DUP hit out at SDLP East Derry Assembly candidate John Dallat over severance package

The DUP has hit out at East Derry election candidate John Dallat about a Stormont severance payment he received when he stepped down as an MLA last year.

East Derry DUP candidate Adrian McQuillan described Mr Dallat’s decision to stand for election eight months after he retired as “farcical.” Mr Dallat received a payment of £50,784 last year, £28,800 of which was a ‘resettlement payment’ designed to help him adapt to life outside of politics, while £21,984 went towards winding up assembly business. Support staff salary costs totalling £17,375 were paid from the latter figure, as were rent and rates for SDLP offices in Kilrea and Limavady. He told the County Derry Post last week that he would consult SDLP staff about potentially returning money if elected in March. “I couldn’t have foreseen that Stormont would be such a financial crisis as it is in. I am certainly not going back into the Assembly, if elected, to make money. That’s not the motivation,” he said. “If there’s money that needs to be paid back, it will be paid back.” Adrian McQuillan said that John Dallat must “make it clear to voters” that he will pay back the severance package, as well as any pension payments he has received since retirement. “It wasn’t too long ago that Mr Dallat was criticising retired police officers returning to work for the PSNI, during discussions at a PAC meeting at Stormont when he was an MLA,” he said. “Now is the time to be open with those you are asking to vote for you.” John Dallat responded to the comments by drawing attention to the recent RHI scandal. “Adrian McQuillan describes my decision to be a candidate in the election on March 2nd as ‘farcical’.  Could I respectfully ask Adrian would it be as farcical as hundreds of wood chip burners churning out heat in empty barns, many of the recipients with close connections to DUP elected representatives and costing the taxpayers at least £490 million pounds over the next twenty years? ,” he said. “A year ago I stepped down because I had a severe mobility problem which has cleared up but even I could not have envisaged the train wreck that was coming down the track and the first thing I did when deciding to put my name forward was to contact our General Secretary to explore the implications of doing so given that I received a retirement package.” He said that his pension has been ‘frozen’ and will not be paid until after the election, or after he retires if elected in March “I will finish with a little poser for Adrian. In 2010 you had an opportunity to resign from Coleraine Borough Council and end double jobbing but you stayed on for a further three years, drew two salaries and went off with a very considerable lump sum involving many thousands of pounds.  I resigned and after 33 years on the council received not a single penny.  Am I really all that farcical?” Adrian McQuillan is one of three DUP candidates in East Derry seeking to retain their seats in the assembly. He will be running with George Robinson and Maurice Bradley.