Ulster Unionist OFMdFM committee member, Danny Kinahan, has said he was “appalled” by the attitude of Junior Ministers Jonathan Bell and Martina Anderson towards their scrutiny committee and the issue of child poverty as they made a presentation on issues relating to children and young people on Wednesday afternoon.

Danny said:

“The issue of child poverty is an extremely important one, especially given the failure of OFMdFM to reach the targets set out in the previous Programme for Government and I believe that the attitude of the Junior Ministers when presenting to the OFMdFM committee on the matter was an example of why public confidence in the Assembly is so low.’

“The committee was hearing a presentation by the two Junior Ministers on 'Delivering Social Change' which encompasses a responsibility to help so many of the most vulnerable in Northern Ireland.  It soon became clear that there was little substance to the presentation, which was mainly made up of old statistics whilst highlighting the successes of other Departments. It seemed that the sole reason for the presentation was to provide the Junior Ministers with an opportunity for sound-bites.’

“When I pressed the Junior Ministers for information as to when we would see action plans and timescales it seemed that their understanding of these concepts is very different from that of my Party and I.  I left the meeting no clearer as to when OFMdFM intend to begin taking forward the vague ideas that were discussed.’

“There was also much resistance from the Junior Ministers to go into the details of the overdue report on child poverty which they are obligated to produce on an annual basis as set out in the Child Poverty Act. I find it totally unacceptable that they would so blatantly try to stop their scrutiny committee from carrying out our role.’

“I found the blasé attitude displayed by Jonathan Bell and Martina Anderson towards the failure of their Department to present this report to the committee on two previous occasions totally unacceptable. After all, the report is fundamental in assessing OFMdFM's performance in this area.’ 

“This highlights everything that is wrong with some of the current functions within the Executive. The DUP and Sinn Fein have clearly forgotten what the fundamental principles of democracy and accountability are.’