Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“While there was nothing funny about Barry McElduff’s video the “punishment” handed down by Sinn Fein really is a joke.
“Sinn Fein has shown that as an entity it holds its IRA’s victims in total contempt.
“Let’s be clear. No one can be in any doubt about his actions and who they were aimed at offending. He was mocking the dead of Kingsmills and making light of IRA terrorism.
“One question remains however – what does the suspension of an abstentionist MP really amount to? This tokenism from Sinn Fein will doubtless leave untouched the huge £140,000 pa siphoned from Westminster by its Sinn Fein MP (2015/16 figure).
“Sinn Fein’s entire campaign for equality and respect now stands naked and exposed for the hypocritical nonsense it always was. In that regard let me ask does Sinn Fein still accept the IRA denial of responsibility for Kingsmills?”