Education budget wastes must stop

Ulster Unionist Assembly member for Fermanagh & South Tyrone, Tom Elliott MLA has once again highlighted the waste of taxpayers money by the Minister of Education on translating publications into Irish.

Tom states: "Recently I asked the minister how much her department spent on translations of publications into Irish, Ulster-Scots and Braille, the latter of these received nothing, whilst just over two hundred pounds was spent on Ulster-Scots, however Irish translations cost almost £40,000 last year.

"When you consider very few people in Northern Ireland actually use Irish language, can the minister tell us how many people actually read the Irish translations? And how many of these would be unable to read them in English? I would very doubtful if such a person exists.

"The Irish language is still a divisive issue in Northern Ireland, politicised by Sinn Fein but it does not have to be this way, Minister Ruane and her colleagues have put most of their time and efforts into tokenism and box ticking, which has only served to further antagonise those suspicious of its use. This is just an exercise to annoy most Unionists.

"With the current tightening of budgets across the board I for one would like to see the minister make wastage such as this her first target for savings in the year to come, only when such "luxuries" have been eliminated should more in depth cut be considered if necessary."