Call for Action on Another North - South Body's Appalling Record
21 July 2011
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister MLA:
“In pervious statements I have highlighted the appalling situation which pertains in North/South Bodies like Waterways Ireland and the Food Safety Promotion Board.
“It seems that the other bodies are not much better. As a result of a written question to DETI Minister Arlene Foster I have established that just 9 of the 43 staff employed by InterTradeIreland are Protestant.
“It is self-evident that the situation is unacceptable. I have therefore written to the Minister asking what is being done to address these figures.
“I have now obtained statistics on the community background of staff in five of the six all-Ireland bodies established by the Belfast Agreement. It comes as no great surprise that across all of them Protestants account for less than 32% of the workforce – the figure falls to just over 27% when the Ulster-Scots Agency is excluded.
“Of course these figures take no account of the staff employed by cross border bodies in the Republic. For example, Northern Ireland has contributed over £19 million to the running of the Food Safety Promotion Board since its inception but the FSPB does not employ a single person in our Province!
“These statistics underscore the fact that cross-border bodies deliver nothing of substance for the Unionist population of Northern Ireland and were created solely to further the Belfast Agreement’s ultimate goal of Irish unity.”
