Sammy Wilson visited Corran Integrated PS on Friday to see the current state of the school building and meet with the pupils and teachers.

The East Antrim MP was keen to discuss the new build for the school which has been eagerly anticipated for many years.

Mr Wilson said:

“I would like to thank the principal, Denise McFarlane, for inviting me to the school and for showing me around. It was a pleasure to meet the teachers and pupils, and it was good to see the great work being done there despite the temporary facilities that they have.

Sammy Wilson has met with Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay to discuss the reduced opening hours which are to take affect at Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus police stations from 1st April 2010.

The East Antrim MP had a number of concerns that he raised with ACC Finlay and he was pleased that those concerns were addressed.

Mr Wilson said:

“I know that many people will be concerned when they hear that police stations in Carrick and Newtownabbey are to close between 11pm and 8 am. I too share those concerns but I welcome the fact that officers will not be spending time manning counters in police stations but instead will be out on the beat on the streets which I know is what the people want to see happen.

Sammy Wilson has criticised for MET Office for awarding £12.3million in bonus payments in the last 5 years. The figure was revealed to him through a parliamentary question.

The East Antrim MP said that an organisation which got its predictions so badly wrong shouldn’t be handing out bonuses to its staff.

He said:

“The Met Office has failed in regards to their predictions. Their short, medium and long range forecasts have been consistently inaccurate. On November 28th last year the Met Office declared that we were heading for a ‘milder than average’ winter. In fact it was the coldest for 30 years. Summer 2009 was going to be a ‘barbecue summer’ but it was a washout, as were many summers over the last few years, all of which the Met Office failed to predict.

On Tuesday morning as I drove into work I was listening to the Today programme on Radio 4. They did a moving and tragic story about a young boy who had been used as a child soldier in the Congo. He described how at the age of seven he had witnessed his mother being dragged from her car in Rwanda by Hutus, the soldiers cut off her breasts, pushed her against a tree, pinned her to it with knives driven through her shoulders and left her to die. He was forced to sit through this torture and was then taken to be killed himself.

Sammy Wilson has welcomed the completion of a seismic study in the Larne area to determine whether there are suitable salt layers underground which can be used to store natural gas.

The MP said:

“I welcome the completion of the survey carried out by BGE and Storengy to determine the suitability of the area for gas storage and commend these companies for the good work that they have carried out.

The seismic survey was completed despite difficult weather conditions over the last few months and the local landowners are to be commended for their cooperation during this period.

East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson has visited homes in Monkstown to see the improvements that have taken place to some homes in the area as a result of money that he has made available as Finance Minister.

The MP said:

“In August I released funds to be used to improve housing, and I was pleased to be able to visit some of these homes in Monkstown recently to see the work that has been carried out. Wooden windows which were rotting and letting in the cold and damp have now been replaced.

“I didn’t think that I could be surprised at the depths to which Roy Beggs would go to score a cheap political point, but he managed to do that today when he released his statement concerning the future of primary schooling in Islandmagee. Unfortunately this type of politics, with mistruth, inconsistency and hypocrisy thrown into the mix, seems to be the best that Roy Beggs is capable of these days.

I think I became an Assembly fixture this week as I sat through about twelve hours of debate on this and next year’s budget. The topic was the rather esoteric Spring Supplementary Estimates, a huge volume of information on the spending of each department. Of necessity my opening speech had to contain all the technical jargon which might have made the financial anoraks salivate, but would put most normal people to sleep. Votes on account, supply resolutions, consolidated fund, operating and non-operating accruing resources, efficient cash management regimes, and so it went on, but behind all the jargon was a story worth telling.

“I regret the sceptical way in which Roy Beggs has responded to my resignation as a Belfast City Councillor, especially considering that he was one of the most vocal critics of the fact that the voters had elected me to these different positions. You might have thought he would be pleased that I am stepping down from this role which is in line with DUP policy to phase out multiple mandates.

Mr Beggs of course holds down many roles as MLA, councillor and farmer, but if he can continue to get elected to those positions and if he has the time to do these jobs I have no issue with that.

Sammy Wilson today backed the global campaign to end preventable child deaths. He added his name to the list of MPs calling for action to end the international child health emergency that is currently claiming the lives of 24,000 children under the age of five every day.

He joined World Vision, one of the world’s largest development organisations, in calling on governments around the world make child health a political priority to deal with this unacceptable loss of life.