In a heated attack in the House of Assembly last night, Tourism Minister David Allen claimed Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell's hotel would have "gone bust" without the Hotel Concessions Act.

A furious Mr. Allen said that during a phone conversation between them, Mr. Dodwell said: "When is the hotel concessions going to go through, I'm meeting with my bankers on Thursday."

From this conversation, Mr. Allen said he gleaned that Mr. Dodwell's luxury property The Reefs would have shut down without the PLP Government's Hotel Concessions Act.

Mr. Allen said the United Bermuda Party were "hypocrites" and said of Mr. Dodwell: "That member was going to go bust without the Act."

Mr. Dodwell told MPs he did have a conversation with Mr. Allen but said: "I never indicated that my hotel would go bust."

The row erupted during the motion to adjourn when Mr. Dodwell questioned the validity of Mr. Allen's hiring an administrative consultant and attacked him for having a high turnover of staff at the Department of Tourism.

"This is another desperate act from a desperate man, representing a desperate government," said Mr. Dodwell.

Mr. Allen hit back: "You can't have your cake and eat it to. He has the audacity to come to this House, so let the public hear it. Let it all hang out. I'm going to let it all hang out.

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. I'm very angry, I'm going to tell it like it is," said Mr. Allen, slamming his hand on the mound of law books in front of him.

"Hypocrisy today is the name of the United Bermuda Party," he added. Mr. Allen said a lot of the Opposition's information was incorrect because they were "to lazy to look it up".

"Maybe, that's one reason why they'll stay on the Opposition benches for a number of years. They just simply aren't cutting it," said Mr. Allen.

"(Mr. Dodwell) said we should have spent this money (for the Director's position in Tourism) on product enhancement? You would look at the Hotel Concessions Act, which his hotel benefited from.''

Before Mr. Allen's outburst, Mr. Dodwell said the consultant, whose fee is supposed to cost $50,000, would eventually cost around $100,000 for this year when travel and payroll burden is taken into account.

"This from a Government that said it would be cutting back and would have no more unnecessary travel. We were also told there would be no additional staff , and it is my understanding that by the end of the year we will have an additional 200 staff," said Mr. Dodwell.

Continued on Page 2