Causeway proposal refused
It's official. Arlene Foster has just told the Assembly that she is refusing Seymour Sweeney's application for a private visitor centre at the Giants Causeway. The minister has told the Assembly the proposal would have an adverse impact on the Causeway's World heritage site status as it would adversely affect the character of the area. If she had done this in the first place just think of the acres of newsprint that could have been saved.
UPDATE: A reasonably lively debate followed the Environment Minister's announcement. The best one liner came from the UUP's Danny Kennedy - "It would appear that the DUP have left Mr Sweeney on his tod."
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Mark
“WHAT AM I GOING TO SAY TO SEYMOUR?”
The most interesting aspect of watching Arlene Foster deliver her much trailed decision to ditch Seymour’s application for the Causeway Visitors’ Centre was Junior Paisley’s dejected demeanour. As Arlene droned on about how her decision had been based solely on planning considerations (Laugh Out Loud), poor old Junior’s slouch became more and more pronounced as he sank deeper into his seat. Suddenly, above his head, I saw speech bubbles exposing his mental torment [Think “Folks on the Hill”]:
“My God, what am I going to say to Seymour?”
“Worse still, what is Seymour going to say to me?”
“If I never see that Martina Purdy again, it’ll be too soon.”
“If that Declan O’Loan doesn’t stop smirking, I’ll invite him outside.”
“That Daithí McKay is a wee skitter.”
“Why is Peter not speaking to me?”
“Da, where are ya when I need you?”
“”Mummy, Mummy, bad men are after me!”
Mind you, Mark, Junior was not the only one discomfited by Arlene’s retreat from Seymour’s proposal, which most people believed was inevitable because of the Junior Minister’s lobbying. Iris ‘Cruella’ Robinson and Mervyn Storey were prime examples that her climb-down was a humiliation for the whole Party. Seeking to mask her embarrassment, Iris’s rictus grin must have been jaw-aching to maintain and fooled nobody. Mervyn Storey is always a good barometer of the mood of the DUP in the Assembly. When the DUP is unhappy, Mervyn bounces and fidgets in his chair like a bored schoolboy, sharing faux jokes and giggles with colleagues or pretending to make notes in his jotter. Yesterday, he exhibited all these tendencies in spades.
Mark, maybe I have been too cruel to wee Junior. It’s not fair kicking a man when he’s down. On second thoughts, in Junior’s case, I think it’s fair enough.
Susie
Carryduff
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Seymour Sweeney is a cheery, ebullient characher and a surviver, the people who thought they gained by making him a national priority are the sad and weary losers. I would not be surprised if Seymour does not build a tourist facility beside the National Trust one anyway. I think we will 'see more'
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DON’T SLIP ON THE SLIME…
It now transpires that the only matter Minister Foster was ‘minded’ to do in the Giant’s Causeway Sweeney planning application was to ignore the advice of her planning management officials.
Did Minister Foster have sight of the letter of intent from David Hanson on the issues raised by her DUP colleague, Ian Paisley Junior following a private tête-à-tête over sticky buns and thick chicory coffee with Tony Blair at St Andrews?
It would seem not unreasonable to conclude that Minister Foster is now playing ‘mind games’ on the whole saga of the Giant’s Causeway. The Minister needs to watch where she steps as it looks like the tide is going out and she might slip on some slime without a lifeboat in sight.
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