European Union money funding support groups for former prisoners should be redirected to victims' groups the DUP's Mr Jim Allister said this evening.
"It has been a long recognised fact that groups which cater for innocent victims of terrorism in Northern Ireland are underfunded and often encounter difficulties when attempting to gain access to support for their programmes.
"This is in sharp contrast to those groups which cater for the 'needs' of prisoners, who seem to find no difficulty at all in attracting enormous levels of public funding," Mr Allister said.
The MEP for Ulster referred to the recently published, Taking calculated risks for Peace IIwhich details how money is spent under the EU Fund for Peace and Reconciliation and the Community Foundation for Northern programme.
Communities in Northern Ireland and border counties in the Republic have benefited from millions of euros of funding with the Peace II programme worth €415 million.
Mr Allister criticised the allocation of €226,000 to the An Eochair Ex-Prisoner Support Group and also condemned the granting of €643,924 to Coiste na n-larchimi, a republican ex-prisoners' network which has called for a Robben Island-style peace centre to be built in the Maze Prison.
"Those enormous sums of money should be set aside for the people who deserve it, not those who have done their level best to destroy life and property in Northern Ireland ," the DUP man said.
"Over recent days I have made contact with cultural and victims groups and shall be doing my best to ensure that the people who really deserve this funding are gaining proper access to it."
PA