Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“Once again the Independent Reporting Commission, a group which supposedly has a mandate to “to provide a comprehensive analysis of overall efforts to tackle paramilitarism in Northern Ireland” has produced a report which manages not to mention a single paramilitary group by name.
“It is worth winding the clock back to when the IRC was set up and considering the reasons for its formation. It was formed in 2015 after a Paramilitary Assessment by the Government in the aftermath of the Provisional IRA murder of Kevin McGuigan which stated that the PIRA:
- Retained an “Army Council” which members believed oversaw both the PIRA and Sinn Fein with an overarching strategy;
- Retained “departments” with specific responsibilities and
- Still had weapons which had not been decommissioned.
“Why is this ignored once again by the IRC? Of course, the IRC, populated as it is by disciples of the process, will never say anything which could upset that process.
“What the IRC does say is equally revealing. The report authors are clear that paramilitarism is not simply a matter of criminality and gangsterism but “there are wider, more complex factors in play”. Such thinking, while seemingly all pervasive in Northern Ireland officialdom obsessed with keep the process on track above all else, is deeply offensive to victims who are only merit the briefest of references in this whitewash of a report.”