NI Conservatives’ spokeswoman, Lesley Macaulay, has again called on the Stormont Executive to agree and implement a meaningful Cohesion, Sharing and Integration Strategy, as a matter of urgency.
“It is now almost 5 years since the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister promised the people of Northern Ireland a strategy for a shared future, to address sectarianism and racism. As the past week has shown, the gap between outbreaks of sectarian violence are getting shorter, as the delay in the Stormont Executive agreeing a community relations strategy gets ever longer. Violence is now filling the gap in forward thinking by Stormont parties.”
“Worse still, we continue to see political parties that are more passionate about ‘them and us’ issues than the ‘all of us’ issues which affect our daily lives, such as jobs, education and health. The two largest in particular like to pose as peace-makers when it suits them, while behind the scenes they stoke up sectarianism.”
“Did those who decided to use the flags issue for political purposes, have no clue at all about what they might unleash? It is morally wrong for politicians to incite the most disenfranchised people in our society and then to condemn them and wash their hands of the mayhem they have created.”
“Once again, the NI Conservatives call upon the Stormont Executive to devise and implement a strategy to combat the divisions that continue to undermine our economic growth and social development.”