Over £7m paid to support County Derry MLAs in last five years
By Cathal McGuigan
More than £7 million of public money was paid to support MLAs in East Derry and Mid Ulster during the last five-year term of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Research carried out by investigative news website The Detail found that the wage bill for all MLAs in the north came to just over £28.2m, while expenses and the costs for offices and staff reached over £41.1 million between April 2011 and March 2016.
Seven MLAs represented the East Derry constituency during the five year period. According to the figures, the total cost of their wages, travel allowances, office and other costs were £3.3m. A further £264,000 was paid to support MLAs in the area from April 2016 to February 2017.
The Mid Ulster constituency was represented by six MLAs from April 2011 and March 2016. The figures showed that the total cost to support the assembly members was £4.04m. A further £288,000 was paid to support MLAs in the area from April 2016 to February 2017.
Sinn Féin received the most money from the two constituencies from 2011 to 2016, with around £2.75m divided between four Mid Ulster MLAs and one East Derry MLAs. The DUP received £2.02m for three MLAs in East Derry and one in Mid Ulster.
The SDLP received over £1.3m over the period as both John Dallat in East Derry and Patsy McGlone in Mid Ulster received over £665,000 in wages and support costs.
The Detail’s article comes as political negotiations on restoring Stormont continues. The amount of money spent on the Assembly has been criticised as there has been little progress to resolve controversial issues like paramilitary activity, regional disparities between the east and west areas of Northern Ireland and same-sex marriage.
The latest report by the Independent Financial Review Panel, the body that determines how much politicians elected to Stormont are paid, showed that MLAs are paid less than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, but receive more money per head of the population.
The panel announced major changes to the way in which MLAs are paid for carrying out their Assembly duties last year. They plan to introduce caps on how much MLAs can claim in expenses and to scrap the current system for office costs.
Former members of the panel – whose appointments expired last June - wrote to Northern Ireland Secretary of State James Brokenshire in March to argue that continuing to pay MLAs in the event of direct rule would be “unjustifiable”, and suggested payments should be stopped after three months.
The letter, signed by Pat McCartan, Dr Etta Campbell and Alan McQuillan, said: “If the Government is therefore forced to suspend the Assembly by order in council we strongly recommend that you consider strictly limiting the period for which members may draw salaries and expenses – perhaps to a period of three months to allow completion of any negotiations.
“We do not even see why expenses should be paid for this period as these are supposed to relate to the management of MLAs' constituency offices and without a functioning Assembly the work that can be done in these is very limited.”
An Assembly spokesperson confirmed to The Detail that politicians are currently being paid following the election on March 2 despite the fact Stormont has yet to reconvene.