SDLP/DUP clash over cost of Police Ombudsman’s Office

Politicians in the North clashed today over the cost of running the Office of the Police Ombudsman.

The DUP said £10m (€14m) a year was far too much for a dubious return while the SDLP accused unionists of being backward.

MEP Jim Alistair queried if the Police Ombudsman's Office was value for money considering the lack of police resources.

In addition to the salary of the Ombudsman herself, he said the executive director of investigations was paid more than £100,000 (€140,000), which made him almost as well paid as the British Prime Minister. It was surely difficult to justify this, said Mr Alistair, as the Police Ombudsman’s Office was not widely regarded as performing much of a useful purpose.

But SDLP policing spokesman Alex Attwood said Mr Alistair's comments were typical of a DUP approach of hitting out at any institution that was changing the north, particularly on human rights.