O'Loan selected as SDLP's election candidate

Speaking at the Selection Convention on Thursday, Mr O’Loan said he was honoured to represent his party.

He said: “ I have never been more convinced of the need for a strong vote for the SDLP. I have been in the Assembly now for three years and things are not going well there. We have seen crisis after crisis and poor delivery on the things that matter to people - education, the economy and health."

"At the heart of this failure has been poor relationships between the major Parties and the virtual exclusion of the SDLP and the UUP by the DUP and Sinn Fein. Northern Ireland is still a very divided society and it is a hard place to govern. That is why the Good Friday Agreement is so important. It remains the only way to form a government here. That government is founded on partnership. But if the major Parties undermine that partnership as they have done, they pick away at the foundations of our institutions."

"They have done so for their own selfish reasons. Both the DUP and Sinn Fein believe that their first duty is to protect their own Party position by representing a narrow interest of one section of the community. What they are working for is a "shared out" society, not a shared society."

He added: "Sooner or later the inconsistency at the heart of this administration will lead to a crisis that can't be patched over. In the middle of the deceit that is being presented daily, the values, principles and integrity of the SDLP are needed more than ever. I will look for the support of the voters on that basis."