Democratic Unionist Party MEP Jim Allister has today responded to the ludicrous claims of Sinn Fein/IRA MLA Alex Maskey who accused Mr. Allister of pursuing a “sectarian agenda” after he called for positive action to end systematic discrimination against the Unionist community in the allocation of Peace funding

Speaking today, Jim Allister said, “I am delighted to see that I have hit a raw nerve with those who would seek to defend institutionalised discrimination against the Protestant and/or Unionist community in Northern Ireland. By Mr. Maskey’s own admission, more than 50% of Peace I funding was allocated to the nationalist/Roman Catholic community – he has proven my point. Figures are currently being compiled for Peace II – I fear they will show the trend has actually got worse rather than better.

Maskey’s pathetic attempts to claim that it is sectarian to highlight this discrepancy in funding will be treated with the contempt they deserve. People are not stupid. They know it is not sectarian to demand equality, it is not sectarian to demand fairness and it is certainly not sectarian to call for a fair deal for victims of terrorism – that Alex Maskey should choose to describe it as thus betrays a hopelessly sectarian mindset on his part”.