FAIR plans protest over funding dispute
SERIOUSLY ill victims campaigner Willie Frazer is to stage a sit-in protest after 80 per cent of his group's EU peace money was stopped by a Dublin-based funder.
Mr Frazer, of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR), said he has to undergo major surgery for bowel cancer within days but is planning to ignore advice from friends in order to travel to the offices of the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB) in Belfast this Friday.
He wants to protest about how his group's EU funding has been stopped by the Monaghan branch of Dublin-based government agency Pobal.
"Some 80 per cent of FAIR's funding was stopped in July and seven out of nine staff have been paid off," he said.
"Everything with our EU funding was going fine when it was through the Community Relations Council in Northern Ireland but then we were moved to Pobal in Monaghan, which has its head office in Dublin. We have never had an explanation as to why we were moved.
"Pobal says we have not carried out correct procurement procedures, but when we came under their authority, they spent seven months asking us for one policy document after another instead of giving us the full list they needed.
"This meant our staff missed the proper training for procurement which they were providing.
"Pobal has admitted that there is no money missing and that nobody made money."
Mr Frazer said FAIR "has obviously made some small mistakes". One example, he said, is that his group advertised for a consultant with only a week's deadline for tenders but that the funders approved this at the time.
Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy said "an issue has developed" regarding the group's funding and that representations are being made "at the highest political levels".
He added: "Obviously I am concerned for the health of Willie Frazer and this funding situation is adding to his problems. The service that FAIR provides is very important to many victims."
Acting FAIR director Pastor Barrie Halliday said: "It is simply 40 years too late for the EU to be so concerned with south Armagh funding paperwork, bearing in mind the amount of smuggling and fraud the area has seen."
He believes his group is being "harassed" because many members are from south Armagh Protestant security forces backgrounds.
A spokesman for SEUPB in Belfast said the funding was being administered on a cross-border basis through Pobal.
"Following a thorough audit of the tendering and administration procedures used by FAIR the Special EU Programmes Body has uncovered major failures in the organisation's ability to adhere to the conditions associated with its funding allocation," he said.
"SEUPB is charged with ensuring the proper use of public money and as such has no option but to revoke all financial assistance, (amounting to approximately 880,000), that has been offered to the organisation.
"FAIR has been given every opportunity to respond to and address these issues. The decision to revoke and recover all financial assistance given to the project has not been taken lightly – however, given the seriousness of the issues, no other recourse is available.”
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Monday 28 May 2012
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