UUP MLA and Vice-Chair of the Executive Office Committee, Doug Beattie MC, has said it is shameful that question marks still remain over funding for the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme.
Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“It is up to the UK Government and Executive ministers to provide the funding for the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme. To continue with this public back and forth is not only completely unedifying, it’s also totally unfair to victims who again find themselves at the centre of a row.
“This issue cannot turn into a stand off which is reliant on either the Government or the Executive being seen to back down. There is both a moral and legal obligation to provide this funding for the scheme and a resolution must be found. We have proposed that the £150m earmarked for legacy bodies in the Stormont House Agreement could provide a short-term solution. We need to see others in solution finding mode.
“It is shameful that there is a question mark over funding. Victims have had to fight long and hard for what should have been theirs from the outset. The UK Government and the NI Executive have a duty to these people – there are no excuses left.”