Ulster Unionist Lagan Valley MLA Robbie Butler has voiced his opposition to any plan by the Department for Infrastructure to amend the licensing arrangements for mini-buses, in the face of public and political opposition.

Robbie Butler MLA said;

“I am extremely concerned at reports that the Department for Infrastructure is planning to introduce new licensing proposals which would have a devastating impact on a range of groups who rely on volunteers with car licences to drive mini-buses.

“I understand that Departmental officials have been pressing for this idea for eight years, but that successive Ministers – including the Ulster Unionist Party’s Danny Kennedy – resisted the idea.

“There are now genuine concerns that the Department will take advantage of the current political impasse whereby there is no Minister, to impose new regulations and require volunteer-reliant organisations to put drivers through what is an unnecessary test.

“This is a classic example of telling people what they need rather than asking them what they want. It is exactly why we need a fully functioning Stormont, where local Minister take decisions, scrutinised by locally elected MLAs, and not unelected bureaucrats.

“At a meeting which I attended in Lisburn today, it was made clear that this decision would have a very serious impact on a range of voluntary groups and organisations, including schools and mental health charities.

“I am a member of an all-party group of MLAs which has requested a meeting next Monday with Peter May, the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Infrastructure, to highlight our concerns and to ensure the Department is put on notice that any attempt to act in such a manner will not be accepted.”