A PROTESTANT clergyman has accused the North's Education Minister Caitriona Ruane of turning her back on young people living in the loyalist Sandy Row area of south Belfast by refusing to fund a social project for children aged four to 16.
Pastor Paul Burns, who ministers in the Shaftesbury and neighbouring Sandy Row district, said a progressive scheme serving 350 children and designed to help them break free from poor educational achievements and poorer employment prospects was jeopardised by what he called the Sinn Féin Minister's "Pontius Pilate" approach to the project.
Pastor Burns said that the Kite scheme - Kids Into Training and Education - was managing to just about continue running on a precarious "hand-to-mouth existence" but faced being wound up if Ms Ruane did not provide £69,000 of annual funding.
"There are approximately 350 children who go through this project every week.
"It covers after-school clubs for four- to 16-year-olds, nurturing them, maturing them, getting them involved in anti-sectarian and cross-community projects - the children took part in the St Patrick's parade this year.
"This is crucially important in such a deprived area," said Pastor Burns.He added the project first faced closure in January 2008 but that Ms Ruane provided financial support up until June of this year. Subsequently, the Ulster Unionist Health Minister and local Assembly member Michael McGimpsey came through with special funding.
Redundancy notices were about to be sent to the one full-time and three part-time workers with Kite this Christmas, but again Mr McGimpsey found some money from his department to keep it going until Easter, the pastor explained.
A spokesman for Ms Ruane said her department had provided support for the project to June "until other sources of funding could be identified".
He said the Department of Education's priority was to provide after school supports through the extended school programme and through the grant-aided youth service "and therefore we cannot provide any further funding to Kite". Pastor Burns said that Ms Ruane "like Pontius Pilate has washed her hands of the whole affair". He said her refusal to fund the project contradicted her pledge "to make great efforts to go into the areas with poor education, particularly amongst Protestant working-class people".