Newry Armagh Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

100,000 OF RATES MONEY GOES TO CHURCH OF IRELAND .

Published: 26 January, 2010

At a recent meeting of the Executive Committee of Armagh City and District Council, council officials brought forward a request from the Church Of Ireland, Cathedral Board, requesting financial support for a tourism project at the Cathedral. Though they are accessing funds from other agencies, they have a shortfall of £100,000 and were requesting the council fund this shortfall.

At the meeting Cllr Mary Doyle expressed concerns around as to why this request had reached the Executive Committee so late and consequently required the Executive to reach a very hurried decision concerning the allocation of a significant amount of ratepayers money.

Cllr Doyle acknowledged this was a worthwhile project but felt that ratepayers should not be funding it, as there are many other community based projects in the council area that needs financial assistance, which would directly improve quality of life for all our constituents. Especially, at a time when people are going to find it very difficult to pay their rates bill due to the downturn in the economy.

Although all other parties supported the request, Cllr Doyle had the request referred to internal scrutiny mechanism in the Council, where Cllr Cathy Rafferty echoed the concerns of Cllr Doyle.

Cllr Rafferty also felt that the project was an excellent venture but was concerned that it had come before members at a late stage where there was an urgency to finalise funding. Cllr Rafferty had concerns that there were other worthwhile projects in the wider community which would benefit hundreds of young people and children, but they didn't receive funding from council. She felt that the council was setting a precedent and it would be difficult to know where to draw the line, how can the council fund one project and not another.

The matter went to the Statutory council meeting, where Cllr Doyle again voiced her parties concerns, all other parties including the SDLP, UUP and DUP supported the project and voted to allow the funding, SF voted against, Cllr Darren McNally informed council that SF would be sending a letter to Dean Rooke to explain our position on the matter.

It has only been with the continued pressure on the council from SF that we have pushed forward issues and projects such as the new community centre in Keady, funding for community projects in the rural and urban areas, that had previously had difficulty getting funding from council, exploring the possibility of an Environmental Improvement Scheme in Keady.

The community infra-structure across the Council area continues to require additional support and the Sinn Fein grouping on the ACDC will continue to do their best to ensure that all funding applications are treated in a fair and equitable manner to ensure that those communities most in need of help and support have it made available to them. END