South East Antrim UDA loyalist Clifford Irons
An Executive source told Sunday Life: It s the classic carrot and stick approach. If these UDA gangs don t voluntarily stop money-lending, they will be forcibly stopped.
A spokesperson for the Executive Office, which is funding the anti-loan-sharking scheme, confirmed the Communities in Transition Project plans to award a contract to a successful delivery partner to provide support to areas who are most vulnerable to monetary exploitation .
They said: The Communities in Transition Project supports communities to resist coercive control in areas where there has been a history of paramilitary activity, criminality and organised crime.