Strangford - Ea2

Election Communication

Strangford Constituency

Kieran McCarthy

Kieran

McCarthy “Improving community relations must be the biggest priority for our Assembly - not an optional extra. Only Alliance is providing credible answers to the problem of how we deal with our divisions.” “Only Alliance asks the awkward questions that need to be asked, and raises the difficult issues that need to be raised.”

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Strangford

THURSDAY 29th MAY 2003

www.allianceworks.org Published by Peter Copeland on behalf of Kieran McCarthy, both at 1A Westmount Park, Newtownards, BT23 4BP. Printed by GPS Colour Graphics, Alexander Road, Belfast, BT6 9HF.

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Kieran McCarthy

Alliance Works ~ Tribal Politics Doesn’t www.allianceworks.org

Kieran McCarthy Works • Elected to Ards Council in 1985. • Appointed Justice of the Peace in 1990. • Alliance Party Chief Whip, Northern Ireland Assembly. • Alliance Spokesperson on Health and Social Services, and on Culture, Arts and Leisure. • Chair of the Cross-party Assembly Group on Older People, working to ensure the needs of the elderly are kept high on the political agenda. • Led the campaign to end age discrimination and for free nursing and personal care for the elderly.

Strangford Kieran McCarthy has worked tirelessly as a public representative for Strangford to secure better conditions and services for constituents on a wide range of issues including: • Safer road conditions, especially the A20 – not much help from DUP Ministers for Regional Development! • More effective use of resources at the Ulster Hospital and in primary and community care. • Improved ambulance cover and out of hours GP services. • Removal of unacceptable sectarian graffiti. • Assistance for those leaving special schools. • Support for viable tourism projects. • A leading figure in the campaign to control the abuse of fireworks. • The introduction of concessionary fares for pensioners on the Strangford ferry. • Preservation of our heritage through wider usage of historic townland names. Make sure this work continues: vote Kieran McCarthy No. 1

Five Years of Wasted Opportunities The Agreement has yet to be properly implemented. Traditional parties have pursued their own narrow agendas and bickered over issues such as policing reform rather than working together for the good of all. Even today, rather than looking to a shared future together, the UUP and the SDLP are moving to the extremes, looking over their shoulders at the DUP and Sinn Féin. Meanwhile on the streets, sectarianism, segregation and enforcing the law remain major problems. Sectarianism Costs Sectarianism and segregation carry huge human and financial costs. More and more people are living almost parallel lives with a bare minimum of contact with people from different backgrounds. Huge resources are wasted in providing separate facilities that could be better invested in improving public services. Why do we persist in forcing people into boxes called unionism and nationalism? Apartheid never worked in South Africa. It can never work here. Making the Difference Healing our community divisions must be the biggest priority for the Assembly. Unless we seriously address these problems, they will eventually destroy the Agreement and all that has been achieved so far. Alliance is the leading cross-community and anti-sectarian voice in Northern Ireland. Alliance is the political voice of those who work to create a united community, characterised by sharing not separation. Alliance offers everyone an invitation to join something different, something better than tribal politics – a genuinely shared and non-sectarian future. For Alliance, the Agreement is not the ceiling of our ambition. It is the foundation on which we can build a better future.

The full Assembly Manifesto, and detailed policy papers are available from www.allianceworks.org or by phoning 9032 4274

Kieran McCarthy

Alliance Works ~ Tribal Politics Doesn’t Back in 1998, people voted for a new beginning. While in many respects Northern Ireland is better than before, the progress that people had a right to expect has not occurred.