Conservative spokesman, Mark Brotherston, has accused the DUP and Sinn Féin of “attacking any journalist with the audacity to ask inconvenient questions”.
“When the scandal about expenses at Westminster broke, there were profuse apologies from all of the main parties and most of the MPs”, Mark stated. “Last week, when BBC Northern Ireland broadcast a documentary investigating MLAs’ claims for office rent, the parties went immediately on the attack. Sinn Féin, which stands accused of paying money to bogus ‘cultural societies’, ranted and railed against the broadcaster, employing its full gamut of ‘doublespeak’. The DUP’s Arlene Foster stretched irony to its limits by describing the BBC as ‘parasitical’, for making the programme.”
“Woe betide any journalist who has the temerity to investigate the DUP and Sinn Féin. They are accused of being negative about Northern Ireland or ‘attacking the peace process’. Both parties deny they have broken any rules and there needs to be a robust investigation, independent of Northern Ireland Assembly, to establish whether that is the case. Regardless of whether there has been wrongdoing, we ought to expect more from public representatives than simply abiding by the letter of the law. This is our money they are grabbing, at a time when public services are being cut because budgets are tight.”
“At Stormont it is far too easy to use the expenses system, which is intended to benefit constituents, to build up the parties’ political machines and reinforce their dominance at elections. That’s bad for the democratic process, because it stifles competition and restricts the options available to voters. When questions were asked about Westminster expenses, at least MPs had the decency to be sorry. After last week’s revelations, what will really stick in the public’s craw is the complete lack of repentance from Stormont parties and the ferocity with which they attack any journalist who has the audacity to ask inconvenient questions. “