£3m needed to prevent victims' service crisis, warn MLAs as they call for cash

The Assembly has demanded Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness take "urgent action" to prevent a funding crisis facing victims of the Troubles.

MLAs backed an Ulster Unionist motion warning victims' and survivors' groups were facing closure and many individuals could be left in genuine hardship.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said the prospect of £1.3m from the next spending shareout would be insufficient and claimed £3m was needed to avoid a crisis.

Referring to the failure to find funding in the last spending round in June, he warned: "If we were to fail again, that would be a criminal action on our part.

"The bottom line is that without the full £3m, the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) will be unable to meet the basic needs and demands of victims and survivors."

The debate followed a growing crisis facing the Victims and Survivors Service (VSS) – which was set up by OFMDFM – over recent months including the resignations of chief executive Anne Dorbie and chairman Peter Gay.

And it came on the eve of a meeting between service officials and the Stormont committee that monitors Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness' department.

It is almost a year since former Victims Commissioner Kathryn Stone told the committee it was a matter of "profound regret" a review of the VSS had been ordered just months after it got under way.

"These are people who have suffered terribly and we should be doing all we can to remove obstacles and barriers for them," she said.

Yesterday there were no votes against the UUP motion, but the DUP's Stephen Moutray said it was ironic it had been brought by the UUP because when it was in office the annual budget for victims was £3m, compared to the current £11m.

"Funding for victims is at an all-time high," he added. "Of course budgets are going to be cut if Sinn Fein continue with their wrecking ball tactics on welfare reform."

The SDLP's Alex Attwood said MLAs should present a united front to the Government on the issue. He pointed to a 34% increase in victims contacting the WAVE organisation, including children as young as seven, because the consequences of the Troubles are passing to the new generation.

Alliance's Chris Lyttle said it was time for SF and the DUP to stop "passing the buck" to victims and survivors, but the DUP's Jimmy Spratt warned that parties should "stop playing politics".

Sinn Fein's Chris Hassard said the cost of dealing with the legacy of the past should be the responsibility of the British Government. "It happened under their watch," he argued.

MLAs were told that the Executive intends to return to the funding issue in the future.

Belfast Telegraph