TUV Setting the Agenda
01 December 2009
First published: 30th November 2009
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“I note the belated realization by the DUP that the money lavished on the North-South infrastructure of the Belfast Agreement needs to be cut back.
“One year after devolution, in May 2008, I sought information on exactly how much the DUP Finance Minister had trimmed the budgets of North-South bodies. After six months, and complaining to the Ombudsman about the delay, I received the information. Far from trimming their costs Peter Robinson been rubber-stamping every lavish demand, which no doubt explained DFP’s reluctance to answer my questions.
“With no questions asked every north/south body got every penny of public funding they demanded. There was not a single local department which was so treated, every one of them saw their funding cut, but not the north/south bodies.
“On March 5th of this year I expressed the hope that the Business Plans for 2009 for the cross-border bodies would not be rubber-stamped without question again and stated:
“If DFP is forced into action on this front, then it will be another illustration of the restraining impact TUV is having on full implementation of Belfast Agreement schemes.”
“Alastair Ross’s call for a reduction in expenditure on the North/South infrastructure of the Belfast Agreement is yet another sign of the influence TUV continues to have on pro-Agreement Unionism.
“The truth is that there is no value or worth in any of the North-South institutions. The best way, therefore, to save money would for them to be abolished entirely.”
