Robinson: Threatened policeman must not be political pawn

A policeman forced from his home by dissident republican threats on his life must not be used as a pawn in a political push for extra funds, the North's First Minister said today.

Peter Robinson said Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie must immediately fund the case and any others approved for the government scheme which buys property from people considered to be in danger.

Ms Ritchie, who administers the Sped scheme (Special Purchase of Evacuated Dwellings) through the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, said she was seeking extra money from Finance Minister Sammy Wilson.

Mr Robinson said: “Government has standard procedures for dealing with funding pressures and ministers know they cannot ignore their obligations. Normal procedures should be followed.

“Margaret knows very well that colleagues have never failed to deal with emergency situations.

“The people faced with these emergency circumstances should not be used as pawns in a political push for wider departmental funds.”

Earlier, Mr Wilson said it was the SDLP minister’s responsibility to manage her budget and that she had been the only minister in the last monitoring round to receive extra funding for her housing budget.

Her department was swift to respond, saying the scheme had fallen foul of the credit crunch and plunge in property prices.

In the financial year 2008-09 the Sped scheme purchased 46 homes at a cost of £9.8m (€11.14m), but had been able to sell only four at a price of £400,000 (€454,666), it said.

In the middle of the inter-party spat sits a 37-year-old policeman forced to flee his home last March and who has since had a stroke said to have been brought on by the stress.

He has been living in rented accommodation with his family while still paying the mortgage on his former home.

A purchase price of £250,000 (€284,191) for the old home had been agreed under the Sped scheme with the Housing Executive, but he has since had a letter telling him there are no funds available.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has been funding his rented accommodation, but the family’s time in it is about to end and he has been forced to put the purchase of a new home on hold because of the lack of money in the Sped scheme to buy their old property.

He is not the only member of the PSNI affected – another 11 officers have applied for help under the scheme after being forced to flee their homes.

Ms Ritchie responded: “I totally agree with Peter Robinson that people in this position should not be used as political pawns, I have not sought any publicity regarding this.”

She said she found herself replying to four senior DUP figures who have made interventions.

“None of them have taken time to speak to me even though I specifically asked Sammy Wilson for a meeting. A meeting arranged yesterday with Peter Robinson was cancelled by Peter Robinson,” she added.

“What the people affected by this want, and I have sympathy for them, is for this matter to be resolved quickly. If the Finance Minister or the First Minister are prepared to give me a guarantee that they will find the funds, I will borrow funds from the housing maintenance budget in the short term to help those people.”

She said borrowing for Sped last year had not been made good by the Finance Minister.

“Yesterday the First Minister indicated some positive things about an inclusive approach to government. It is disappointing that government ministers are pursuing the Sped issue across the airwaves.”