West Belfast

Election Communication

West Belfast Constituency

Mary Ayers “Alliance is working to build a

“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.”

united community in Northern Ireland. The Agreement is not the ceiling of our ambition, but the

“Only Alliance asks the awkward questions that need to be asked, and raises the difficult issues that need to be raised.”

foundation on which we can build a shared society. “Alliance is working for an open, free and fair society. Only Alliance rejects the notion that we must all be boxed into ‘two communities’. “Alliance is working to give everyone something better than tribal politics – a genuinely shared future.”

West Belfast

THURSDAY 29th MAY 2003

www.allianceworks.org Published by Dan McGuinness on behalf of Mary Ayers, both at 88 University Street, Belfast, BT7 1HE. Printed by GPS Colour Graphics, Alexander Road, Belfast, BT6 9HF.

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Mary Ayers

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

Mary Ayers Works

• Bright young new and enthusiastic face for West Belfast. • Married with one child. • Policy and Development Assistant working within the community sector. • Substantial policymaking experience from working as a research officer for the Alliance Assembly Party. • Doctorate from Queen’s on Women and Policing, entitled ‘Violent Femmes’. • Special interests in Equality issues, community policing, urban regeneration and sustainable development.

West Belfast “In this election, you can use your first preference vote to send a very powerful message. With P.R., every vote counts. “The past five years have shown that tribal politics can’t deliver for Northern Ireland. By contrast, Alliance is working to deliver a new vision of how we can live and learn, work and play together as a society. “This is your opportunity to say ‘no’ to the failed tribal politics of the past, and to say ‘yes’ to a new beginning by voting Alliance.” Mary Ayers will work • Alliance will place a duty on all Government agencies to promote community relations. • Alliance will work to place more police officers on the streets in order to more effectively combat crime. • Alliance will implement a strategy to make available places for 10% of our children to attend integrated schools by 2010. • Alliance will introduce free personal care for those living in residential and nursing homes. • Alliance will work to ensure fair taxation, giving value for money, ending the abuse of the unfair regional rate.

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 law and order 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 those on ‘the other side’. 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

Mary Ayers

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.