Scaremongering must not prevent scrapping of seven council plan

11.17.44am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 17th May 2007

Lagan Valley Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn

Lagan Valley Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn has slammed Sinn Fein's feeble attempt to stop the ridiculous seven super council plan being scrapped. He said that the current plans must be thrown out in order to prevent a tribal carve up which would set Northern Ireland back politically.

Mr Lunn, who is currently Mayor of Lisburn City Council stated: "Sinn Fein are scaremongering in a feeble attempt to stop the ridiculous seven super council plan from being thrown out.

"The seven council plan is nothing but a tribal carve-up. Instead of genuine power-sharing it will lead to a 'divide and rule' mentality which will set Northern Ireland back politically.

"We need a shared future, not a carved-up system.

"The seven council model is also totally ludicrous because the new areas will have no local identity. It is essential that we retain a sense of local community - the new councils are simply crude divisions of Northern Ireland.

"I am particularly concerned with their vision regarding Inner East Council - the name means absolutely nothing, the area has no identity or community cohesion, and it will be extremely difficult to market from a tourism perspective."

ENDS