Responding to the latest court ruling on the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme, UUP MLA and The Executive Office Committee Vice-Chair, Doug Beattie MC MLA said:
“The Executive Office has acted shamefully from the outset on the Troubles Permanent Disablement Payment Scheme. I have to question why it seems so content to be repeatedly embarrassed in the courts. Today’s ruling represents the latest abject failure in meeting the needs of injured Troubles victims. The victims have acted with grace and dignity and have yet again been let down.
“They have been given four weeks to get their act together. If it is a hope that by running down the clock the UK Government might bend on this, then they are set to reach new pathetic depths. The Executive Office has not only a moral obligation, but now a legal one to provide the funding to this Scheme and end the uncertainty for those who have spent years suffering as a result of injuries caused by no fault of their own.
“We had sympathy on the funding issue and offered potential solutions. But any sympathy is fast running out as this shameful foot dragging continues.”