Kamble says vote Alliance to protect environment

10.40.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 26th Aug 2008

Alliance Party Enniskillen by-election candidate Dr Kumar Kamble has said that a vote for Alliance is a vote for the party that works to protect the environment. He said environmentalism is particularly important because Fermanagh's vital tourism industry relies on the area's natural beauty. He also criticised the Stormont Executive parties' failure to create an independent Environmental Protection Agency.

Dr Kumar Kamble said: "Fermanagh is an area of outstanding beauty, and the scenery and nature are vitally important to our tourism industry. The local environment simply has to be protected in order to ensure that the area's economy can benefit long into the future.

"Alliance is the Opposition at Stormont. The DUP, Sinn Fein, Ulster Unionists and SDLP are in the Executive and they have failed badly on the issue of environmentalism. They had a golden opportunity to create an independent Environmental Protection Agency but refused to do so. All Northern Ireland has been left with is a flimsy organisation which has little power to act on green issues. This shows people how little the four tribal parties care about environmentalism.

"Alliance has been campaigning for years for the creation of an independent Environmental Protection Agency and we have been holding the Executive to account for their failures. If people want to see the local environment being protected then they should vote Alliance."

ENDS