£342k stadia money for cinema screen

The money - juggled across DCAL budgets as part of the October Monitoring Round - would otherwise have had to be returned to the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) yesterday if it had not been allocated to a project.

Director of Finance and Corporate Services at DCAL, Deborah Brown, outlined the move in a briefing to the DCAL Committee at Stormont last week.

She said the Department had reviewed both its current and capital budgets and was not making any bids for more money in the October round.

She said: “We do not propose to make any surrenders to DFP, but you will notice that we are recommending a number of reclassifications to manage pressures that arise on the capital as a legacy of things that happened from last year.”

One of the reclassifcations was the movement of £567,000 from the DCAL regional stadia fund.

Mrs Brown explained that £342,000 of this would be used to pay for the proposed ‘Live Site’ in Londonderry.

This will involve the erection of a 25 square metres video display with a computer controlled playout and audio system in Waterloo Place.

Last November the Sentinel reported how former Culture Minister Nelson McCausland had announced that bid for £650,000 capital had been made by his Department in the December 2010 monitoring round to support Derry City Council in developing the ‘Live Site.’

Last Thursday Mrs Brown revealed a slight reshuffle in internal DCAL allocations to facilitate the site.

“We are using that £567,000 to try to meet some pressures that we have elsewhere. There has been some slippage on the stadium spend, so, to maximise the use of our budget, we are trying to manage some pressures that have arisen. “Most of that amount - £342,000 - is being used to fund the live site that is planned for Derry/Londonderry. We are using £100,000 to buy the weed cutter that is required for fisheries.

“I am sure that some of you will have been familiar with the fish kills that happened over the summer. We are using £225,000 because we have a shortfall in the receipt that we generated on the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI),” she said.

UUP MLA Robin Swann expressed concern about the removal of the £567k from the stadia budget.

“Along with the Chair (DUP MLA Michelle McIlveen) I am concerned about the fact that £567,000 is moving from the regional stadiums budget. I am slightly concerned that you said that you hope and are confident that there will be money in year 4. What happens if there is not?” he asked.

Mrs Brown replied: “There is unallocated money in year 4, so the Department gives that first priority against the stadiums budget.”

Miss McIlveen asked whether the Live Site and hatchery had not been completely at this stage.

Mrs Brown responded: “With the reallocation that we are proposing, there is sufficient money to complete both.”

She said both would be completed provided the new allocation was approved.