Fears funding at risk for church project

Last Tuesday the UUP brought forward an amendment that would have seen £26 million being removed from SIF and redistributed to ‘frontline services’.

During the Assembly debate North Down MLA, Leslie Cree submitted that SIF was just one example of where government departments were “failing to deliver”.

He told Assembly members a large sum of SIF money had never been “pushed” in the direction it had been intended for.

He said it was his party’s belief that this money could now be put to better use.

“Not to spend a budget when there is urgent need is very difficult to defend,” he added.

The UUP man said his party’s amendment would allow for £5 million to be passed to the Health Department to assist trusts’ budget difficulties, in addition to the new moneys in the draft Budget.

The Department for Regional Development would benefit from an allocation of £3 million, which, Mr. Cree submitted, would help fund Northern Ireland Water to comply with the PC15 final determination.

The UUP’s amendment also proposed that the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure be allocated £1.5 million to alleviate the significant pressures caused by reductions to the arts and Northern Ireland’s museums’ budgets.

And it would also allocate a further £1.5 million to the Department of Health for the use of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.

Reacting to the debate last week, however, Fermanagh DUP councillor, Mr. Elliott, said he was deeply worried that the move would bring the axe down on funding allocated for the ‘Halls Together Now’ project, thus affecting the refurbishment of St Macartin’s Church Hall in Enniskillen and another project for Fermanagh House.

His anger led to a public spat over social media last Tuesday night with UUP Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA, Tom Elliott.

The UUP MLA said funding for the Fermanagh projects had already been committed to and as such would not have been affected by his party’s amendment.

He suggested the local DUP councillor was attempting to ‘misrepresent’ the situation: “I must say that while I have come to expect misleading commentary from some politicians, given your role on in the Church I am surprised at you joining in with such misrepresentation.” In response, the Enniskillen councillor accused the MLA of launching a “personal attack” on him.

“I regret that you have sought to drag this genuine debate to the level of personal attack. You’ll be well aware of the saying, play the ball not the man. Your attempt to make controversial my role in the church is unbecoming of you and I am both surprised and disappointed.

“I take my role in church very seriously and would never seek to use it, or any other position whether that be in the Loyal Orders, bands, employment for political gain. I am insulted that you would infer otherwise.” Speaking to the Impartial Reporter this week, DUP councillor, Mr. Elliott accused the UUP of “denying that they sought to remove this money”.

“This is a deliberate attempt to deceive the public after being found out and exposed,” he said.

“That is very disappointing and they would be better to front up and admit that they either made a mistake, or that they did actually intend taking this money away. What they are doing is misleading and disingenuous.

“There is absolutely no doubt that their amendment to the Budget would have withdrawn money from SIF projects like the refurbishment of St Macartin’s Hall and also Orange Hall refurbishments across Northern Ireland, including in Clogher. This is fact, and no amount of spin or muddying of the waters by the UUP can change that. “I am glad that DUP MLAs voted to protect this money for our community while UUP MLAs voted to take it away.” No one within the Clogher Diocesan office wished to comment on the funding relating to St Macartin’s Hall’s refurbishment.

“We do not wish to comment on a disagreement of views among politicians,” said a spokesman.

Meanwhile, a Fermanagh House representative said: “The Fermanagh House project is proceeding as planned this year.”