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(Irelandclick.com)

West Belfast MLA Michael Ferguson has taken up the cudgels on behalf of the new national newspaper Daily Ireland, which has found itself the victim of a government ads ban.

Published by the Andersonstown News Group from its West Belfast headquarters, Daily Ireland, says Councillor Ferguson, is a jewel in the crown of West Belfast.

"This is exactly the type of high-profile investment West Belfast is crying out for and it beggars belief that the government should be banning ads from Daily Ireland," said the Sinn Féin man. "This is a Task Force area and central to the report of the Task Force was the conviction that West Belfast deserved a level playing field. Daily Ireland enjoys sales of over 10,000 copies and along with the other titles published by the Andersonstown News offers government bodies a comprehensive ad deal which compares favourably with every other newspaper group.

"I have no doubt this discrimination against the Andersonstown News Group is illegal and that the group's landmark complaint with the Equality Commission will be successful. However, it could be a year or more before that complaint is adjudicated upon and that's just not good enough because every day the government places an ad in the other three Belfast dailies and doesn't place it in Daily Ireland is an act of discrimination."

Cllr Ferguson says he's been battling with the DoE in recent years to insist that planning notices be placed in the Andersonstown News.

"They always have an excuse for discriminating against West Belfast and it seems to me that there's a lot of work ahead of Sinn Féin in sorting out this prejudice when we return to government."

This article appeared first on the Irelandclick.com web site on May 19, 2005.