Sirs,

The visit of John McFall's treasury committee to Stormont was a breath of fresh air after all the prevarication and evasion which for too long has blighted the plight of Presbyterian Mutual Society savers.

His highlighting of the regulation gap afflicting mutuals, and the failure of DETI to face up to it, was most timely because DETI has been dodging and parcel-passing on this issue since I first raised it with the Minister at the outset of the PMS crisis.

I was, therefore, glad that Mr McFall so pointedly exploded the DETI myth that they had no responsibility to recognise and plug this gap. The department's pretence that they only had oversight of a registrar, but no obligation to ensure regulation, is no longer tenable.

I trust in consequence we will now see the department face up to its obligations and failings, and that soon the hard-pressed PMS savers will get relief and delivery from a situation they would never have been in if the Government had ensured adequate regulation.

JIM ALLISTER QC

Traditional Unionist Voice