Archives for February 12, 2008

The council by-election brought about by the rugby player Tyrone Howe's decision to resign from Banbridge Council is tomorrow. There are seven candidates in the field: Carol Black of the UUP, Helen Corry of the Greens, John Drake for the SDLP, Paul Gribben of Sinn Fein, David Griffin of Alliance, Keith Harbinson of the Traditional Unionist Voice and Paul Stewart of the DUP.

With the result due on Thursday there should be a fair degree of interest, not least because this will be the TUV's first electoral test.

Thanks to Nic Whyte's site, here is the last Dromore result from 2005.

First Count:
Tyrone Howe, (UUP) 1304
Norah Beare, (DUP) 1292
Paul Rankin, (DUP) 870
David Herron, (DUP) 838
Cassie McDermott, (SDLP) 712
William Martin, (UUP) 580
Francis Branniff, (SF) 429

Votes by Party:
DUP: 3,000 (49.8%), 3 seats
UUP: 1,184 (31.3%), 1 seat
SDLP: 712 (11.8%), 1 seat
SF: 429 (7.1%)

Electorate: 9,542; seats: 5; votes cast: 6,119; spoilt votes: 94 (1.5%);
valid votes: 6,025 (98.5%); quota: 1,005

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There was general agreement to a Sinn Fein motion this afternoon calling for "the Executive to carry out a thematic inspection across public bodies, to establish their response to bullying experienced by children and young people with disabilities". A couple of speakers made reference to the more general phenomenon of bullying, the most notable being the Strangford MP Iris Robinson, who said she had been bullied at school, not by a fellow pupil, but by a "very small male teacher" who felt intimidated by a girl seven inches taller than him.

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That's how long Shaun Woodward spent in Northern Ireland in the first seven months of his tenure. He gave the figure in a reply to a Commons written question.

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