http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html en-gb 30 Mon 21 Dec 2009 05:05:17 GMT+1 A feed of user comments from the page found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html?page=17#comment7 We, the general public cannot verify what was agreed or not at the Executive anyway. Minutes of these meetings are not available on the assembly website. Minutes of commitee meetings are also fairly scant--they are not Hansard recorded and only minutes, so the full discusions are not recorded. Wed 17 Dec 2008 11:00:36 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html?page=15#comment6 It is the general publics missunderstanding of how government finance works ( it is extremely complex) that makes it easy for parties to make all sorts of allegations. DSD did not surrender money, it is not like handing a big pot of cash back to a central point. Monies are allocated under specific categories within a department and even the Minister cannot simply move money from one category to another. At certain times of the year a Dept can can ask for monies to be realloacted to another area to address perhaps other pressing issues, which is what happened in DSD. However rather than reallocate as the Minister requested the finance has been transferred for other uses--Thus the DSD budget for 2008 to 2009 is reduced by £30m. The executive have made this decision--the goodwill of monies to help those on Income pay their electricity bill is welcome but it comes at a cost for those seeking homes and repairs to their homes. Wed 17 Dec 2008 10:24:24 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html?page=12#comment5 Guys, it's not hard to understand. She needed the money for problems which have arisen since the last Budget and which were exacerbated by the actions of Sinn Fein over the summer. The money was not given up but was intended for re-allocation. Dodds knew this but took it anyway. See? Wed 17 Dec 2008 00:55:21 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html?page=10#comment4 MarkNigel gave the Northern Ireland people a big & nice christmas gift..... Tue 16 Dec 2008 22:54:31 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html?page=7#comment3 CarsonsCat I am glad to see someone else agree with me.Why did Margaret Ritchie give up money she couldn't afford? It appears that she and her officials don't know what they are doing. I took the time there to listen to the Nolan show on playback to hear her making seriously stupid comments. You are right. She does think money grows on trees. From what I see Margaret is annoyed that Nigel went further than what she ever dreamt off. Stormontspy Tue 16 Dec 2008 21:38:59 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html?page=5#comment2 nineteensixtyseven"it was vital money that needed to be re-allocated"Which begs the question why she didn't bid for it originally to go into the areas of her budget where she could spend it. Maggie's miffed that she's not getting the glory for the fuel poverty payments and its plain for everyone to see. She can't even manage consistency in her rantings - on the one hand she wants to welcome the money going on the payments but criticises where the money came from.The most ridiculous thing was her appearance on Nolan this morning where she said that the money should have came from "the Finance Minister". She clearly does think that money grows on trees - either that or Nigel Dodds has a printing press under his desk and can whip up tenners at a minutes notice. Above all, if Margaret Ritchie is so angry about this whole issue then why did she vote for it at the Executive? After all, this isn't like the Budget - she wasn't legally obliged to support it. Surely she doesn't want to have her cake and eat it? Tue 16 Dec 2008 10:23:13 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html?page=2#comment1 "Surely she could have re-jigged it and kept hold of it. "If she could have done that then she would have done. She argues that to re-allocate funding requires the permission of the Finance Minister which she sought. However, when she put the £39m up for re-allocation only £9m of it was returned for housing and the rest disappeared into other departments. Far from this being money that could not be spent by her department, as Dodds maintains, it was vital money that needed to be re-allocated. Seems that Dodds has used the fact that this sort of meeting usually deals with money that could not be spent as cover to take it off DSD in bad faith. Tue 16 Dec 2008 01:15:23 GMT+1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markdevenport/2008/12/nigels_christmas_giveaway.html?page=0#comment0 Mark,Another excellent blog. It does sound like secret Santa. Sadly those that work and pay taxes are the losers again. What does the working man/woman get in return?I am slightly confused by Margaret Ritchie accusing Santa Dodds of carrying out a "smash and grab raid" on her housing budget. Why free up nearly £39 million of resources in the hope of reallocating it to urgent tasks like social housing maintenance? Surely she could have re-jigged it and kept hold of it. It appears the DUP are ganging up on her. Mark you said yourself on Inside Politics that Robbo banged his fists on the executive table and told Margaret to stop raising expectation. It doesn't help Margaret when she signs up to things and then later backs down i.e. Fuel Poverty, Budget, Social Housing etcI think it is now time the number of Ministers and Departments were reduced and the number of MLA's reduced. It makes sense. Mon 15 Dec 2008 19:37:55 GMT+1