Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“Today’s damming report into the Social Investment Fund is shocking but at the same time it on one level it is unsurprising that such fundamental and systemic problems bedevilled the scheme from the outset. As I consistently warned the SIF did not represent value for money rather it was all too often a slush money used to fund groups favoured by the DUP and Sinn Fein/IRA.
“If RHI is a DUP scandal this one is very much a joint effort with their then partners in Sinn Fein.
“The report speaks of well-meaning voluntary and community groups putting in enormous effort to apply for funding “which in the main was wasted effort”. Throughout the process there is evidence of a cavalier attitude towards basic features of good governance with no formal application process, a lack of consistency in how projects were prioritised, documenation not existing when it came to basic matters such as the ranking of groups, no clear scoring framework and a project design which made conflicts of interest “inevitable.
“The list of failures in the design of the SIF goes on and on.
“The Comptroller and Auditor General highlights one case where the public paid £1 million for the construction of a building for which it is now also paying rent. The rental payments will total £2.25 million over 25 years.
“In another instance, documentation did not exist to justify the decision to award funding to a project which received £870,000.
“Among the litany of issues highlighted in the report is the fact that over £4 million in management fees will be paid to eighteen voluntary and community groups who have been appointed as lead partners. All eighteen had a representative sitting on the steering group which appointed them.
“I have been asking questions about this scheme since 2011 highlighting, for example, that while £14,500,000 was going to Belfast just £0.4 million went to a single project in the Northern Zone in Coleraine.
“Not a penny in the initial batch of money came to North Antrim.
“I tabled some 38 questions on the Social Investment Fund in 2016-17 before the Assembly fell, many of them about conflicts of interest which may not have been declared.
“I have no doubt that there have been worthy projects funded though the SIF but it is clear that the people of Northern Ireland should be angry that their money was squandered in this fashion on a fund which was flawed from the outset and which many people warned about.
“This is yet another scandal made in Stormont and once again the tax payer has been left with the hefty price tag.”