Money matters
Assembly business began today with the Finance Minister Nigel Dodds spelling out unspent money he was able to allocate to various departments. This was the allocation which the Minister originally said he could not make because of the Executive stand off, and which he then processed via an urgent written procedure.
The context for the statement was the down turn in the property market, which is having an impact on departments which had been hoping to sell off land or houses to raise cash. The Department of Social Development is particularly hit as tenants are either unable or unwilling to buy their properties. Neverthless Margaret Ritchie inists she will still make her target for building more than 5000 homes over the next three years.
At these times of credit crunch some eyebrows were raised about the £70,000 which has been spent on a house for the Speaker on the Stormont estate. But Willie Hay said he needed the overnight accommodation, the house would be available to future Speakers, and the move represents better value for the taxpayer than renting on an ad hoc basis.
Sure what's £70,000 these days, anyway? If you are the Secretary of State, and the has got its estimates right, it would barely cover a couple of birthday parties.
I'm 
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