On the hustings

The BBC news website takes a look at the political statements in the campaign for the general election in Northern Ireland.

Friday 8 April 2005

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Roy Beggs, UUP (East Antrim)

Mr Beggs has claimed victory in his campaign to win extra funding for school dinners in Northern Ireland which attracted the support of over 150 MPs.

TV chef Jamie Oliver recently highlighted the dangers of junk food towards the health of schoolchildren.

This is fantastic news and a great result for our campaign.

I'm absolutely delighted that Mr Gardiner has grasped the importance of improving the nutritional quality of school meals.

He has now given a commitment to make additional funding available from September 2005.

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William McCrea, DUP (South Antrim)

The DUP candidate for South Antrim has called on the government to take a fresh look at plans to implement environmental legislation in Northern Ireland.

Within Northern Ireland, there are massive variations in climatic conditions and growing conditions.

Within the current proposals, farmers who have good quality fertile land are having the same restrictions imposed as farmers in hill areas.

This is resulting in lowland farmers having longer closed periods and having to construct additional slurry storage than would be necessary if a zoning approach was adopted.

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Conor Murphy, Sinn Fein (Newry and South Armagh)

Sinn Fein has expressed profound concern for the health of communities living near the A1 between Newry and Dundlalk, the route of which is being changed.

Mr Murphy said there was anxiety about noise pollution and traffic congestion on the existing carriageway.

These plans by Road Service need to be independently evaluated.

The accountability should be clear so the relevance and impact of the proposals as they stand are understood by all.

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