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Statements by Our Candidates in the 2005 Elections

Liam Friel (Cityside), Colm Bryce and Oisin Kehoe (Northland), Davey McCauley (Waterside), Eamonn McCann (Waterside Rural)

Give Fort George to the youth of Galliagh!

Sunday 24th April 2005

Fort George and Ebrington Barracks should be handed over to the young people of Derry.

Elected SEA councillors will propose this at the first meeting of the new council.

The young people of Galliagh, Creggan, Nelson Drive, Gobnascale etc. should immediately be brought into a formal discussion of what they want done with the two sites.

The consultation should be carried out with the help of youth workers, schools and community organisations. But the young people themselves should have the decisive say.

As already announced, the SEA will be proposing that the so-called "regeneration" outfit ILEX be abolished. The search for a new chief for ILEX, supported by the parties on the present council, should be abandoned.

ILEX was set up in 2003 with the full support of the council. Its remit was to bring in private investors to "develop" the two sites abandoned by the British Army. We denounced this approach at the time and we have been proven completely right.

A chief executive, paid close on £3,000 a week, has departed with absolutely nothing achieved. It's astonishing that the four main parties now want to repeat this futile exercise.

There has been recent publicity about the problems posed by young people, particularly in the Galliagh area, who have little to do and no reason to feel that they are in any way valued by society. Our proposal addresses this issue directly.

Give young people their heads, give them responsibility, give them real influence on shaping the city and the facilities on offer to their age group---give them Fort George and Ebrington!---and we have no doubt whatever that they will respond.

We totally reject both paramilitary "punishments" and the official equivalent, Anti Social Behaviour Orders, as a solution to the difficulties posed for residents by youngsters who presently have no role.

Does the existing council not see the connection between the alienation of thousands of young people on the one hand, and the council's action in handing over these fantastic sites to private developers on the other hand? Apparently not. The need for new councillors with new ideas is glaringly obvious from this issue.

We don't need more office blocks or yuppie apartments. We need facilities for our young people. The Fort George and Ebrington sites are lying derelict.

We will make this a major issue from the moment the new council convenes.

Liam Friel (Cityside), Colm Bryce and Oisin Keogh (Northland), Davey McCauley (Waterside), Eamonn McCann (Waterside Rural).





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