Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“At over 160 pages it will take time to study fully the report published this afternoon but it would appear from an initial reading that there is precious little here in terms of agreed solutions to any issue. That being the case, the public are entitled to regard it as another example of what Stormont excels at: deadlock, no solutions and no delivery – all at huge public expense. What a colossal waste of money!
“That said, it is already clear that some within the media are intent on using the ideas which the report says were discussed but not agreed – such as the preposterous suggestion that the Irish tricolour would be given parity on buildings – as the basis to frame public debate. Therein lies the real danger of the report.
“Discredited ideas, such as a shared day of reflection where innocent victims would supposedly be remembered alongside victim makers, have similarly been given a new lease of life not because they were agreed but because the report says they were discussed.
“The report doesn’t event mention some of the issues which innocent victims find most offensive, such as the continued practice of paramilitary-style funerals.
“For all the talk of the lack of an action or implementation plan the truth is there appears to be very little in this document around which there was agreement and hence little to implement.”