THERE has been animated reaction to comments made by unionist politician, Jim Allister, who recently referred to the villages of Derrygonnelly and Trillick as “obscure places”.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party leader was invited on radio to discuss the allocation of the Sports NI Sport Sustainability Fund, which was announced last week.
While on the BBC’s Stephen Nolan Show, Mr Allister questioned the way in which the funding body had “lavished” money on golf clubs and then said “Think of the GAA getting £7.5m across 177 clubs!
“Look down that list and you see obscure places like Derrygonnelly getting £72,000! I’m quite sure there are some struggling businesses in Derrygonnelly who didn’t get £72,000 in funding.”
“Trillick, £106,000? It really is quite astounding.”
The Sports Sustainability Fund was set up in December to support sports clubs through the ongoing pandemic. In total, Fermanagh GAA was awarded £751,279 from the scheme.
Known for one-liners and soundbites that regularly stir the political pot in Northern Ireland, it wasn’t long before Jim Allister himself became the subject of several TikTok memes and online videos which were quickly circulated around “obscure” parts of the district.
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