07/09/2012

Villiers Hopes To 'Hit Ground Running' In NI Post

The new Northern Ireland Secretary, Theresa Villiers, has said she is "thrilled" at her new role and hopes to "hit the ground running".

Formerly the transport minister, Ms Villiers replaced Owen Paterson in the coalition government’s first major reshuffle, earlier this week.

Speaking to the BBC, she said: "I'm really thrilled to be given this job to do by the prime minister. It's such an honour and it’s going to be a fascinating job. I'm getting stuck into hard work right from the beginning."

She spoke out strongly in favour of the Parades Commission but indicated she would be open to listening to people across Northern Ireland.

She said: "We've always been open to a devolved solution for the Parades Commission.

"In the absence of that, it's vitally important that people obey the Parades Commission's decisions, otherwise we get those scenes which are so damaging to Northern Ireland.

"The right thing for me to do now is to listen to those in the Northern Ireland Executive and others in the community about what they believe the solutions are."

(NE)

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