McGuinness: Education, economy top priorities

29/12/2008 - 09:50:28
Ending the divisions over education reform and building the economy will be the top political priorities for 2009, the North's deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said today.

Mr McGuinness said the power-sharing government led by Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had successfully agreed a deal on the devolution of policing and justice powers.

The agreement ended a split that blocked Executive meetings for five months and Mr McGuinness says replacing the controversial 11-plus school transfer test must now be high on the agenda.

“Just as we resolved the issue of policing and justice, there is a challenge to the DUP and Sinn Féin to find a way forward on education to ensure that all of our children can reach their full potential, and none will receive letters in the post branding them failures,” he said.

“That’s what I see as one of our top priorities going into the new year.”

Mr McGuinness said a push for agreement on education in the year ahead would run alongside a commitment to build the economy and create jobs.

But he added: “The reality is that by dint of the political arrangements, we are tied to the financial constraints that the British government impose on us.

“As we move forward, Gerry Adams and I as Irish republicans want to see an all-island economy.

“And I think there is an ongoing debate about the need to ensure that we have a greater ability and control over our finances, a greater ability to raise finances without putting pressure on people that we represent.”

The deputy First Minister said the power-sharing government and the other political institutions were still bedding down.

“I still caution people, we are still in the infancy stage," he said. "I know we have our critics out there, there is no shortage of them.

“But I am confident for the future.”