Congratulations to Cllr Colin McGrath who has been chosen as Councillor of the Week on Slugger O’Toole.

Colin has been doing a fantastic job for Down District, working tirelessly for constituents, and producing weekly video diaries keeping us informed of his work as Chairman of the Council. He can also be found on Councillor.info where he answers questions like ‘How Much Does A Councillor Get Paid Then?‘.

Speaking on World Day Against Child Labour, the SDLP have called on the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Irish and British Governments to step up efforts to eradicate child labour, in the shadow of the fact that some 200 million children have to go to work instead of school.

“Seven years ago, leaders from around the world made a promise that every child of primary school age would be enrolled in formal education by the year 2015. Half way to that date and sadly the number of children working full time has barely decreased at all” said Gavin Boyd, SDLP Youth Campaigns Officer.

“According to the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour, one in every six children across the world is a child labourer. Not only does child labour ruin childhoods, it locks the world’s poorest people into a cycle of poverty that education could break.

“We’re urging the young people of Northern Ireland to think about the products they’re buying, to ask questions of retailers and manufacturers, and avoid products made by child or bonded labour” Gavin added.

SDLP Youth Vice Chair Peter Armstrong has welcomed news that local tea producer Punjana has launched a Fair Trade tea product. Punjana is the first tea company in Ireland to launch a fair-trade brand.

Peter said: “It is excellent news to see a Belfast company entering the fair-trade market. Part of the profits generated helps to sustain communities in the developing world and allows the developing world to manage their own sustainable growth.
“Punjana source high quality tea from Kenya and the Hassan province in India, where fair-trade projects are making real differences to peoples lives.
“SDLP Youth are encouraging people to buy fair-trade products, to support the Fairtrade At Work campaign, and the SDLP have been campaigning for more towns and villages here in Ireland to achieve Fairtrade status.”

Punjana Fairtrade Tea is available in Sainsburys, Iceland and many other local stores.

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Notes to Editor:
www.fairtrade.org.uk
www.fairtradeatwork.org.uk

SDLP Youth Chairman Gary McKeown has expressed concern at the findings of a new report which show that house prices in Northern Ireland are continuing to spiral.

Mr McKeown said: “It is extremely worrying that there seems to be no sign of the price growth in the housing market slowing. House prices are now higher here than in Scotland, Wales and many parts of England, even though wages in the north of Ireland are a lot lower than in Britain.

“Prices have gone up 46% in the past year and up 11% during the first quarter of 2007.

“There isn’t a chance in hell of a first-time buyer being able to get onto the property ladder now without putting themselves in massive and dangerous debt. The only young people able to buy houses now are those from wealthy backgrounds. The vast majority of hard-working young people find themselves unable to pay the exorbitant prices now being asked for property.

“The effect of these massive house prices is that most young people now find themselves effectively blacklisted from being able to buy themselves a home.”

Mr McKeown added: “Not only are young people forced into rented accommodation, which perpetuates the ability of property magnates to milk the system for massive profits, but the inability to buy their own homes is going to force a lot of people to move away from the north of Ireland to areas where the cost of living is lower.

“This will present massive problems for the economy here as skilled and educated people will leave in their droves if they find that it isn’t worth their while living here.”

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Source of figures- University of Ulster Quarterly House Price Index

SDLP Youth is urging television viewers in Ireland and Britain to turn their backs on the new Big Brother series, which is due to hit our screens this week.

SDLP Youth Chairman Gary McKeown said: “We are calling on people to boycott Big Brother following the revelation that the company which makes it, Endemol, is planning to produce a programme in the Netherlands in which viewers can influence a donor’s decision over which patient should receive their kidney once they die.

“This proposed Dutch show brings the standards of television to an all-time low. They are capitalising on the plight of a dying person and trivialising the very serious issue of organ donation.

“Alongside SDLP Deputy Leader Alasdair McDonnell, we are asking people to hit Endemol where it hurts- in their viewing figures- by turning off when Big Brother comes on.”

Mr McKeown concluded: “The issue of organ donation is highly sensitive. SDLP Youth encourages everyone to carry an organ donor card so if the worst should happen, at least someone may be offered a new lease of life. Instead of making light of this issue, TV companies should be using their media power to raise the profile of such issues in an effective and tasteful way.”

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Radio interview : BBC Radio Foyle - Gary McKeown

“It’s not enough for government to lecture people about the need to recycle- they need to be thinking of creative ways to actually make it happen,” SDLP Youth Chairman Gary McKeown has stated.

“For example, the government should lead the way on the recycling front by making it compulsory for all civil service offices to recycle,” said Mr McKeown.

“A large proportion of the people working in the north are employed by the government, be it directly through the civil service or indirectly through public bodies. These workplaces produce an inordinate amount of waste each year including paper, cardboard boxes and food wrappers.

“The problem is that even if government employees are green-minded, there is often little they can do about the ridiculous amount of rubbish from their workplaces which ends up in landfill as their employers fail to provide recycling facilities.

