SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has said lives will be put at risk by the
closure of ten beds in a ward at the Mid-Ulster hospital from Monday October
19.
Mr McGlone said: “Staff at the Mid-Ulster Hospital have raised serious
concerns at the Northern Trust’s intention to close ten beds on Ward One at
the hospital. Workers at the hospital have not been consulted about this
closure and have been given just a few days notice to prepare for a move to
Antrim Area Hospital.....more
SDLP Mid
Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has revealed the implementation of the Review of
Public Administration (RPA) by Stormont departments, a measure to save
money, has cost more that £90million.
Mr McGlone, a member of the Stormont Public Accounts Committee, has tabled a
number of Assembly questions to the Stormont departments to detail the
amount accrued under RPA. The current all-department spend was £90,789,748.
Only the Department of Education and the Department for Regional Development
have as yet failed to detail figures......more
SDLP
Agriculture Spokesperson Patsy McGlone MLA has urged the Finance and
Agriculture Ministers to negotiate effectively with Revenue and Customs to
avoid disruption to traditional farming in the North relating to the
inheritance tax ruling on land held in Conacre agreements......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has expressed his concern to the Environment
Minister about the recent hike in entertainment licences fees and proposals
by the DOE to increase these fees further.
Mr McGlone said: “The entertainment industry faces difficult times in this
economic crisis as all businesses do and any increase in their running costs
at this time must be carefully considered......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has demanded that DUP MLA Ian McCrea apologise
for his deeply offensive comments that ‘the Pope is the Antichrist’ and that
his visit to Ireland would be ‘detrimental to community relations.’......more
SDLP Mid Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has said
four patients waiting on trolleys at Mid Ulster Hospital this week show that
recent proposals approved by the Health Minister are clearly not workable.......more
SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy
McGlone has said the high level of consultancy spending by Stormont
departments needs to be curtailed if value for tax-payers’ money is to be
delivered.
Mr McGlone has unearthed a £116million spend by departments through a
succession of Assembly questions to Stormont Ministers......more
25th September
2009
Derrychrin Primary School Visit
The
Derrychrin Primary School
website has photos here of the recent visit by Patsy McGlone, MLA.
SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy
McGlone has expressed his deep sadness at the death of an 18-year-old man in
a car crash on the Magherafelt Road in Moneymore......more
SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has said
reports ofthe proposed closure of accident and emergency services at the
Mid-Ulster hospital in Magherafelt will be a major blow to people in the
area and has called on the Department of Health to clarify its position on
the matter.....more
16th September
2009
Cookstown Council to Lobby for Fleadh Cheoil
Cookstown District Council agreed the SDLP
motion and will lobby Comholtas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCE) to hold next year’s
Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in the local area. The motion to Council was signed
by SDLP Cllrs Mary Baker, Peter Cassidy, James McGarvey, Patsy McGlone &
Tony Quinn.
Text of
Motion to Council:
“That Cookstown Council lobby for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann to be hosted in
the Mid Ulster Area."
SDLP representatives in
Cookstown met with Housing Executive officials last week to highlight local
concerns about Housing Executive properties.
The SDLP delegation, led by MLA for Mid Ulster, Patsy McGlone, and including
Cllrs Mary Baker and Tony Quinn and local SDLP representative Christine
McFlynn, met with local Housing Executive officers on Wednesday 9th
September......more
SDLP MLA for Mid Ulster,
Patsy McGlone, has welcomed resurfacing work being carried out by Roads
Service at Drumenny Road from Ballinderry Bridge to Derrychrin School and
from Duffs’ Corner to The Diamond, Ardboe.
Mr McGlone said, “The work undertaken by Roads Service to resurface Drumenny
Road near Derrychrin School and at The Diamond, Ardboe, is to be welcomed
even if long overdue. The road, especially from the Bridge to the school,
has been in awful shape for too long now. I have recently also again
contacted Roads Service in Omagh to press for work to start on the
long-awaited pedestrian footway along Ballinderry Bridge.....more
SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has said that devolution is at a cross
roads and other parties need to decide whether to go backwards or to move
forwards in the best interests of the entire community.
Speaking at the launch of an SDLP policy document Your Future, Our Priority
– Making Devolution Work, Mr McGlone outlined at least 10 areas where the
party want to see movement in the next two years of devolution......more
SDLP Councillors in Cookstown are asking
the Council to lobby Comholtas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCE) to hold next year’s
Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in the local area. The motion to Council is signed
by SDLP Cllrs Mary Baker, Peter Cassidy, James McGarvey, Patsy McGlone &
Tony Quinn.
SDLP MLA for Mid Ulster, Patsy McGlone, said the news that Comhaltas
Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ) is considering holding the all-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil
at a northern venue offers new opportunities to promote our rich cultural
tradition, and would provide a much needed boost to the local economy......more
SDLP Mid Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has
condemned those who held a Coalisland family hostage before attempting to
hijack a cash in transit van on Thursday.
