British government grants aimed at exclusively Protestant working class areas are illegal and should be stopped, the SDLP has claimed.
Upper Bann Assembly member, Dolores Kelly, has complained to Northern Secretary, Peter Hain, that awards under the Department of Social Development's Renewing Communities fund are illegal and unfair. She wrote to Mr Hain in such terms yesterday and is considering taking legal action.
The Northern Ireland Office has denied it has acted in a discriminatory fashion.
Sinn Féin has also criticised the government's approach. The party's equality spokeswoman, Martina Anderson, has said a series of funding awards under a separate scheme that had not been "equality-proofed" had to stop.
The SDLP's sole minister in the incoming Stormont executive, Margaret Ritchie, assumes control at the Department of Social Development on May 8th.
She told The Irish Times last night the schemes would be reviewed when she took up office.
"Public funding must be guided by certain principles," she said. "These have already been laid down in the Good Friday agreement - needs assessment, fairness and equality. This is an issue which I wish to devote myself to after devolution."
The schemes relate to specific arts and education projects run by the Northern Ireland Arts Council and the Belfast Education and Library Board, and funded by the Renewing Communities fund established last year.
Both schemes have their terms set by the government. These include clear directions to benefit Protestant areas that are deemed to have weak community infrastructure.
The government has defended its action, claiming the schemes are pilot projects that could be extended more widely and would then be subject to more thorough equality testing.
The SDLP has written to all the organisations involved seeking to have any money frozen, pending resolution of the issue with Peter Hain.
Ms Kelly said: "We know this is a result of yet more shady deals between the DUP and British government. With devolution restored we hope we can put an end to that sordid business and start to tackle poverty and rebuild communities." Discrimination was "never the answer", she said. "We know by now it creates not success, only sectarianism."
The Northern Ireland Office said last night: "The money announced by David Hanson recently for a conflict transformation initiative within loyalist communities is specifically aimed at helping working class Protestant communities move away from the grip of paramilitaries and criminality, which will be to the benefit of everyone in Northern Ireland."