“If we are serious about improving the environment, then the lead must be taken from the top. The government should make it compulsory for all state offices and facilities to recycle their waste and encourage employees to think green. This would permeate down through society and create greater awareness of the need to recycle by getting people into the habit of putting their office waste, newspapers, empty tins and glass bottles into the recycling bin rather than the rubbish bin.”

Mr McKeown concluded: “Most people like the idea of recycling in theory, but often think it’s too much bother finding somewhere to get it done. If the government made recycling facilities more readily available, whether in the workplace or at home, it would make it so much easier for people to contribute towards helping the environment.”

SDLP Youth Member Clare Muldoon has responded to the motion and debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly discussing the affordable housing crisis.

Ms. Muldoon commented after the debate, “It must be one of the main priorities for the Assembly and the relevant Departments to urgently address the issue of the impossible housing market here in Northern Ireland. It was a relief to hear that the parties seemed united in supporting the motion and identified the issues facing young people trying to get onto the property ladder.”

Northern Ireland has one of the fastest growing housing markets with prices soaring over the past years. Average house prices have risen to £200,000 and keep rising.

“SDLP Youth support the Semple Report and its recommendations and we call upon the Assembly to take accountability and ensure that something is urgently done to rectify the situation.

Ms Muldoon continued, “There must be a multi departmental approach to the strategies needed to improve the affordable housing problem. Focus must be placed on several departments, such as, the Department of Finance and Personnel, the Department of the Environment, the Department of Regional Development and the Department of Social Development with the Assembly ensuring that these departments do not drag their feet on this issue.

“With the huge debt that students are now facing when leaving University it seems impossible that they will ever have a chance to get into the housing market. Renting seems to be the only option. We can’t allow young people to be further disadvantaged by allowing the crisis to worsen. Action must be taken now to provide for the future of the young people in Northern Ireland,” she said.

SDLP Youth Member Clare Muldoon has responded to new figures released by Save the Children showing how desperate poverty is facing our young people.

Miss Muldoon said, “It is shocking to learn that 1 in 4 children here live in Poverty, and considering that Northern Ireland has the youngest population of any region in the United Kingdom, these figures are even more alarming. Approximately 27% of our population are under 18.”

“With 100,000 children currently living in poverty it is essential that the Assembly addresses this issue immediately. There has been a reduction in the amount of children living in Poverty in Northern Ireland but so much more has to be done.

“The New Assembly must take action and ensure that continual reduction and even speedier reduction to the amounts of Children living in Poverty is attained.”

The newly restored Northern Ireland Assembly must immediately address the disgracefully low employment figures in the north, SDLP Youth Chairman Gary McKeown has said.

“Employment levels for the north as a whole are unacceptably low, but certain areas are faring particularly badly. People are being forced to abandon their hometowns and villages to look for decent employment. This is destroying many areas of the north with the brain drain taking skilled workers and young families out of these communities.

“This could spell disaster for cities such as Derry and Newry, and also for rural areas of the north, as young people are forced to leave for Belfast, Dublin or further a field. It is vital that the assembly addresses this issue immediately by providing funding for employment and training in the areas worst affected.

Mr. McKeown added: “A GMB trade union study published this month found that the employment level for people of working age in Northern Ireland is only 68.7%. This falls well behind figures for areas such as South East England where the rate is 79%.”

“Not only are these figures bad enough, but many of the worst employment levels are found in border areas such as Derry, Newry and Mourne, Omagh and Fermanagh. Strabane has an employment rate of only 50.6%. This bears out fears that people are being forced to relocate to find employment.”

Mr. McKeown concluded: “It is time that the north of Ireland, and in particular those areas outside of Greater Belfast, are given their fair share of jobs and investment. For too long it has been left to hard working people in these communities to keep the local economy alive- now the assembly must play its part in creating jobs in all areas of the north.”

The Northern Ireland Assembly must immediately set to work addressing the real issues facing people living here, rather than simply being a photo-op a day for some of the key players, SDLP Youth Chairman Gary McKeown has said.

Mr. McKeown added: “This is not the first time the parties of the north have been given the opportunity to govern, but let’s hope that this time devolution is for good.

“Direct Rule ministers have been allowed to operate here unchecked for too long- top-up fees, antiquated infrastructure, lack of affordable housing, PPS14 planning restrictions, massive rates bills and the shadow of water charges are the outworking of an unaccountable and undemocratic remote
control Direct Rule administration. Now is the time to start untangling the mess which three decades of Direct Rule have caused.”

Mr. McKeown also said: “It is now incumbent on the DUP and Sinn Féin to correct the problems that years of stop-start politics have created.”

“The Good Friday Agreement was Sunningdale for slow learners, and the St. Andrews Agreement was the Good Friday Agreement for slow learners- hopefully history will record that the period of slow-learning is over and the era of hard-working has dawned. The SDLP will be working hard to make devolved government work, as it has been since 1998. An operational Northern Ireland Assembly, as envisaged by the Good Friday Agreement, is the only way to deliver real progress for the people of the north.”