He said: “This type of thuggery has no place in the community and the people
of Coalisland, or anywhere, do not deserve to be harassed and humiliated in
this manner........more
SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has
condemned those responsible for placing a suspicious device at a house in
Moneymore.
“Those who planted this device have shown a total disregard for public
safety and the hard work which has been done to create a peaceful society.........more
SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said
night-time disruption of families and farming activity along the Lough Neagh
shore by low-flying helicopters must stop.........more
SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said the
higher rate of approval for rural housing revealed by his Assembly questions
merely represents the partial righting of the deeply unfair Direct Rule ban
imposed by the previous PPS14 policy.
He said: “The headline figure of 98% approvals under the current PPS21
should come with a health warning – it is just a partial clearing of an
artificial backlog. Planning officers prioritised the applications most
likely to be successful when the new policy came into effect last November,
so the approval rate can be expected to drop dramatically soon. But there
are still elements of the new policy that are unfair to rural people.........more
SDLP
Agriculture spokesperson Patsy McGlone has urged farmers and local
businesses experiencing difficulties with their bank over lending to contact
his office. Mr McGlone was speaking after attending a Stormont
Agriculture Committee meeting on Tuesday to discuss the banks’ continuing
relationship with farmers.
The SDLP is also compiling a list of cases to be presented to Prime Minister
Gordon Brown over banks’ refusal to lend creating difficulty with small
businesses here.........more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone is using online communications to help people
through the credit crunch.
Mr McGlone said: “My website
www.patsymcglone.com guides people in the right direction to attain
expert advice and help though the credit crunch with handy links to agencies
such as the citizens advice bureau and HMRC to enable people to assess their
tax credit entitlements........more
SDLP MLA
for Mid-Ulster, Patsy McGlone, has said that the extra £20 million earmarked
for housing maintenance in the delayed June budget monitoring round is very
welcome, but it does not put social housing on the sound financial basis
required to meet the needs of the economy, construction workers and people
in housing need.
Mr McGlone said: “The immediate impact of this re-allocated money is that
the Housing Executive will be able to resume spending on repairs and
maintenance to bring housing executive homes up to a decent standard, as
well as securing some 800 jobs at least for the rest of this year. This is
particularly important in Mid-Ulster where the construction industry has
been decimated by the economic crisis........more
SDLP Mid
Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has written to the Foreign Ministers in the
Republic and Britain, expressing his concern over the continued detention of
Baha’i leaders in Tehran.
He said: “A number of my constituents who are in the Baha’i community came
to me wishing for some help highlighting the continued imprisonment, without
trial, of leaders of their community in Evin Prison in Tehran.
“I agreed with them and immediately sent letters to Michael Martin and David
Milliband, as well as the Iranian Embassy in London, detailing my concern at
the continuing situation.......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has welcomed the nine-month custodial sentence
given to former PSNI data clerk Aaron Hill, who passed information on
nationalists to paramilitaries. Mr McGlone wrote to the Attorney General to
protest the original suspended sentence.......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said Ireland will be united by those who
practise dialogue, persuasion and the building of trust, not by those who
have promoted division, distrust and the use of murderous force.
Mr McGlone was speaking at a special weekend event to celebrate the teams of
election workers who fought the Euro election in mid-Ulster. He said:
“For more than 80 years many who proclaimed the goal of a united Ireland
treated it solely as an aspiration, something to be wished for rather than
worked for, to be preached more than practised. Some of those who shouted
the loudest did the least to achieve their goal, and worse still, some of
them worked actively against any realistic prospect of unity.......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said it is increasingly clear that the culture
of paying large bonuses to civil servants is beyond the control of the
ministers to whom they are supposedly answerable.
A series of Assembly questions put down by Mr McGlone established that
senior civil servants are receiving more than a million pounds a year in
bonuses.........more
SDLP Mid
Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has expressed his regret at the loss of 70 jobs due
to the closure of Meteor in Kildress, near Cookstown.
He said: “This is a devastating blow for the Mid Ulster area. Meteor is a
brand known throughout Ireland and it is very sad that a company that has
been trading very successfully in the area for 25 years has been forced to
close.........more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said it is time to question the bonus culture
that has grown up in the upper reaches of the Civil Service.
Mr McGlone put down a series of questions asking ministers to account for
bonus payments over the last five years. He said: “I am still waiting for
answers from some departments but it is already clear that there is a bonus
system in operation for top grades which we as public representatives would
find it very difficult to defend to the general public, especially in a
downturn........more
SDLP MLA
Patsy McGlone, chair of the Stormont Environment Committee, has reduced his
future carbon footprint by buying a low-carbon emission car.
Mr McGlone received the keys to his new BlueMotion Volkswagen Passat from
Terrence Donnelly, proprietor of Donnelly Motors, at Stormont at 12pm on
Tuesday 12th May.
