Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“One of the interesting aspects of the Ruane story is the Sinn Fein claim that the arrangements she had in relation to her salary as Principal Deputy Speaker “were her own affair”.
“How does that square with the Republican claim that their representatives only take the “average industrial wage” and pay the rest into the party?
“Last year Phil Flanagan told the High Court that he only got to keep £2,000 a month of his £48,000 a year salary and therefore didn’t have the money to pay large damages to Tom Elliott. Flanagan said that while his MLA salary was paid into his own bank account Sinn Fein had access to that account.
“We now know that Ruane was taking money no fair-minded person could believe she was entitled to. What about her party? How big a slice of the £55,000 did Sinn Fein get?
“There are big questions for the republican party and I am not hearing any answers.”