Niall Blaney has an interesting detail in this story:
A Northern Ireland quango has paid the company of one of its own board members more than £2m in fees for his and a colleague’s services.
The Strategic Investment Board (SIB) made payments to the firm of its director James Stewart, who is also chief of a public private partnership.
SIB is a company owned by the first and deputy first minister’s office (OFDFM).
Update: The Assistant General Secretary of the ICTU Peter Bunting adds some detail of his own below the fold…
“This ought to be understood in the light of the findings by the Public Accounts Committee that spending on outside consultants by Northern Ireland’s Government bodies rocketed by almost a third last year to £42 million. This also comes hard on the heels of the Water Review Panel report which detailed the staggering amount of money wasted by the so-called ‘reform’ process. This scam wasted over £12 million of public money, of which £7.2 million went into the pockets of external consultants.
“Let us be very clear. The SIB was set up by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister. Partnerships UK was set up by the UK Treasury. They are using public money to pay each other at rates beyond the wildest dreams of most public sector employees.”
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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