Murphy dismisses ‘baseless scaremongering’

Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy has said recent claims that discretionary welfare funds will be cut or subsumed into the new welfare mitigation package are ‘baseless scaremongering’.

“The ‘Fresh Start’ Agreement makes clear that the Executive will allocate from its own funds £585 million over four years to support those most in need,” the Newry MLA said.

“This includes approximately £15 million per year from existing mitigation measures known as discretionary funds – again committed by the Executive out of its own resources – to support those impacted by previous cuts.

“Contrary to recent reports, it does not include the entire £80 million budget used for discretionary measures such as crisis loans. The majority of this money – £65 million per year – comes directly from the British government and will continue to do so under the new Universal Credit arrangements,” he continued.

“Let me be absolutely clear, these discretionary facilities and supports remain in place. They are not being cut and will be financed entirely separate from the £585 million welfare package in the agreement.

“The distribution of this fund will be based on the recommendations of Prof. Eileen Evason and her panel to ensure those in greatest need are protected.

“Unfortunately, it would seem that some political parties have sought to exploit the genuine concerns of those people by indulging in baseless scaremongering in order to score political points.

Murphy added, “Perhaps the parties involved simply got their sums wrong but I would be very concerned if the SDLP – having held the DSD ministry on two occasions in the past – do not know how the department’s budget works.”

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Posted by Newry Times News on Nov 28 2015. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry