Time to Act says Jim Allister MEP
07 April 2009
SLASHING Northern Ireland's overloaded political infrastructure that is supposed to look after the 1.7 million population should be one of the first things the Stormont Executive should do, MEP Jim Allister said today (Tues 7 Apr).
After what he said was the shambles of First Minister Peter Robinson's BBC Newsline interview yesterday, Mr Allister said hard-pressed families who were seeing their lives destroyed by daily job losses expected more from the Stormont Executive.
"I hope setting up another Task Force is not a mere time-buying refuge by an Executive that is clueless as to how to deal with the economic crisis.
"Our very costly Executive should be looking to itself and leading by example. It should start by slashing the artificially high number of departments and MLAs and the waste and duplication of 14 Ministers and 18 overpaid Special Advisers. Even the spendthrift Republic is sacking Junior Ministers!
“Running the affairs of 1.7M people does not need 108 MLAs, 14 Ministers, 11 Departments and all the bloated cost which goes with it.
"Where necessary civil servants could be redeployed so that their skills could be used to better advantage", said Mr Allister.
"People want to see the once great industries revitalised. We have great plans for the future as people look to the Titanic Quarter. But the once great job providers have all gone and that needs to be addressed.
"The Executive could make instant savings by slashing the unrestrained waste of multiple and unnecessary cross-border bodies. Sadly, though, to date, they have been exempt from even efficiency savings, because they are the sacred cow of Belfast Agreement devolution. When is the DUP Minister at DFP going to weild the knife to cut back the waste of these bodies - something I've been calling for since devolution returned."
