The Social Development Minister, Mr Nigel Dodds, at an engagement in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, yesterday, praised a pilot scheme aimed at improving customer service for local job-seekers. The scheme, a joint project by the Social Security Agency and the Training and Employment Agency, provides a single point of contact for the unemployed. "The SSA and the TEA must be applauded for taking these first steps at integrating and improving customer services. This joint initiative underlines the principle by which a caring system should operate - jobs for those who can work and support for those who cannot," the Minister said.
Back in Belfast, Mr Dodds unveiled a scale model of the city's Millennium Beacon, giving a preview of the structure which will be located at the River Lagan. "It is very fitting that the beacon will be sited in an area that has seen such dramatic change over the last few years," he said. "Donegall Quay and, indeed, all of the Laganside redevelopment is an excellent symbol of how Belfast and all of Northern Ireland can face the new millennium with confidence and a spirit of progressiveness." The three-metre flame will be lit by two schoolchildren from Omagh on New Year's Eve.