Patsy McGlone 30th April 2009

MCGLONE RAISES WILSON ALZHEIMERS REMARKS WITH SPEAKER

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.

He said: “Sammy Wilson likes to push the boundaries of robust debate and he clearly enjoys adopting contrarian positions and generally raising controversy which puts him in the limelight. Many of us have been on the receiving end of his wit and repartee, some of us even enjoy his attempted put-downs, but we are well able to defend ourselves. It is a very different matter when he steps over the line and deliberately or unthinkingly uses language which can only cause offence to vulnerable people who are not in a position to defend themselves.

“This is not a matter of being politically correct, in fact it is more about common decency and common sense. Sammy is a practised insulter and he is perfectly capable of working out ways of offending and irritating myself and my colleagues without reference to anyone’s serious illness. He has just over-stepped the mark and if he no longer knows where the mark is, then someone has to tell him.”

ENDS 30/04/09