Allister welcomes DUP retreat on transfer at 14
03 December 2008
Traditional Unionist Jim Allister has welcomed comments from the DUP’s Mervyn Storey apparently retreating from support for transfer at 14. Transfer at 14 would wreck our grammar schools. The MEP said:
“Parents and teachers in Northern Ireland, though alarmed by the faux pas of ever making the transfer at 14 offer to Sinn Fein, will be glad to have heard the DUP’s education spokesperson say that his party’s policy is “not to move to 14” and that “There will be no movement from the position of selection at 11.” I trust we can rely on this position not to change again.
“Tellingly though, Mr Storey did not dispute the authenticity of the document which I released last week in spite of being repeatedly pressed on the issue. In the document, which was passed to Sinn Fein/IRA, the DUP said:
“Fourteen could become the key decision point for the future…We would be flexible about the instrument for matching pupils at 14…The vast majority of the province could move to a transfer at 14 system...However was the executive to indicate clearly that 14 was the key point for making decisions about pupils’ futures and the key transfer stage, inevitably the broader system would reconfigure to accommodate that….Fourteen however would be promoted and supported as the key decision point”.
“It seems that Traditional Unionist pressure has, yet again, forced the DUP to back down on a potential concession to Republicans. So I challenge the DUP to say if it has now formally withdrawn this concession document? They can't say one thing in public, with credibility, if behind backs their offer to accept transfer at 14 stills stands. It's time for them to come clean and explain how they ever got into this muddle."
