On foot of an answer received to an Assembly Question, TUV Leader Jim Allister has attacked the decision of the Sinn Fein Education Minister, John O’Dowd, to refuse to fund a Diamond Jubilee memento for schoolchildren across the Province.

“Traditionally such momentous events are marked by presenting school children with a suitable souvenir, but under Sinn Fein rule there will be no such recognition or respect for the monarch. From time to time I hear Sinn Fein ministers talk about reaching out and showing respect for all traditions, but this churlish malevolence, on top of the Culture Minister’s refusal to make DCAL funding available to communities wishing to celebrate the Jubilee, shows how empty is all such talk. This is Sinn Fein rule in action.”

Earlier this week Jim Allister drew attention to the lack of such funding when speaking in the debate on the Budget Bill. He had this to say:-

“I regard certain things as being absent from the Budget, and I regret that. We are approaching what will be a remarkable event in the lives of most of us: Her Majesty will celebrate 60 years on the throne, which is a truly incredible achieve­ment. Yet neither in the Programme for Government nor the Budget does one penny appear to have been allocated to celebrate that momentous occasion. Not one penny, it would seem, has been allocated to give our schoolchildren a memento of that occasion. Not one penny, the Culture Minister has already confirmed, of additional funding will help communities to celebrate that momentous occasion. That is, from my perspective, not only hugely regrettable, but a slight, which I, for one, resent. We should be prepared to put that right. It is quite amazing that, in this year of all years, when we have the diamond jubilee, there is not a penny to give our children a memento or to help communities to celebrate, but there is money — “loadsamoney” — for hospitality, spin doctors and all that. In that small but important measure, we have very much got our priorities wrong.

“The Ulster covenant will be celebrated this year. On the fiftieth anniversary of the Ulster covenant, there was a public holiday in Northern Ireland. This year, the covenant has its 100th anniversary, and if the House gets it way, it will be barely mentioned because there is nothing in the Budget to afford funding to celebrate that momentous occasion, which was the big building block in the creation of this state……”