Statement by TUV Cusher councillor Keith Ratcliffe:
On Sunday week Sinn Fein MP John Finucane is billed as the main speaker at an event described as the “South Armagh Volunteers Commemoration”. This self-styled “MP for all” is set to commemorate the Provisionals in a part of our province made infamous by the barbarity and naked sectarianism of the IRA.
“There is nothing to celebrate or emulate in the actions of those who lined men up on the side of the road and shot them just because they were Protestant as happened at Kingsmill. There was nothing heroic about spaying an Orange Hall with gunfire resulting in the murder of pensioners as happened in Tullyvallen.
“Those are but two examples of countless cases of IRA terror visited upon the minority population of south Armagh.
“Once again Sinn Fein have highlighted why they are unfit for government and why no Unionist party should contemplate serving under a Republican First Minister. For all the honeyed words from Sinn Fein and the airbrushing which has gone into overdrive since the election, Sinn Fein remain deeply wedded to not just the defence of terror but its celebration.
“There is something particularly perverse about this event being advertised as including “kids entertainment”. Clearly Sinn Fein envisage a future where the most obscene acts are not repudiated but celebrated and those responsible held up as heroes to the next generation. So much for the bright new future which it is claimed awaits us all in an all Ireland!”