Ford welcomes all-party meeting prior to Assembly recall

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 11th Apr 2006

Alliance Party Leader David Ford MLA has welcomed the Government's stated intention to hold an all-party meeting prior to the recall of the Assembly, along the lines of the Economic Forum advocated by Alliance some months ago.

David Ford stated: "We are pleased that the parties will have the opportunity to come together to discuss important procedures prior to the recall of the Assembly. Our only concern is that Government agreement to this has been so belated.

"Let us be quite clear that the last Assembly fell not because of micro-issues, but because the system under which it operated was fatally flawed. People simply will not tolerate another Assembly collapse - and they will be right not to.

"There remain very serious question marks over whether all sides wish to participate properly to ensure the institutions work effectively, and restore public faith in local representatives being able to do the job.

"We in the Alliance Party remain determined to do the job we were elected to do - and that means doing everything in our power to ensure that the recall of the Assembly of 15 May is, at worst, a 'soft landing' upon which we can build."

ENDS