Personally I thought it was an abuse of public money when Arlene Foster asked for £4m to spend on the Giro d’ Italia so that she could see hundreds of men in skin hugging lycra! I hope I don’t need to explain that lycra clad men do nothing for me and I am not keen on cyclists either, especially because these masochists torture themselves on the windy hilly roads around my home, riding their push bikes three abreast at two miles an hour up hills which are more appropriate for mountain climbers than cyclists. As a result I have to sit behind them in my car fuming at being reduced to walking pace while the pedlars in front get their pleasure by pushing themselves through the pain barrier. I suspect thousands of other motorists share my views. However I have to admit that my scepticism was ill founded. The decision to bid for the Giro d’Italia was inspired and the money was spent was worth every penny. I can think of no other event which has captured the imagination and interest of people across N.I. as this one did. Public bodies, community groups of all sorts and private individuals rose to the occasion to give three days of great fun across the country, and it was good for the economy with 140,000 visitors attending. £10m worth of advertising generated, N.I. showcased in 165 countries and millions of pounds additional spending generated in local businesses over the three days. Everyone involved from the DETI Minister to the individuals who decorated their homes to create an atmosphere along the route are to be congratulated. In the face of the outpouring of public enthusiasm, even the professional whingers in the media and the phone in programmes were silenced – well at least for a couple of days. Another reason why I am pleased that the event went so well is that it gives ammunition to blast the carping of the serial complainers who unthinkingly repeat the cynical mantra of the moaning media and complaining commentators that “you lot on the hill do nothing”. The Giro d’Italia is only one of many major events which Executive Ministers and Departments have sought out and successfully delivered over the last four years. The MTV awards, the Irish Open golf tournament, the World Police and Fire games, the G8 summit have all been successfully delivered, have generated good publicity for N.I. and created additional spending which has helped local businesses and created jobs. Following on from these successful events, opportunities have been searched out to exploit for investment interest. Almost every week new job announcements have been made in various parts o N.I.. In the past three weeks in my own constituency hundreds of skilled well paying jobs have been announced at Carrickfergus and Newtownabbey. These things don’t happen by chance they are the result of putting together an attractive investment policy, months of background work by government officials, and hard sell by ministers. Yet all the professional whingers can point to are the difficulties which arise from the coalition arrangements of government which a few years ago they were advocating and then rubbishing people like myself and my party who dared point out the likely difficulties of such a system of all inclusive government with no opposition. However despite the structural problems of our governmental arrangements there is plenty of evidence which show that the Executive is working. The record delivery of Social and Affordable homes has secured thousands of construction jobs and provided shelter for those in need of accommodation. Innovative initiatives using money from the Social Investment Fund administered by the First and Deputy first minister have resulted in hundreds of unemployed young teachers being recruited to help children improve their English and Maths grades at GCSE level. The same fund has paid for a scheme in my constituency which will take young people with no qualifications into training so that they can carry out work insulating the homes of people in disadvantaged areas in order to reduce fuel bills. The good news and the successful initiatives often go unreported because they don’t fit the narrative that the cynical media wishes to present. TV crews queued up outside the Caterpillar factory in my constituency when they announced hundreds of redundancies two years ago. A number of Executive Ministers encouraged the firm to look at its worldwide organisation to see if some of its production could be brought to N.I. to replace the jobs lost and we offered officials to work with the firm and promised whatever assistance needed to bring the jobs to N.I. Employment levels are now nearly back to those which existed before the redundancies but there is no media interest in good news or successes of this nature. No wonder the public get turned off politics when they are fed a daily diet of negative stories. I accept that politicians have a part to play in changing the image and that sometimes in the battle to score political points only the failures of the Assembly real and manufactured are highlighted, however I believe the real damage is being done by the relentless onslaught of jaundiced journalists. We must break free of the depressing cynicism which has permeated our society and harness the enthusiasm and optimism which was epitomised by the response to the Giro d’Italia. It would energise political life, economic activity and community involvement.
Posted on: Tue, 20 May 2014 15:03:39 +0000
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