Alliance Chief Whip and Carrickfergus Councillor, Sean Neeson, has called on Health Minister Tony Worthington to restore “essential” funding to Northern Ireland’s Library Services.

Alderman Neeson, who is a member of the Stormont Talks team and Northern Ireland Forum, urged Mr. Worthington to clarify his position in relation to the future of library funding.

The Carrickfergus Councillor, who raised a series of questions at a recent meeting of the Northrn Ireland Forum, also said that the issue of finance was of major importance to the people of Northern Ireland.

Alderman Neeson said: “As a former teacher, I recognise the crucial role of the library service. It provides a service to the pupils directly, but the development of a library in a school itself is equally important.

“However, I am concerned about any proposal to reduce the library service, which has faced very severe cut backs in recent times. Very often it is regarded as the Cinderella part of the system. This is wrong because it plays such an important role.

“I wonder if Mr. Worthington’s words, in which he said that libraries are one of the linchpins of cultural life, represent the true belief of the Minister or, more importantly, his Department.

“The Department of Education has proposed that education and library boards should reduce their expenditure on libraries in the coming year by an amount equivalent to 50 per cent of the budget available for the purchase of books.

“The library is the most used public service – it is used by more than half the population – and many of those who use it cannot afford to go anywhere else. And libraries provide resources for visually impaired people which they cannot get elsewhere. That is a desperately important aspect.

“And now the people of Northern Ireland must ask Mr. Worthington if the Government is serious when they publicly proclaim the benefits and advantages of the library system in Northern Ireland. The responsibility rests quite clearly with Tony Worthington.”

Alliance Leader Lord Alderdice, speaking at todays meeting of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in Dublin Castle has issued challenges to participants to face the realities of the Talks Process.

Lord Alderdice said:

“I welcome the increasing network of contacts which is part of the process of inclusivity necessary to build the peace which delegates here have been seeking since the Forums original inception. I therefore hope that not only will Unionists find their way to a future meeting of this Forum but also that Sinn Fein and the SDLP will join the Forum in Belfast so that all strands of opinion in Northern Ireland will have a meeting place.

“I share the hope and optimism which has been expressed by delegates this morning but there is also a need for realism. There will have to be changes to the Irish Constitution to remove the claim of jurisdiction over Northern Ireland. It is in any case a political rather than a legal claim. After all, the Irish Government has never tried to prosecute it through the International Court of Justice, for it has no proper legal basis in International Law. In return there will need to be North – South arrangements for both practical and political reasons. But let us be realistic. They will not have Executive powers. They may have Executive functions, but there will not be an incipient All Ireland Governmental arrangement. What is possible is an Inter Governmental Conference like the European Council of Ministers or the Anglo-Irish Inter Governmental Conference, but this is an expression of democratically accountable Executive functions, not simple Executive power.”

Lord Alderdice also challenged Sinn Fein to assist the International Body on Decommissioning by undertaking to put them in touch with those in the Republican Movement who have access to the weapons stocks.

He went on to suggest to the Irish Government that there was now a prospect of the creation of an island wide framework for Human Rights, by following the British Incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights. “The Republic will soon be the only signatory in Western Europe not to have incorporated the convention”, he said.

Concluding his remarks John Alderdice said “The aim of the Talks and of all of us is to try to build a community were everyone can feel at home in their own place, and I am increasingly optimistic that we can succeed”.

North Belfast Alliance Councillor Tom Campbell has called on the people of Whitewell to “remain calm” after last night’s early morning petrol bomb attack in the Van Dyke Road area of the City.

The Belfast City Councillor launched a scathing attack against those responsible for the attack and said:

“I utterly condemn this type of violence and I hope that anyone with information in relation to this terrible crime should contact the police before it’s too late. The people of the area have suffered for long enough.

“Those who are responsible for this attack don’t care who they harm and are only interested in stirring up sectarian hatred and tension in the area. But nothing can ever justify this type of behaviour.

“Alliance condemns the individuals who orchestrated and took part in this crime and I would again urge the residents from the area to step back from this hatred by living together in a peaceful atmosphere.”