Kieran

Election Communication
Strangford Constituency
Kieran
McCarthy
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.”

Label here

THURSDAY 29th MAY 2003

Strangford
www.allianceworks.org 1 Kieran McCarthy Alliance Works ~ Tribal Politics Doesn’t
Published by Peter Copeland on behalf of Kieran
www.allianceworks.org
McCarthy, both at 1A Westmount Park, Newtownards,
BT23 4BP. Printed by GPS Colour Graphics,
Alexander Road, Belfast, BT6 9HF.

Kieran McCarthy
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
Alliance Works ~ Tribal Politics Doesn’t
Back in 1998, people voted for a new beginning. While in many
The full Assembly Manifesto, and detailed policy papers are available from www.allianceworks.org or by phoning 9032 4274
respects Northern Ireland is better than before, the progress
that people had a right to expect has not occurred.
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.