Statement by TUV Cusher councillor Keith Ratcliffe:
“The comments of Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy after meeting the Republic’s Prime Minister highlight why Stormont shouldn’t return.
“To dismiss the concerns of those who suffered at the hands of the PIRA in South Armagh as nothing more than “distraction politics” displays gross insensitivity.
“No one has made an issue of the terror commemoration/kid’s fun day for South Armagh terrorists apart from those who organised it, namely Sinn Fein. And in organising such a macabre event they are not only thumbing their noses at innocent victims but graphically highlighting why Stormont cannot return.
“How can it be right, politically or ethically, for the leader of Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland to be elevated to the position of First Minister when one of her MPs will be addressing an IRA jamboree in an area where they engaged in nakedly sectarian slaughter? How can anyone believe that an Executive Office headed by her would be able to fulfil its statutory duty to represent the needs and interests of IRA victims?
“The very idea would be laughable were it not so serious.”