There is a chance for full transparency of political donations to local political parties in the new Parliament, Alliance North Belfast Westminster candidate Nuala McAllister has said. Previous Alliance MP Naomi Long secured legislation meaning any large donor to a party here after January 2014 would be revealed once the Secretary of State lifted legislation. […]
The Audit Office is to look into if Belfast City Council and its Councillors have followed recommendations in relation to funding, after an Alliance team met with representatives from the body on Friday. Councillor Nuala McAllister described the meeting as “essential” as she argued the DUP and Sinn Féin had largely ignored calls to see […]
There should be an independent inquiry into the Executive operation of the controversial Social Investment Fund (SIF), Alliance MLA Chris Lyttle has said. Mr Lyttle was speaking after publication of a report by the Northern Ireland Audit Office into the scheme. It identified a number of ‘serious concerns’ in the scheme. These include conflicts of […]
Ards and North Down Borough Council is set to publish attendance statistics of all elected representatives, after an Alliance motion secured the latest move towards full openness and transparency. Speaking after he secured unanimous support for the plans – which will be updated on a quarterly basis going forward – Councillor Andrew Muir said ratepayers’ […]
Alliance North Antrim representative Patricia O’Lynn has said the people of the constituency can make a stand for transparent politics by signing the recall petition against Ian Paisley. Ms O’Lynn was speaking as the petition opened across three locations in the constituency – in Ballymoney, Ballymena and Ballycastle – until September 19. If 10 per […]
Alliance Deputy Leader Stephen Farry MLA has said the DUP have not been exonerated, after the Electoral Commission said it couldn’t investigate allegations against the party relating to Brexit ‘dark money’ due to legislation. BBC’s Spotlight programme made a series of allegations around a £425,000 donation to the DUP. It was also alleged Vote Leave […]
Alliance Councillor Michael Long has called for all bonfire-related costs to be made public. The move comes as the clean-up operation from last week’s 12th celebrations continues across Belfast. Mr Long – Alliance Group Leader in Belfast City Hall – said: “We must be open and transparent on this issue. The public has a right […]
Alliance Councillor Michael Long has said Belfast City Council must address how funding decisions are made, after DUP Sinn Féin funding carve up almost went unchallenged due to a blatant mistake. The Councillor for East Belfast questioned the mechanisms that allowed both parties to work together to assign £400,000 to organisations previously handpicked by […]
The Alliance Party today led a cross-party delegation to the Audit Office, in a bid to highlight the on-going carve up of Belfast City Council funds between the DUP and Sinn Féin. Joined by UUP and SDLP representatives, the meeting aimed to address the latest allocation of £200,000 to organisations pre-agreed by the DUP and […]
Alliance Leader Naomi Long MLA has said she believes that a review of the legislation controlling overseas funding of political parties is required, after it was revealed that significant sums of money received by Sinn Féin fall below the threshold for transparency. The investigation by The Detail website showed the party was able to accept […]