Sinn Féin is calling on the Regional Development Minister to "ring fence" money to ensure street light repairs in Northern Ireland are carried out on a regular basis.

Mr Danny Kennedy confirmed that all broken street lighting will be repaired as soon as possible.

Sinn Féin MLA Cathal Boylan said: "I welcome the news that all lighting will be brought back to standard as this has become a health and safety issue especially in areas where multiple lights were out.

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"While I welcome the news that lighting is to be repaired we should never had been put in the situation where lamps were allowed to remain out for such a long time.

"I am calling on the Minister to ensure that once the lighting has been repaired to ring fence money to ensure repairs are carried out on a regular basis so we do not return to the situation where areas were plunged into darkness."

(CD/MH)