unionists will not tolerate any tampering with the status and primacy of the union flag. The DUP are in enough trouble over the Maze shrine debacle without engaging in another unseemly bartering exercise with Sinn Fein. There can be no acceptable deal done by Peter Robinson which satisfies the demands made by Martin McGuinness. Unionists are not enamoured with the flippancy of “wait and see” announcements made by the First and deputy First Minister. They are both performing like political acrobats on a sensitive issue. What they say lacks substance or substantiation.”
ENDS

Please sign and share this petition
http://www.change.org/petitions/northern-ireland-assembly-de-list-and-demolish-the-maze-prison-buildings-3

This Wednesday DRD Minister Danny Kennedy is to appear before the Assembly DRD Committee.
Despite the opportunity to discuss issues on the A5 legal decision and Translink the Minister is indicating that this meeting will concentrate on NI Water, saying A5 and Translink merit separate discussions.
It’s a Ministerial dodge by Danny Kennedy who clearly does not feel comfortable in dealing with the Committees scrutiny of the A5 and Translink which are matters of public interest.


David McNarry
UKIP Ni stormont leader

This is the link to the new UKIP website please share .
http://www.ukip.org/

David McNarry MLA, UKIP’s leader in the Northern Ireland Assembly, has hailed the success of UKIP in the English local council elections as a day “when the mould of politics was broken for ever.”
“This result is of tremendous significance, not just for the UK as a whole but for us here in Northern Ireland too. It has shown the people that they can do it – they can change things by their vote. People are fed up with the old parties who are, quite simply, not delivering for them. This has broken the monopoly on power of the old parties – aptly described this week as the “LibDemConLab donkey.” When people get the chance, the same can be true here in Northern Ireland as well.”
“The old parties here in Northern Ireland just like the Conservatives, LibDems and Labour in England are not delivering. The poor management which characterises the way the Executive is run by the big parties at Stormont is all too clear, especially in the last two weeks. The big parties here are disconnected from the people even more than the big parties are in England. The result so far in Northern Ireland has been more and more voter abstention with barely half the electorate bothering to vote. Now these English results have shown the people that they can take the next step, break the mould, come out and vote for UKIP in the upcoming European and Council elections here, and take a positive step towards changing things for ever. My message to the electorate is – it’s time for change and UKIP is the vehicle for that change.”
“So, of course, I am delighted with the good news for UKIP across England with 25% of the national vote but I am also sure this is the template for change here in Northern Ireland as well. Politics must achieve something for people and not just be the dead weight of inactivity and mismanagement which characterises the old parties here.”
ENDS

I don’t want any more of my money spent in a futile attempt to prop up the Euro.
That’s why I say NO MORE BAILOUTS

Please share this petition with all your friends and family.

http://www.ukip.org/petition/no-more-bailouts