SDLP Youth University and Colleges Officer Michelle Byrne has welcomed Mark Durkan MP’s motion earlier this week to raise the Student Loan repayment threshold from £15,000 to £18,000.

She said: “I would like to commend Foyle MP and leader of the SDLP Mark Durkan for raising this vital issue. It is good to see an MP who is passionate about fighting for student rights in Westminster.

“Mark Durkan has visited Queens University on many occasions over the years and each time he has underlined his commitment to supporting students in everyway possible, not only in the Northern Ireland Assembly but also in Westminster.

“As a Queens Student, it is fantastic to see that he has fulfilled his promises. This is a great example of how important the student movement is to the SDLP and to the leadership.

“It is fantastic to see that Mark Durkan is continuing to fight for the rights of people who do not have a big say. He deserves the full support not only from students, but from people who actively support student rights.”

SDLP Youth have criticised the police response time in Strabane after PSNI took over two hours to respond to an attempted abduction of a 7-year-old child.

Peter Armstrong, Chair of SDLP Youth said: “It is extremely worrying that it took police two hours to respond to an attempted abduction of a 7-year-old child outside the family home. In these two hours, the perpetrator could have gone onto other estates in Strabane and tried to abduct other young children.

“SDLP Youth are concerned at the number of times police are failing to meet response times for such serious incidents. The police have today once again assured the public that they have put measures in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again, but we are now hearing this every week. It is not good enough. If the police want the community, and particularly young people to have confidence in their service, they must manage their communications and resources better to ensure that the safety and welfare of young people is not put at stake.

“I would call on the PSNI to increase patrols in the area, and to do their utmost to ensure such incidents are not repeated.”

You can now follow the SDLP and SDLP Youth on Twitter!

All the blog posts from SDLP Youth will now automatically be added to Twitter, as well as Bebo and Facebook.

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

SDLP Lisburn Councillor Matthew McDermott proposed at last nights (Tuesday 24 February) Lisburn Council meeting that the council support the strengthening of temporary or agency workers rights.

The issue about weak protections arose in the chamber on the back of the Coca Cola plant in Lisburn laying off, with no opportunity of appeal, redundancy and the like, agency staff.

Commenting about the proposal which gained cross party support Cllr McDermott said, ‘ In the mist of an economic downturn and the inevitable job losses that that results in, Lisburn City Council adopted a position tonight (Tuesday 24 February) to support the improvement of the conditions of temporary workers.

‘It has become too common for news bulletins to carry stories of job losses - and everyone knows that when a company is struggling it gets rid of the staff that are the most expendable, i.e. temporary agency workers.

‘ SDLP, led by SDLP Youth has been continuously campaigning for fairer wages and better rights for agency and temporary workers, many of whom are young, long before the recession and downturn. We will continue that fight.

‘ After much debate, and an adjournment due to one of those former agency workers being present in the public gallery and verbally expressing his frustration and annoyance at the Coca Cola plant and some political members who he feels failed to help him, I made a proposal.

‘ I proposed that Lisburn City Council writes to our Minister for Employment and Learning, Reg Empey MLA, and his counter part in Britain asking them to bring urgent legislation forward that brings temporary workers rights in line with permanent workers rights.

‘ There is no doubt that a change in legislation is long over due.

‘ This proposal is a first step; it gained cross party support thanks to one UUP member’s support and passed.

REMINDER: Members Notice

You are invited to…
SDLP Youth - A New Generation of SDLP Representatives
SDLP Youth will hold a conversation event on Saturday 28th February @ 2.30pm in Party HQ.

The event is to identify those people who see themselves as prospective public representatives of the future. All party members aged 16-30 are invited.

Party staff will explain the up-coming Review of Public Administration, the prospect of council co-options, and the Youth Group will discuss a strategy to ensure that there are young active party members ready to join the next generation of SDLP representatives.

Damian O’Loan has moved from Belfast to Brussels. He has started a new blog, with his thoughts on NI affairs, and it also looks at articles with a French/European influence that are relevant to people in Ireland and Britain. I recommend taking a look.

I also recommend Gary McKeown’s blog - which was set up a few months ago and got quite active recently. It has quite a few interesting stories on there at the moment.

Over the course of the year ECOSY, the youth group of the Party of European Socialists (PES),  organised 29 Europe-wide debates aimed at giving ECOSY member organisations, such as SDLP Youth, an input into the ECOSY priorities for the forthcoming European elections in June 2009.

These events provided member organisations with opportunities to comment on the details of the ECOSY Manifesto “Change for Europe - 9 deliverables for 2009″.

The ECOSY manifesto for the European Elections in June 2009 was formally submitted for consideration to the PES Council in Madrid, Spain in December 2008.

The first summary of ongoing reflections was published for the occasion of the PES Council. Please find here the articles that were included, including a comment from me in my capacity as SDLP Youth ECOSY Bureau Member.

As ECOSY is the SDLP Youth’s parental organisation at the European-level it was vitally important that the manifesto adopted by ECOSY was reflective of our priorities, the priorities of its member organisations and that the developed outcome was a common social-democratic approach to what we as young people would like to see from Europe.

SDLP Youth’s main priority for the European election is the creation of a New Social Europe. This can only be done by getting more social-democratic/socialist MEPs elected.

We need to create a stronger PES so that young people have a stronger voice in the European Parliament.

Only the PES can do this- through its progressive policy agenda.

You can help too:

Join us and help create this New Social Europe, a Europe that puts young people first!

Do you use social networking?

Join our groups on Facebook and Bebo!

The SDLP on Facebook and Bebo

SDLP Youth Group on Facebook and Bebo

Last night on Hearts and Minds, the DUP reveal that they don’t like it when the SDLP are stronger.

Ian Paisley Jnr. said: “Whilst I’m not saying I’d prefer to see Sinn Féin in government because they’re a soft touch, I do believe if the SDLP had more people here we wouldn’t be able to get away with some things… We might be held more to account.”

SDLP Youth has supported calls for Minister for the Environment Sammy Wilson to resign, after the Assembly’s Environment committee passed a vote of No Confidence in the Minister, proposed by SDLP MLA Tommy Gallagher.

Peter Armstrong, Chair of SDLP Youth said: “We welcome the decision by the Environment Committee that Sammy Wilson must go. The Committee is responsible for scrutinising the work of the Minister and they have correctly recognised that he is failing in his job. Sammy Wilson has always been well known for his views on climate change, and should never have been made Minister in the first place.

“As Minister, he has made many mistakes, including the rejection of an Independent Environmental Protection Agency.

“Now, the Minister fails to recognise the over-whelming scientific evidence, the views of the government, his Department’s policy, public opinion or also the views in his own party. Man made climate change is extremely evident in our world, and we can all increase energy efficiency, help the environment and save ourselves money.”

“It’s now the responsibility of the DUP to find another Minister who is representative of public opinion and the scientific facts, and willing to do something about it so that N Ireland can play it’s part in minimising the effects of climate change.”