Broadside over Arlene’s £100k for Royal Navy warship works

THE British Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy should pay for the restoration of a World War One warship, a Sinn Féin MLA has said after news that DUP minister Arlene Foster has taken £100,000 from her Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment budget to help fund repairs on HMS Caroline.

Sinn Féin Fermanagh MLA Phil Flanagan points out that the Ministry of Defence has an annual budget in the region of £38billion – “£28billion more than the total budget allocated to our Executive by the British Treasury!”

The light cruiser HMS Caroline is a relic of the Battle of Jutland against the Imperial German Navy on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea, near Jutland, Denmark.

Phil Flanagan said:

“Surely this money could be better spent on hard-pressed employment schemes with a meaningful effect on creating jobs and growing our local economy.”