Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“That a £80 million fund announced in March 2011 should lie unspent with the Office of the Joint First Ministers for almost 3 years before the allocation of any of the money is announced is bad enough but to wait that long and discover that not a penny of the initial batch of money is coming to North Antrim is scandalous.
“We have a situation where there is £14,500,000 going to Belfast but just £0.4 million going to a single project in the Northern Zone in Coleraine.
“The systemic failure in the administration of the fund and get them out to worthwhile projects illustrates the dysfunctional pattern within OFMdFM – grandstanding announcements, followed by stagnation and inaction.
“People in North Antrim will rightly ask why their area has failed to secure any of the funding. Perhaps this situation will be rectified in the lead up to the election but thus far North Antrim is clearly losing out.
“Indeed I would question if the balance between the two communities, promised by the First Minister, is present in this allocation. It seems to me that the unionist community has been sold short.”