Lo says Executive plans lack important laws and lack radical thinking

12.03.00pm GMT Mon 21st Jan 2008

South Belfast Alliance MLA Anna Lo

South Belfast Alliance MLA Anna Lo has said that the Executive's plans are missing many vital pieces of legislation. She said that the laws proposed offer very few fresh ideas and stated that even the direct rule administration would have offered more in the way of plans to promote a shared future.

Anna Lo MLA said: "The sheer lack of creativity and fresh ideas on legislation and policy within the Executive is extremely worrying. We need progressive and radical thinking to move Northern Ireland forward to more prosperous future.

"I am so disappointed in the Executive's plans that I believe that Direct Rule Ministers would even have come up with more innovative strategies. The biggest difficulty in their documents is not what they contain, but the massive number of important issues they omit.

"Their programme does not include anything about a number of vitally important areas like:

· Single Equality Act,

· Health Authority,

· Education Authority,

· Sustainable Schools policy,

· Post-Primary Education Policy,

· Football Offences Act and

· Environmental Protection Agency,

· Dangerous dogs,

· laws to implement Bamford Review on mental health

Not only have they failed to address any of these areas, they have totally ignored important reports on the costs of segregation (Deloitte), the school estate (Bain) and housing (Semple).

"Their inaction on the Semple report shows that they have no fresh ideas on solving the affordable and social housing crises.

"There has also been a massive failure on the part of the Executive to create the necessary preliminary plans which will enable the devolution of policing and justice. This intransigence is damaging, and the fallout from the Executive's very basic plans will be felt across Northern Ireland for years to come."

ENDS