Stormont has stumped up £12,000 for Stonewall – a UK charity which is in the spotlight for advocating transgender ideology
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A series of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests by loyalist activist Jamie Bryson has revealed that since 2019 more than £11,685 was paid by the Department of Finance to Stonewall.
The payments break down as £6,685 in 2019/20, £2,250 in 20/21 and £2,250 again in 21/22 according to FoI answers given to Mr Bryson.
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Hide AdStonewall has been embroiled in a number of national controversies over its promotion of trans rights, which critics say has been over-aggressive and seeks to shut down debate on gender identity issues.
It has been criticised by traditional feminists who oppose self-identifying gender ideology.
Commenting on the sums paid out to the charity, Mr Bryson called for more transparency over what exactly the payments were for.
“It is not exactly clear what these payments were for, and it is deeply troubling that public money in Northern Ireland has been paid by government bodies to this highly controversial organisation,” he said.
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Hide AdMr Bryson continued: “As the BBC Nolan Podcast exposed, Stonewall has been exercising disproportionate influence on public policy, and questions need to be answered as to why they have been receiving money from the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland.
“Given Stonewall’s highly controversial and divisive background, providing them with public money is plainly significant and controversial and therefore should have had Executive approval.”
The News Letter contacted the Department of Finance to confirm the figures and explain what the payments to Stonewall were for, but so far they have yet to respond.
More on this topic from the News Letter, one of the only news outlets which regularly covers developments in this area:
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