Mr Jim Nicholson: As I make my maiden speech in the House tonight, I cannot help feeling very humble. I come to help the new constituency of Newry and Armagh. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Upper Bann (Mr. McCusker), who represented the greater part of the new constituency. I pay tribute also to my right hon. Friend the Member for Down, South (Mr. Powell), who represented the smaller part of...
Mr Jim Nicholson: I appreciate the Minister's concern, but I remind him that the chairman and the vice chairman represent no one but themselves. I am the elected representative of Newry and Armagh and my colleague, the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Mr. McCusker), represents that area that contains the hospital, not the chairman or vice chairman of the area health board. They have never stood at an election in...
Mr Jim Nicholson: Is the Secretary of State aware of the problems facing my constituents who live in Orlit cottages because of the housing executive's lack of initiative in rehabilitating those cottages to provide the basic facilities required?
Mr Jim Nicholson: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will introduce measures to mitigate the serious effects on the Northern Ireland dairy sector of the current European Community proposals.
Mr Jim Nicholson: Does the Minister accept that any further erosion of agriculture in Northern Ireland would have a dangerous and damaging effect not only on agriculture but on its ancillary industries? Will the hon. Gentleman undertake to resist further damage to grass-based sectors of agriculture, mainly in the milk and dairy sector?
Mr Jim Nicholson: The Government's decision to allow the importation of UHT milk into the United Kingdom will have serious and far-reaching effects on the milk industry for many years. It is hard enough to accept the importation of UHT milk, but, as the regulations also propose the importation of frozen pasteurised cream, they are unacceptable to me and to my colleagues. The British and Northern Ireland...
Mr Jim Nicholson: With all due respect to the Minister, that is the first time that I have ever heard Middletown called the Armagh border crossing post.
Mr Jim Nicholson: I welcome my hon. Friend's valuable comment. What he says is true. The milk will have to be driven right through the country to reach the entry point at Middletown. If the regulation is implemented, lorries will be travelling all over Northern Ireland. How will controls be exercised if a tanker of imported milk is mixed with milk produced in Northern Ireland in a milk silo? The regulation is...
Mr Jim Nicholson: What control or monitoring will there be of imported milk, in whatever form? I understand from my hon. Friend the Member for Londonderry, East (Mr. Ross) that other European countries have excellent standards of hygiene. I do not wish to cast aspersions on any other European country, but it is widely accepted in Northern Ireland that standards of hygiene in the United Kingdom as a whole,...
Mr Jim Nicholson: rose—
Mr Jim Nicholson: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he is satisfied with security in South Armagh, since the atrocity at Mountain Lodge Pentecostal hall.
Mr Jim Nicholson: The security situation in my constituency is most serious, to say the least, with the murder of my friend and colleague, the chairman of Armagh district council, Mr. Charles Armstrong, and other murders of friends and neighbours at the Mountain Lodge pentecostal hall. Will the Secretary of State assure the House and my constituents that there will not be a further cosmetic exercise on...
Mr Jim Nicholson: I have no doubt that the right hon. Gentleman is aware that I represent the area under discussion. I could even be said to live in it. There are many who pontificate upon the area, and that perhaps exacerbates the troubles within it. If 25 company operations have taken place, I say to the Secretary of State that I have spoken to people who live in the border areas who have not seen a soldier...
Mr Jim Nicholson: It may seem incongruous that these instruments are not made by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland also, but at the time of the parent Acts of 1967 and 1970, as I understand it, no such person existed. The Minister made orders for Northern Ireland also. It is, therefore, to him that I believe I am entitled to direct my remarks on the unhappy effects that the schemes will have on my...
Mr Jim Nicholson: The situation in Northern Ireland agriculture has been deteriorating in recent years. No hon. Member who has listened to the debate could doubt that. The two sectors suffering most since United Kingdom entry into the EEC are pigs and poultry. Farmers in Northern Ireland built a thriving intensive industry based on cheap grain imports from north America. The average farm in Northern Ireland is...
Mr Jim Nicholson: I congratulate the Minister on his wise decision to allow the HLCA payments, but I press him to bear in mind the time that farmers have to wait until they know what they will get for any particular commodity in the future year, which seems to come later than normal year after year. This uncertainty is causing more alarm in agriculture and I should like to see an end to it.
Mr Jim Nicholson: Will the Minister join me in denouncing the serious act of wanton destruction in Armagh city in the early hours of Monday morning, which put the jobs of 200 people in my constituency at serious risk? Will he give an assurance that he will do everything in his power to—
Mr Jim Nicholson: asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what measures he proposes to implement to alleviate the problems facing the Northern Ireland pig industry.
Mr Jim Nicholson: I welcome the Minister's reply. Does he accept that after the serious decline in the number of pigs—there are now about half as many as there were 10 years ago—and as the industry plays an important role in Northern Ireland in providing employment on farms and in ancillary industries, he should give serious thought to advancing proposals to help alleviate the problem Northern Ireland...
Mr Jim Nicholson: In regard to what the hon. Member has said about the hon. Member for Belfast, West (Mr. Adams), a recent example has been the blowing up of the factory in Armagh city with the result that 175 people have been put on the dole in a town where there is terrible unemployment. The group responsible for that will say that it is fighting for people's rights, but it has taken that employment away. It...
