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MAGINNESS - SINN FEIN FAILING TO DELIVER FOR DERRY IN
EUROPE SDLP European Election candidate Alban Maginness MLA has said our current European representatives have let down the people of Derry and the time is right for change. Mr Maginness addressed the SDLP Association of Councillors in the City Hotel on Saturday and remarked how the SDLP had a record of delivery from Europe in Derry that Sinn Fein have failed to reproduce in the last four years. The meeting was attended by SDLP leader and Foyle MP Mark Durkan MLA, Minister for Social Development Margaret Ritchie MLA, and Nobel Laureate John Hume. Mr Maginness stated: “In recent weeks I have travelled throughout the North and also attended a series of meetings in the European Parliament in Brussels. I have engaged on issues such as the Lisbon Treaty and the current world economic crisis. It is clear from these meetings that Europe can play a key role in taking coordinated action to ensure that people in all corners of the European Union are protected from the worst fall out of the credit crunch. I have also discussed with my colleagues a number of initiatives which can directly benefit the community in the North. “Europe must deliver for the people it serves. Unfortunately that has been sadly lacking in the North over the last four years. Our three current representatives are isolated from each other and isolated from the levers of power in Europe. “The promises they made four years ago have come to nothing. They have not delivered. They have not built on or used the positive influence built by John Hume and the SDLP over 25 years in Brussels. They had a template for unparalleled success and delivery and yet they chose to ignore it. They have wasted a legacy on which so much more could have been built. “Jim Allister has used his European seat, not to talk about European issues or objectives or policies, he has used it to build a platform for himself based on division, fomenting distrust, and encouraging instability. Sinn Fein has shown their disdain for Europe by using it only for publicity and photo shoots. No substance and no delivery from a representative who is unseen, unsound and unheard from. People are right to have become cynical and distrustful of Europe because of our current representation. They are right to ask what has it done for them, and what is it taking away from them. “The SDLP worked hard in Europe to ensure that people in Derry benefited from our contacts and experience. We never forgot that the people who elected us deserved and expected a return for their support. “They don’t need reminded what the SDLP did for them in Europe. They see it everyday as they travel across the Foyle Bridge or fly out of City of Derry airport. But the SDLP is not about standing still for Derry. We have always been about delivering for Derry, in Westminster through our MP, in the Assembly with our three MLAs, in local government with our mayor and council group. I intend to do the same in Europe and give the people of Derry a change for the better. “Over the last month I have made it clear across the North and to my colleagues in the European Parliament that the SDLP will continue to engage, not withdraw, on behalf of the people of the North. We will use our mandate positively, not as a tool to score local party political points. We recognise the need for change and have the agenda and contacts to ensure that it happens.”
ENDS
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