Where are the promised reports on NIW debacle?
01 March 2011
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister
“The end of February – the promised report date for the supposed inquiries into the NIW/DRD debacle – has come and gone, but no reports.
“Are we again seeing the classic Stormont trick of announceing an inquiry to ease the pressure and then bury it? The history of inquiries in DRD is not encouraging. In August 2010 the Shortridge inquiry was established to investigate the Paul Priestly issue. The report has been with the Head of the Civil Service for 4 months, effectively buried. Will the same happen here, on the premise that the more time passes, the more memories of Murphy and NIW’s failings will fade?
“Whereas, the terms of reference of the NIW/DRD inquiries were deficient – particularly in preventing adequate investigation of whether the Minister’s precipitative replacement of experienced directors with his own inexperienced placemen, including the absentee Dublin chairman, contributed to the crisis - and while those handpicked turned out to have links with players in the saga, at least the public are entitled to know what they come up with, if only to confirm the suspicion that a whitewash was always the intention.
“So, where are the promised reports?”
