FIRST Minister Arlene Foster has the reputation of being a no-nonsense politician and now it has emerged that when she was being pestered in her Enniskillen office last year she called in back up. 
The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and Fermanagh-south Tyrone MLA was quick to remove the unwanted visitors... by drafting in pest control.

Mrs. Foster spent £91.58 on hiring pest control according to Stormont figures on expenses paid to MLAs but her spokesman would not say exactly what was pestering her. 
Sinn Fein’s Phil Flanagan claimed almost £100,000 in expenses during the same period, more than all MLAs, including £16,762.00 on recruiting temporary staff to cover maternity leave in his office.
Former Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott paid Ulster Unionist Councillor Howard Thornton £1,500 as a self employed secretarial between April and July 2014.

Outgoing Sinn Fein MLA Bronwyn McGahan spent £845 on heating her Dungannon office and £290 on hiring a room at Clogher Valley Community Centre to hold a meeting on ‘farming issues’.
According to the figures, Lord Maurice Morrow of the Democratic Unionist Party spent £3.50 a month on getting the windows of his South Tyrone office cleaned.
Sinn Fein MLA Sean Lynch has proven that it is good to talk after his o2 mobile phone bill between June 2014 and April 2015 added up to almost £1000.
A second batch of figures, released by Stormont, reveal how much MLAs received in expenses in the six months between April and September 2015.
The Ulster Unionist’s Neil Somerville who was an MLA for just seven months before he resigned last week claimed £6,852.85 in expenses, including £5,100.00 in support staff salary costs and £416.25 in mileage during July last year.
Lord Morrow of the DUP spent £24.95 on an iPhone case and £39.95 on an iPad case while Arlene Foster, who replaced Peter Robinson as first minister in January, spent £728.00 on security maintenance and £1,220 on CCTV and access control system installation for her new office in Enniskillen. 
Sinn Fein’s Phil Flanagan spent £561.80 on waste collection and his colleague Sean Lynch claimed back £62.76 for a microwave and over £1000 a month in mileage between April and June last year. 

 

See this week's Impartial Reporter for all the details...