Audit Office asked to investigate after SF and DUP accused of '˜carve-up'

The Northern Ireland Audit Office has been asked to investigate Belfast City Council decision to award £400,000 of ratepayers' money to community groups for 'bonfire diversion'.
Belfast City HallBelfast City Hall
Belfast City Hall

Sinn Fein and the DUP, who backed the decision at the council last week, faced allegations of a “political carve-up” when the details of the restricted meeting leaked to the media.

Alliance and SDLP councillors want to meet the Audit Office “as a matter of urgency” over how the decision to award the public money was made.

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A UUP spokesman also said the party’s Belfast councillors would meet next week to discuss their “next course of action” over the issue.

The decision to give various groups cash for “Area-based festivals”, which involve “educational and diversionary activities associated with July and August bonfires”, came following a slow uptake in BCC’s own bonfire grants programme.

DUP council group leader Lee Reynolds said the festivals’ funding was “positive and worthwhile”.

Alliance and SDLP representatives referred to a “string of controversial decisions” pushed through by Sinn Fein and the DUP in recent months.

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“We have asked the UUP and the SDLP to join us in registering concern over the abuse of ratepayers’ money regarding this latest carve-up by Sinn Fein and the DUP,” said Alliance’s Emmet McDonagh Brown.

“This behind closed doors dealing, removing the call-in mechanism so others can’t question these decisions, it’s ridiculous.

“If this kind of thing happened in the Civil Service, the allocation of this kind of money would be measured, assessed and interrogated within an inch of its life. Yet, here we are at City Hall where Sinn Fein and the DUP can simply scratch each other’s backs and no one bats an eyelid.”

SDLP’s Tim Attwood said his party wanted to “ensure ratepayers’ money is handled in a fair and equitable way”.