Deloitte figures vindicate Alliance stance

12.31.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 23rd Aug 2007

Alliance Party leader David Ford MLA

Alliance Party Leader David Ford has demanded action from the Executive in response to figures presented in a Deloitte Report setting out costs of division of up to £1.5 billion.

Alliance has long campaigned to slash the costs of running a segregated society and re-allocate the money to public services and servicing economic growth. The party is now challenging Ministers to act quickly to ensure billions of pounds are saved, and spent where they are really needed.

David Ford stated: "This report confirms stark economic and financial costs to people of having a Government which is trying the manage a divided society rather than create a truly shared future, where public money is spent on public services for everyone.

"The Deloitte figure of up to £1.5 billion wasted every year is staggering. It vindicates what we have been saying over recent years, despite scepticism from other parties.

"People will now demand that the Executive invests resources in improving public services and growing our economy, not in needless segregation and duplication. Therefore there are huge opportunities lost by having so much public money tied up in division.

"For five months, the Executive has sat on this report. As a result, there is now only a small window of opportunity for the results of this report to be taken into account within the forthcoming programme for government and comprehensive spending review, which are supposed to indicate how the Executive will fund better public services and eliminate the impact of water charges.

"If the Executive fails to act, people will judge it as a huge missed opportunity to make a real difference for all the people of Northern Ireland."

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