BlueMotion vehicles are considered extremely energy efficient and reduce the
carbon emission of its engines as well as harnessing energy saving
techniques through its design.......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said those responsible for the destruction of
posters featuring SDLP European candidate Alban Maginness are enemies of
democracy......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has written to Assembly Speaker Wille Hay MLA
about remarks made by Environment Minister Sammy Wilson which are clearly
offensive to people suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. Mr McGlone,
who chairs the Environment Committee, said the Speaker must set the
boundaries of proper conduct and good taste in Assembly debate.....more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said people around Cookstown are horrified
following the crash on the Drum road which cost three people their lives......more
SDLP MLA
for Mid Ulster, Patsy McGlone has challenged the NI Finance Minister to
“come clean” on the Executive’s finances and the three-year spending plan
contained in the Programme for Government.
Mr McGlone was speaking after the launch of the SDLP’s innovative and
acclaimed discussion paper on the Revision of the Northern Ireland
Executive’s Budget, 2008-2011, “New Priorities in Difficult Times”. The
document has been welcomed by prominent economists and people throughout the
business sector.......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone has welcomed news from the Attorney-General
Baroness Scotland that the sentences handed down to two loyalist bandsmen
are to be referred back to the Court of Appeal.......more
SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy
McGlone has written to the Attorney-General Baroness Scotland to investigate
the leniency of sentences handed down to two loyalist bandsmen who used a
police database to gather information on a number of his constituents.
He said: “In the summer of 2007 a number of people in my constituency were
informed by the police that their personal details were in the hands of
paramilitaries and that subsequently they and their families could be at
risk"......more
16th March
2009
Supporting the World Wildlife
Fund's Earth Hour 2009
From BBC NI
Stormont Live 16/03/09, discussing
the NI Assembly's support for the World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour 2009
after the SDLP motion for turning off Parliament Buildings lights on
Saturday 28th March was passed......more
videos here
Staff and
pupils in St. Colm’s High School, Draperstown, were honoured when Mr Patsy
McGlone, local MLA, attended a question and answer session on climate change
and its solutions held by Year 10 pupils on Friday 6th March.
This event was organised by the Science department during the Friends of the
Earth’s ‘Shout about Climate Solutions’ Week- 2nd to 6th March 2009. Year 10
pupils produced a foyer display on climate solutions focussing on what we
can do as individuals, in our schools and in our communities. They also
organised a lunchtime walking club during the week which was well attended
by many pupils.......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said people along the western shore of Lough
Neagh are once again being devastated by low-flying military helicopters on
late-night training flights.......more
SDLP MLA
for Mid Ulster, Patsy McGlone welcomed party colleague, and Social
Development Minister, Margaret Ritchie to Magherafelt on 18th February.
Local SDLP representatives, Cllr Jim Campbell, Cllr Tony Quinn, Cllr Mary
Baker and Constituency Chairman Joe McBride, were also on hand for the
Social Development Minister’s visit to Kidz Lodge Childcare........more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlonesaid the sight of farmers queuing all night for
grants is a terrible indictment of the Department of Agriculture and the way
it is administered by Minister Michelle Gildernew........more
SDLP MLA
Patsy McGlone, who chairs the Assembly Environment Committee, said the basic
issues around climate change must be resolved quickly and clearly before
more damage is done to our image. The Committee hearings scheduled to begin
next month should help........more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said Environment Minister Sammy Wilson’s claims
to have eased the rural housing ban are worth little when the local planning
office is still rejecting 85% of applications.......more
Local SDLP
representatives and constituency workers held a mini-conference on benefits
awareness recently to help address the growing number of constituents
seeking assistance at the SDLP’s Mid Ulster offices.
SDLP MLA for Mid Ulster Patsy McGlone said, “With growing numbers of
constituents contacting my offices in Mid Ulster seeking assistance on
accessing benefits, and with concerns about other credit issues, we decided
it would be a good time to ensure that all of our elected representatives
and constituency workers in the area were up to date on the latest details
of the help we can provide......more
SDLP MLA
for Mid Ulster Patsy McGlone has expressed concern at the apparently
arbitrary nature of the Cold Weather Payment. He was speaking after it was
revealed that although postcode areas BT80 and BT70 were included in a
recent Cold Weather Payment, the adjacent postcode area BT71 was not. The
payment relates to the period between 29th December 2008 and 4 January 2009......more
SDLP MLA
for Mid Ulster Patsy McGlone has welcomed a commitment by the Minister for
Enterprise to develop effective broadband services in rural areas including
Ardboe. Mr McGlone was speaking after receiving a written answer from the
Minister to a question he had tabled in the Assembly. He had raised the
matter after a number of complaints from the Ardboe area......more
SDLP
Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said maintenance cuts forced on the Housing
Executive by Sinn Fein and the DUP are gutting small builders across the
north.......more
