Large sums of money were "squandered" on schemes funded by European aid money in the North, the Northern Minister of Enterprise Trade and Investment has told an Assembly committee.
Speaking to the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee, Sir Reg Empey, a member of a body that allocated European funding in the mid-1990s, said: "Quite frankly, we squandered a fair bit of money".
Many schemes presented for assistance did not benefit the community in the long term. He said the mistakes should not be repeated with the last tranche of European funding, due to end in 2006. "This is our last opportunity and we must ensure that it doesn't go to pay people's wages for a few years so they can fiddle about," he said.
The Minister also questioned British government spending. While education and health funding was important, he said the Executive should direct more to economic development.
"Promoting a strong economy is, in my view, in the long run the best way of maintaining good, positive, public services, because that way there are the revenue streams there to do it," he said.
Sir Reg told MLAs he was anxious to tap into the potential for the e-commerce and tourism sectors. Noting that tourism accounted for 2.2 per cent of the North's Gross Domestic Product, compared with 6.7 per cent in "our nearest competitor", the Minister said the sector was under-developed.
Ms Patricia Lewsley, the SDLP MLA for Lagan Valley, asked if the £1 million increase in the tourism budget was adequate.
Sir Reg gave the example of the hotel boom in Belfast being led by the commercial sector. It did not need aid, he said. Tourism money had been "freed up" to concentrate on other areas.