Statement by TUV Castlereagh East councillor Andrew Girvin:
“During the debate on the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill back in June 2000 the current DUP leader had some interesting things to say about the possible role of members of the IRA Army Council in overseeing the PSNI.
“Peter Robinson told the Commons:
“This is a rotten Bill. Future generations will rise up and curse the name of the Secretary of State for having introduced a Bill that rewards terrorists and punishes the police service. …No doubt, under the Bill, there will be a choice of former and present IRA army council members for membership of the new police board. In the partnerships across Northern Ireland, there will be a choice of many activists and leading members of Provisional IRA. It will be of no comfort to the community in Northern Ireland that the Secretary of State is prepared to proceed with a Bill that will bring the Provisional IRA a role in policing in Northern Ireland even though they are still active in terrorism there. What confidence can that give to the people of Northern Ireland? It will give no confidence to the people of the community that I represent.”
“Following last week’s report we have it confirmed that the IRA’s Army Council is not only still in existence but that it oversees Sinn Fein. It has also been confirmed that the IRA retain weapons and have been involved in murder and serious organised crime. Furthermore, at the weekend a newspaper claimed that a senior elected Sinn Fein/IRA figure serves on the Army Council. Do they also serve on the Policing Board? Do either the DUP or the UUP care?
“In 2000 Peter Robinson claimed that such a situation would mean that the community could have “no confidence” in the arrangements for overseeing the PSNI.
“Fifteen years later the same issues which he raised the Commons remain yet he expresses no concern! Why? Because he has become the chief sustainer of the “rotten” system he once rightly criticised. Indeed, in their desperate attempts to justify their continued partnership with Sinn Fein/IRA several DUP members have cited Republican participation in the structures which oversee the PSNI as evidence of progress!
“How could we move from a situation where having the IRA in that role would have been a bad thing in 2000 but a good thing in 2015?
“The public of Northern Ireland have been fed a fiction for years that the IRA had gone away and that Republicans had embarrassed democratic politics. All of that was blown out of the water by last week’s report. The role of the IRA and former and present Army Council members in overseeing the police in Northern Ireland remains a very live issue and one which won’t be addressed by, as the UUP have demanded, Sinn Fein/IRA simply admitting that the IRA exists.”