UNIONIST criticism of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) has been rejected in a report prepared by a sub committee of the British Irish Inter Parliamentary Body.
The 27 page report was presented yesterday to the BIIPB's biannual plenary session by its committee on culture, education and environment.
The two main unionist parties have been sharply critical of the fund, claiming it was a product of the Anglo Irish Agreement and biased against unionists. These criticisms were reflected in a report by the Ulster Unionist MEP, Mr Jim Nicholson.
The BIIPB committee said the Nicholson report was selective in its use of data and lacked objectivity. The fund was doing "all that can be reasonably expected" to reach out to deprived unionist areas.
The committee said the unionist parties should help their communities by "clearly supporting the IFI" and encouraging unionists to avail of the opportunities it presented.
The report concluded that the North South 75-25 per cent share out of the fund was "appropriate and reasonable". The committee was chaired by the Labour TD, Mr Liam Kavanagh, with the Conservative MP, Sir David Mitchell, as vice chairman.