The Ulster Unionist Party Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has accused Sinn Fein and the DUP of mismanaging the Social Investment Fund on a grand scale. He has also condemned the DUP for shameless electioneering after they falsely claimed that the Ulster Unionist Party has called for the withdrawal of funding from community groups.

Mr Nesbitt said:

“It is rank hypocrisy of the DUP to accuse us wrongly of trying to deny funding to community groups when they have overseen victims groups being denied funds from the Victims’ Service, when those groups clearly qualified for funding, but the DUP and Sinn Fein had allowed the Victims’ Service bank account to run dry, thus denying some of our most vulnerable to the support they deserve.

“Despite the Social Investment Fund being allocated a budget of £80 million to be spent by March 2015, to address the pressing needs of dereliction and deprivation, until last week over half was still unspent. No observer, even its most sympathetic or patient observer, can retain any confidence in how Sinn Fein and the DUP have managed the scheme.

“Nevertheless it is nonsense to suggest that the Ulster Unionist Party would withdraw funding to those projects that have been successful in their applications; it is simply not the case. In our formal response to the Draft Budget we unequivocally said that existing commitments should all be honoured. There was sufficient funding available in the 2014/15 budget to do that. Last week it was a DUP Committee Chair who demonstrated he wasn't across his brief, now this week it's a DUP Minister.

“It is shameless electioneering from the DUP to falsely claim that the Ulster Unionist Party are seeking the removal of monies already allocated to local communities. We are glad to see that our repeated calls for better use of the £80 million already in the Social Investment Fund have finally galvanised OFMDFM into making decisions that they have been ducking for three years. Their track record in supplying money to local communities has been appalling and smacks of indecision, dithering, and rank amateurishness.

“The Social Investment Fund has been mismanaged on a grand scale by Sinn Fein/DUP. Due to this mismanagement community groups have been deprived of monies yet OFMdFM have sat on tens of millions of pounds which should have already been spent.  Sinn Fein and the DUP have repeatedly admitted that SIF has not worked as planned - unlike Sinn Fein and the DUP we would be mature enough to apologise to communities that have been waiting for years for the promised support. Simon Hamilton and his Sinn Fein Executive colleagues should do the same.”