Next moderator of Presbyterian Church in Ireland points out 'fatal flaw' in Secretary of State Hilary Benn's logic on Northern Ireland public sector funding
The next Presbyterian moderator says the Secretary of State has a "fatal flaw" in logic when he claims Northern Ireland has all the funding it needs to deal with the crisis in public services.
Rev Trevor Gribben was speaking in the wake of a speech by Secretary Of State Hilary Benn at Ulster University on Tuesday, where he said that a lack of funding from Westminster was not to blame for a crisis in public services such as the health service and education in Northern Ireland.
However Rev Gribben said that he and all the politicians in the audience rejected his claim that Northern Ireland doesn't need any extra money from the UK Government.
"There was a fatal flaw in what he said," said Rev Gribben, who was elected this week and will take office in June.
"He referred to the new funding mechanism that we now get for needs based funding, which the Labour government has confirmed.
"And he basically said, now you've got that fair funding the Northern Ireland executive has to not only balance their budget, but they have to fix and redo public services. Now, the fatal flaw in that logic is that Northern Ireland was underfunded for decades. It didn't have fair and needs based funding for decades."
The cleric said that all political parties here have called on the UK government to step up and supply the extra funding so that reform can happen in our health service, in our education service, and in our infrastructure."
But the cleric added that there is also a serious responsibility on Northern Ireland executive "to take the hard decisions necessary to bring that reform in - It's not just one or the other, it's both".
"The UK government needs to provide the funding to enable the Northern Ireland Executive to take the hard decisions to fix the things that are wrong, that everyone knows are wrong in our society.
"Because it is the marginalized, disadvantaged, the most vulnerable who suffer the most when our infrastructure breaks down.
"It is they who suffer most when our health service breaks down, when there's not proper funding for education - particularly in areas like special education - and in working class areas across Northern Ireland."