Major concerns have been raised over the proposed new Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) headquarters at Ballykelly in Co L'Derry.

Ulster Unionist MLA Robin Swann accused previous Sinn Fein Ministers of letting their own political ideology flaw their decision making process.

He said: "Costs for the project are growing significantly, with the recent estimates now in excess of £41 million. Value for money for the project has still never been demonstrated, and officials from several Departments have expressed deep concern. Even the former Finance Minister Sammy Wilson refused to sign off on the project, most likely because only a very basic outline plan was ever produced.

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"There is a very obvious solution that would have seen jobs still transfer to the North West, but potentially at a fraction of the price, and that was to utilise the already vacant DVLA buildings in Coleraine. That has inexplicably just never been considered as an option however.

"Over recent days now there have been suggestions that the new headquarters could include staff from other Departments, in effect becoming a new office block for the wider Northern Ireland Civil Service. Some would say this was an inevitable response seeing as so many DAERA staff have said they will refuse to move to the new site. I am concerned however that this new building could see displacement from other civil service buildings in the North West and could be counter-productive to previous Executive agreements to relocate public sector jobs to the old DVLA Offices in Coleraine.

"Both the DAERA and Finance Ministers now need to make their intentions clear in regard to their entire estate management for the North West and where exactly Ballykelly fits in?"

(CD/LM)