Richard Cairns

#TUV2015 Annual Conference – Sights Set on Assembly Election and EU Referendum

Richard Cairns on November 25, 2015, 1:21 pm

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This Saturday TUV members and supporters are set to converge on the Hilton Hotel in Templepatrick for our annual conference, and the last of the autumn conferences. We changed venues last year to accommodate the growing attendance we have seen year on year, and it is welcome (but a challenge) to have to change venue again so soon to ensure we can deliver the best conference experience to our attendees as numbers continue to grow. What can you expect from …

A Path to Making Stormont Work – TUV Alternative

Richard Cairns on October 8, 2015, 3:58 pm

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This afternoon TUV launched a policy initiative entitled A Path to Making Stormont Work which can be found in full here. This is an intervention set against the backdrop of ongoing crisis – deadlock over Welfare Reform; ever increasing NHS waiting lists; rolling resignations of DUP ministers mockingly labelled as the hokey cokey; and most importantly for any democrat – murder on the streets. TUV has set out our vision – Plan A is already well known to most: “TUV has a …

Time to take stock, or let another generation suffer

Richard Cairns on September 10, 2015, 11:16 am

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I started this piece with the intention to put it on Slugger, but it has found its way to the News Letter and has been published today (will add link when available). A man was murdered by the IRA on the streets of Belfast. Peter Robinson called the murder of Kevin McGuigan a ‘watershed’ moment yet the DUP response amounted to boycotting the Executive. Who will notice or care if an executive which isn’t doing anything anyway doesn’t meet for a …

Jim Allister sets sights on SpAd excesses

Richard Cairns on June 29, 2015, 4:58 pm

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Today, TUV Leader and North Antrim MLA, Jim Allister has set his sights firmly back on the Special Advisers at Stormont. Having already succeeded in getting one of only two Private Members Bills onto the statute book in the lifetime of this Assembly (the other being Lord Morrow’s Human Trafficking Bill) and the only Bill to be opposed by a major party throughout its legislative passage – Ann’s Law – which ensured that Special Advisers could not have a serious …

The public importance of Sinn Fein’s closure of the Collegiate and Portora

Richard Cairns on January 20, 2015, 10:33 am

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Education Minister John O’Dowd’s unilateral decision to close Enniskillen Collegiate and Portora Royal School, both state Grammar schools, has left the people of Enniskillen questioning the motivations of all involved. This follows closely the decision to close Lisnaskea High, where again people were left scratching their heads at the decision. Both the Collegiate and Portora are popular with parents and pupils, academically successful and operating well within their means. In addition to the excellent academic reputation of the Collegiate it …

Duplicity over parading scuppered graduated response

Richard Cairns on December 18, 2014, 11:12 am

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In Saturday’s edition of the News Letter Sammy Wilson MP MLA took a swipe at the ‘whingers’ who have dared question the duplicity that led to the withdrawal of TUV, PUP and UKIP from the ‘graduated response’. Back in July TUV set down a marker for our involvement, so it should come as no surprise that when Jeffrey Donaldson let the cat out of the bag that parading was very much on the table, that our involvement came to an …

Unionist Pacts: More engagement is required in order to maximise the vote

Richard Cairns on December 8, 2014, 7:00 am

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Mike Nesbitt somewhat overshadowed the UUP Party Conference with his call for a UUP-DUP Pact. At the DUP Party Conference Alderman Gavin Robinson was unveiled as their candidate for East Belfast in the General Election. And Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness attempted to derail the SDLP Party Conference with his call for a ‘pro-agreement’ pact with the SDLP which was rejected. Everyone has their own opinion on the use of political pacts, and within internal political party discourse there is inevitably debate, …

#TUV2014 Conference – seeking sustainable, durable, democratic devolution

Richard Cairns on December 1, 2014, 3:12 pm

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On Saturday TUV held our annual party conference in the Rosspark Hotel in Kells, just outside of Ballymena. Members and supporters from across Northern Ireland descended on Kells making it our most well attended conference to date – something that has not gone unnoticed. Our delegates had the chance to peruse the exhibiters’ stalls and grab a cup of coffee before the main event. I had a bit of a scene setter as my first Slugger post and the comments …

An expanded TUV seeking to shift up a gear at the weekend’s conference…

Richard Cairns on November 28, 2014, 7:00 am

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Richard Cairns is the vice chairman of TUV and an advisor to Jim Allister MLA. He is here to give us the low down on Saturday’s annual party conference: As Saturday approaches colleagues and I have been putting the finishing touches on our annual Party Conference. It is safe to say that every party wishes to learn from and build on their previous year’s conference, and TUV is no different. A conference needs to have identifiable themes, a core message …