TUV Leader lambasts lavishing £850,000 of Rural Development Funding on Tyrone GAA
21 December 2012
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:-
“Farming and the rural community needs all the help they can get. The EU’s Rural Development Fund, overseen by DARD, is supposed to exist to assist with viable rural projects for the benefit of the whole rural community. Funds are limited, making sensible allocation an imperative.
“Thus, I am astounded to have unearthed through an Assembly Question to the DARD Minister that this year £844,656 of this scarce resource has been lavished on one of the richest GAA clubs in Northern Ireland, Tyrone GAA. £500,000 is to go on “a floodlit 3G multi-activity facility” and £250,000 on “an environmental and heritage project”, while rural communities and associations across Tyrone and elsewhere struggle to make ends meet.
“If support is to be given to a “heritage project”, then it should not be under the auspices of a partisan organisation like the GAA.
“This is a scandalous misuse of Rural Development funding, of which, no doubt, the Sinn Fein minister is proud.
“Considering DCAL is pouring over £60m into GAA stadium development, it seems this organisation is the favoured beneficiary of scarce public funding.”
Mr Allister’s Assembly Question & Answer
Question: To ask the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to detail the funding Tyrone Gaelic Athletic Association has received from her Department, or its arms length bodies, in each of the last 5 years.
Answer: As the member will be aware the Quality of Life Axis (Axis 3) of the EU Rural Development Programme is delivered through the EU LEADER approach by seven Joint Council Committees (JCCs) working in partnership with a Local Action Group (LAG) in Council Cluster areas.
Assisting Rural Communities (ARC) North West (NW) is responsible for delivery across the council areas of Omagh, Strabane, Derry and Limavady, and has awarded two Letters of Offer to Tyrone County GAA Committee following two separate open, competitive calls for applications:
Letter of Offer of 22 May 2012 for £250,000 grant assistance toward an environmental and heritage project.
Letter of Offer of 27 November 2012 for £594,656 grant assistance toward a floodlit 3G multi-activity facility.
