^{Is Doherty worth the money?}

Ulster Unionist Councillor Ross Hussey has questioned the value for money we get from our local Abstentionist MP Mr Pat Doherty. Whilst addressing Ulster Unionists recently in Omagh Councillor Hussey made the following remarks:-

’Much of the recent media attention has been on the Gravy Train of parliamentary expenses where the driver seems to be Peter Robinson. However we also have to examine what value for money we are getting from our own local Member of Parliament Mr Pat Doherty. Pat, of course being an ’out and out Republican’ does not take his seat in the House of Commons yet he and his parliamentary colleagues seem to milk the system to its full advantage. It appears that Sinn Fein claim £437,405 for second home allowances as Members of Parliament. Whilst I fully accept the need for a Member of Parliament particularly one from Northern Ireland to have a home in London whilst serving in that capacity I would certainly question why our abstentionist MP needs a second home. I would also ask who actually owns the home for which he is claiming? Is it Pat’s own property or does it belong to Sinn Fein? How many times has Pat Doherty represented this constituency in the House of Commons? How many debates has he attended? How many questions has he asked? The simple answer is none and therefore he is not attending to parliamentary business when he is in London. I also note that Pat has claimed (2007/2008) £21000 - cost of staying away from main home allowance. £21000 seems an awful lot for someone who does not attend Parliament - Lady Sylvia Hermon the Ulster Unionist MP who is a regular attender at Westminster claimed £16999. Pat also claimed office running costs of £21293 and staffing costs of £87083 a total claim of £131508 when one adds on the various incidentals and of course on top of this is the second home allowance and assuming that the total £437,405 is divided by 4 we have a further £110,000 approximately indicating that for not representing this constituency in Westminster Sinn Fein can claim £240,000 plus in expenses.

Certainly Pat does represent the constituency in his capacity as an MLA for which he claims the MLA expenses of £66130 - and when you add the two figures together we get a total expense claim of £300,000 plus.

Is this value for money? Certainly Sinn Fein have a network of offices - but who owns the Omagh office? How much money is being salted away by Sinn Fein and for what purpose? Whilst an MLA has a salary of £42461.52 my understanding is that only £20000 of this is paid to the MLA the balance going to the party. So where does this money go? The Government is certainly bank rolling Sinn Fein with the various expenses that they can claim but where is the rest of the money going? Millions of pounds are clearly being amassed - surely the Party is accountable for these funds and surely we as the British public are entitled to know where it is and what it is for?’