07/07/2009

Assembly Recalled Over Budget

As anticipated last week, a special sitting of the Stormont Assembly will be held later today to debate Finance Minister Sammy Wilson's June budget statement.

Last week, several parties sought the recall of MLAs from their summer recess, including Sinn Féin, whose Chief Whip in the Assembly, Carál Ní Chuilín MLA said it was "essential in order to question the new Finance Minister Sammy Wilson on the current budget allocations".

Ms Ní Chuilin said: "The previous minister, Nigel Dodds has failed to bring forward the June Monitoring Round outcomes for consideration by the Executive in time to be debated.

"What each department is allocated as a result of this financial monitoring round is essential not just for ministerial members to know what their spend may be but also for each and every MLA in order to have the opportunity to ratify any re-allocation of funds to priority projects," she said.

See: Funds Row Clouds MLA's Summer Break

(BMcC/JM)

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