Allister highlights funding inequality against Protestants
27 May 2008
Monitoring data published at a recent Peace II Monitoring Committee revealed that Protestants were significantly underrepresented as beneficiaries of EU funding. Of a total funding package worth 854.8 million Euros, Protestants represented just 36% of total beneficiaries, while Catholic beneficiaries accounted for 57% of the total. These figures were released as part of the winding up exercise of the 2000-2006 Peace II Programme, in preparation for Peace III.
Jim Allister MEP said,
“I am appalled at the gross under-allocation of EU funds to Protestant beneficiaries. These figures confirm what many in the Protestant community suspected all along, that Peace II failed, by design and execution, to appeal to both sections of the community equally.”
“Furthermore, figures reveal that 26% of allocated Peace II funds identified ‘ex-prisoners and their families’ as key target groups for funding. Here we have a situation where those who perpetrated their terror on society for more than 30 years are being rewarded, ironically by ‘Peace’ funds. Law abiding citizens will feel sick to the stomach when they discover the disgraceful manner in which large chunks of Peace funds have been allocated.”
“We need answers regarding the persistent inequality in the distribution of European funding under so called ‘Peace’ Programmes.”
ENDS
