Call For Full Investigation To Be Carried Out Over Western Trust Underspend

The SDLP is calling for a full investigation to be carried out after figures revealed an underspend on learning disability in the Western Trust area.

Foyle MLA, Mark H Durkan, said while the latest revelation was "shocking" it came as "no huge surprise".

He said: "Answers are important but we're also demanding action be taken. Funding should be fully restored without delay and a full independent investigation carried out into what happened here. People are angry and understandably so. There appears to have been a conscious decision made, many years ago, not to fully fund this area. That situation has been repeated and worsened over the intervening period and estimates about the extent of the underinvestment are mind boggling.

"While the financial shortfall can be calculated, who can ever assess the opportunity cost here? How much easier and better might people’s lives have been had this money been spent in the right way? How much vital support might families and carers have received over the past twenty years?

"People deserve answers and we are demanding them."

(CD/LM)