On the 9th of December QUB Greens went to Stormont! We were given a tour and then had a talk from Steven Agnew and Brian Wilson MLA. Brian spoke about how Green issues are worldwide and cannot be tackled alone. The same policies must be in place everywhere to deal with the challenge posed by climate change. He also mentioned issues faced within the Northern Ireland Assembly, for example designation. By refusing to class himself ‘Nationalist’ or ‘Unionist’ he is ‘Other’, but due to the need for cross-community support as stipulated by the Good Friday Agreement this gives you lesser powers. Furthermore, this reinforces the politics of the past, whereas the Green Party looks forward.
Gaining a seat in the Assembly was a crucial breakthrough but he is alone there and we want to change that! We put forward some questions to Brian about his vision for the next five to ten years, his views on Copenhagen and his opinion on the current Assembly position. Brian emphasised the need for more Green MLAs but what is most crucial is
implementing the Green policies themselves.
Many thanks from QUB Greens to both Steven Agnew and Brian Wilson : )
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