Statement by TUV leader and Finance Committee member Jim Allister:
“The review announced today by the Finance Minister following the letter from the Finance Committee will, I trust, result in a reversal of the decision to block the planting of a tree to mark the jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen. Frankly, I believe that the review is a belated acknowledgement by the Minister that he is on shrinking ground having blocked the planting of a rose bush to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland and latterly his decision to refuse the planting of a tree.
“The Minister has been seen by many as petty and meanspirited. His decisions are certainly in marked contrast to the decision of a previous Minister to allow the planting of a tree in the Stormont estate to mark the centenary of the GAA.”