Unionists have questioned today whether the Northern Ireland policing Ombudsman is worth the money her office cost the public purse.
The Democratic Unionist Party said it was "highly questionable" whether the £7 million it cost to run Nuala O'Loan's office was worth it.
MEP Jim Allister singled out the "lavish" salary and expenses package of the chief investigating officer at the Ombudsman's office and said he was a public servant who is paid almost as much as British prime minister, Tony Blair.
He said the most recently published accounts for the office - those for 2003/2004 - raised serious questions in his mind about the worth of an office which was not highly regarded as performing a useful purpose.
Within the overall published expenditure figures there was particular spending which concerned him, he said.
"In addition to Mrs O'Loan's generous salary of £89,000 for that year, it emerges that the Executive Director of Investigations, Mr David Wood, in addition to his salary of over £110,000, was paid benefits in kind amounting to £32,600."
Mr McAllister said it made Mr Wood "a public servant paid almost on a par with the Prime Minister".
The MEP added: "It is difficult to see how such lavish expenses and salaries are in the public interest bearing in mind that the Police Ombudsman's office is not widely regarded as performing much of a useful purpose in Northern Ireland."
The SDLP's policing spokesman Alex Attwood, MLA, condemned Mr Allister for his comments saying they were typical of the DUP.
"They hit out at the Police Ombudsman, the Parades Commission, the Human Rights Commission or other bodies, trying to score political points but not adding one iota to changing the north," he said.
Mr Attwood said the bodies under attack had been responsible for the areas of greatest change in Northern Ireland and the Ombudsman had been central in demonstrating the changing standards in the policing world.
"The Government simply must not indulge this backward approach by the DUP," he said.
-PA