McCausland 'Misled' DSD Committee - Report

Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland deliberately misled a committee within his department regarding the suspension of a double glazing project undertaken for the Housing Executive, a report has found.

The report follows the DUP Minister's announcement in May 2012 that the project would be suspended. Mr McCausland said at the time that he had made the decision following a meeting with representatives from the Glass and Glazing Federation and Fusion21.

But then in a BBC Spotlight programme the following July, it was alleged that there had been political interference in the Housing Executive, as well as potential breaches of the Ministerial Code of Conduct.

The Spotlight programme claimed a Department for Social Development Committee had been misled as Mr McCausland had not met with the Glass and Glazing Federation, but with Turkington Holdings Ltd., which the BBC claimed had links to the DUP.

Sinn Féin MLA and social development committee chair Alex Maskey said: "Nelson McCausland claimed in a letter to MLAs on the committee that he has met representatives of the Glass and Glazing Federation when in fact he was actually met with representatives of an individual company.

"A senior civil servant was then told to change the record of that meeting in the letter to the committee to back up the minister's claim. All parties with the exception of the DUP took the view, based on the extensive evidence in the report, that the minister deliberately misled the committee.

"Not only was the committee misled but there was a concerted effort to change the record of the meeting. I would encourage people to read this report. This is a comprehensive report and its findings are very serious.

"Nelson McCausland needs to explain why he deliberately misled the committee and his party colleagues must also out and say where they stand."

But Nelson McCausland's DUP colleague Sammy Wilson called the inquiry a "witch hunt".

"Despite this 12 month inquiry, the fact remains that Nelson McCausland's discussions with Turkington Holdings led to a saving of 21.5% for the public purse which equated to several million pounds and the upgrading of windows for thousands of Housing Executive tenants," he said.

"Numerous times throughout the Inquiry so far we have witnessed blatant prejudice against the DUP. It's a waste of the Committee's time and money. Thousands of pounds have already been spent to satisfy the anti-DUP prejudices of our opponents and the Inquiry is nowhere near completed.

"The Sinn Fein Chairman of the Inquiry is only too happy to gang up with our opponents, sadly some unionists too, and spend time trying to denigrate a DUP Minister. However, when the Committee wastes time on this, issues like homelessness, welfare reform, restructuring the Housing Executive and finding innovative ways of financing public sector housing are pushed to the side."

(IT/JP)