Ulster Unionist Social Development spokesperson Michael Copeland MLA has called on DSD Minister Nelson McCausland to make a sincere and public apology to the four building contractors who he previously accused of overcharging the NI Housing Executive by some £18m. After a thorough investigation it has now been revealed that the overall level of overpayments came to much less than suggested, that the contractors had undertaken work up to a value of £10million which was not properly verified and costed at the time and that one of the contractors had not overcharged in anyway.

The East Belfast MLA said;

“The four contractors which were so publicly named by the Minister last summer have shown great faith in seeking to resolve this matter.Not only did their businesses face significant financial pressure, but they also had to endure the doubts on their professional reputation. In fact the Minister even had the audacity to claim in his statement to the Assembly in June 2013 that was it was not clear ‘whether what has taken place in the past is a result of incredible incompetence or wilful corruption’.

“I would now ask the Minister to tell us, when he was standing in the Assembly Chamber last year and was very publically accusing four separate companies of overcharging to the tune of £18m, whether he too was showing ‘incredible incompetence or wilful corruption in his comments’?

“Three of the four contractors are now to hand back a total of £670,000 and I welcome that. It is imperative that public money is spent wisely and where there have been overpayments that it is retrieved. However, there is simply no equating of an overpayment of £670,000 with an overpayment of £18,000,000.

“Did the Minister have ulterior motives when he cited the £18m figure? It became apparent very quickly that his supposed facts were unsubstantiated.

“Was the fact that the Minister made this announcement on the 10 June 2013, when he would have been acutely aware that a BBC Spotlight programme was only weeks from being broadcast, a cynical attempt to deflect public attention from accusations about to be made in regards to Red Sky?

“He now owes each of the contractors an apology for using them in such a cynical and inconsiderate manner.”