DUP member of the European Parliament James H Allister QC MEP has responded to the publication of a report presented by Price Waterhouse Cooper’s claiming that 57% of available monies under the PEACE II stage of the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation were awarded to Protestants. The DUP MEP described the claim as “entirely spurious and utterly incredulous”.

Jim Allister said:

“It is clear that those who have for years defended institutionalised discrimination against the Protestant community in terms of Peace funding are running around like headless chickens. Having been confronted by the blatant excesses of their own discriminatory Peace programme the various funding bodies have resorted to commissioning reports, surveys, vox-pops and any other marketing or PR trick at their disposal to deflect from the reality of the situation. I and the community I represent will not be fooled.

It was thanks to continuous lobbying from my DUP colleagues and I that the Special EU Programmes Body was compelled to acknowledge the gross under funding of the Unionist community that has existed up until now. This Price Waterhouse report, runs at variance to all other research and public statements issued since the commencement of the PEACE II extension period. It was ironic indeed that the day after this report was published claiming the Protestants were getting a fair slice of the cake, Pat Colgan, SEUPB Chief Executive was quoted in the News Letter (15/10/05) as saying the exact opposite. Indeed, Protestant working-class districts are specifically singled out as not receiving their fair share.  Likewise, when Lord Rooker launched the Peace II Extension at the Waterfront Hall he specifically acknowledged the historic under-funding of the Protestant community.

No sane person could seriously contend that Protestant community have received proportionate benefits from the Peace programme. The fraudulent methodology used in order to arrive at figures relating to the community background of those awarded money will be examined over the coming days – my office will publish a detailed rebuttal of this report showing the many fallacies contained within it. The findings of this utterly incredulous report will be shown to be false and untrue” said the DUP MEP.