Alliance: Northern Ireland's cross community party

Alliance meets Ulster Unionists to discuss making Executive work

11.30.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 25th Sep 2008

Portrait-yellow: FORD David (photography: Allan Leonard)

Alliance Leader David Ford MLA

The Alliance Party recently met the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party and Leader David Ford said the meeting was very constructive, with both parties discussing how to improve the health budget and deliver on mental health services.

David Ford said: "We are keen to find a way forward and we appreciate the fact that the Ulster Unionists are similarly minded. Our meeting was very constructive and we found common ground on a number of important issues.

"The current political stalemate simply cannot continue. We both agreed that Northern Ireland needs a government focussed on delivery rather than deadlock.

"We discussed the need for a review of the institutions to help restore faith in the Assembly. People want to see government that can and will deliver on issues that impact on their everyday lives.

"We want to see real improvements in the health budget because Peter Robinson's cuts mean that ambulance services, home help and hospital cleanliness suffer. We want to prioritise improving mental health services in particular because Northern Ireland's do not compare favourably to those in other parts of the UK.

"We have met the leadership of the DUP and Ulster Unionists and we plan to meet Sinn Fein and the SDLP. We will continue our battle to make a shared future a key government priority and push the Executive parties to deliver improved and more sustainable services."

ENDS

Bookmark this story at: del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg FacebookFacebook redditreddit StumbleUponStumbleUpon
Print this news story.
Previous news story: Fish kill failure and Wilson's comments are disgraceful (Wed 24th Sep 2008).
Next news story: McCarthy puts 'home help' services on Assembly agenda (Thu 25th Sep 2008).

Related News Stories:

Tue 16th Mar 2010:

Mon 8th Mar 2010:

Tue 12th Jan 2010:

Wed 25th Nov 2009:

Mon 14th Sep 2009:

Tue 28th Apr 2009:

Sun 26th Apr 2009:

Mon 20th Apr 2009:

Thu 1st Jan 2009:

Mon 15th Dec 2008:

Mon 24th Nov 2008:

Tue 18th Nov 2008:

Wed 12th Nov 2008:

Mon 13th Oct 2008:

Thu 9th Oct 2008:

Tue 9th Sep 2008:

Mon 28th Jul 2008:

Fri 4th Apr 2008:

Sun 30th Mar 2008:

Fri 29th Feb 2008:

Mon 28th Jan 2008:

Tue 22nd Jan 2008:

Fri 18th Jan 2008:

Fri 11th Jan 2008:

Mon 7th Jan 2008:

Mon 17th Dec 2007:

Tue 20th Nov 2007:

Fri 19th Oct 2007:

Mon 15th Oct 2007:

Fri 12th Oct 2007:

Wed 10th Oct 2007:

Wed 19th Sep 2007:

Thu 13th Sep 2007:

Mon 10th Sep 2007:

Wed 15th Aug 2007:

Thu 19th Jul 2007:

Tue 26th Jun 2007:

Wed 13th Jun 2007:

Fri 11th May 2007:

Tue 8th May 2007:

Mon 16th Apr 2007:

Sat 24th Mar 2007:

Wed 21st Feb 2007:

Fri 2nd Feb 2007:

Fri 19th Jan 2007:

Fri 3rd Nov 2006:

Sun 29th Oct 2006:

Thu 21st Sep 2006:

Mon 11th Sep 2006:

Wed 6th Sep 2006:

Fri 1st Sep 2006:

Sun 6th Aug 2006:

Thu 3rd Aug 2006:

Tue 18th Jul 2006:

Mon 19th Jun 2006:

Wed 14th Jun 2006:

Fri 9th Jun 2006:

Mon 15th May 2006:

Sat 13th May 2006:

Thu 23rd Feb 2006:

Mon 20th Feb 2006:

Fri 9th Dec 2005:

Wed 7th Dec 2005:

Thu 29th Sep 2005:

Wed 7th Sep 2005:

Fri 29th Jul 2005:

Thu 28th Apr 2005:

Thu 21st Apr 2005:

Mon 18th Apr 2005:

Tue 4th Jan 2005:

Wed 13th Oct 2004:

Thu 12th Feb 2004:

Tue 10th Feb 2004:

Mon 9th Feb 2004:

Fri 16th Jan 2004:

Mon 5th Jan 2004:

Wed 17th Dec 2003:

Tue 25th Nov 2003:

Fri 21st Nov 2003:

Fri 13th Dec 2002:

Tue 10th Sep 2002:

Mon 5th Aug 2002:

Printed and hosted by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY.
Published and promoted by The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, 88 University Street, Belfast, BT7 1HE.
The views expressed are those of the party, not of the service provider.