U.S. Offer of Aid to Ulster Assailed as ‘Blood Money’

BELFAST, Northern Ireland —  Calling it “blood money,” Protestant leaders today scoffed at a U.S. offer of $250 million designed to help promote peace in Northern Ireland.

“President Reagan should take his 30 pieces of silver and wrap them around his neck,” Protestant Belfast Assemblyman Jeremy Burchill, a member of the Official Unionist Party, said today.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved Thursday a five-year, $250-million aid package aimed at promoting peace in Northern Ireland. The bill was supported by Reagan and House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr., both of whom are of Irish extraction.

“U.S. blood money is not wanted in Ulster,” Burchill said.