Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“Most people would be forgiven for not knowing what the Independent Reporting Commission is or what it does so by way of background it is worth mentioning that it was set up following the Provisional IRA murder of Kevin McGuigan in 2015. It gave the DUP something of a fig leaf to cover the embarrassment of going back into partnership government with Sinn Fein. Tellingly, the reports produced by the IRC managed to avoid even mentioning the PIRA and instead the body concerned itself with issues like the struggle convinced terrorists face bringing their grandchildren to Disneyland because of US visa restrictions.
“This is scandalous when we recall that the context in which the IRC was created was a Paramilitary Assessment from the Government which stated that the PIRA:
• Retains an “Army Council” which members believed oversaw both the PIRA and Sinn Fein with an overarching strategy;
• Retains “departments” with specific responsibilities and
• Still has weapons which have not been decommissioned.
Yet the IRC, populated as it is by disciples of the process, have never had anything to say about any of that.
“Rather than confronting the scourge of paramilitaries, the IRC is intent on sanitising paramilitaries.
“So I believe it is perfectly reasonable to ask just why the Commission is costing £331,547 a year according to its most recent financial report (online here).
“When questioned on the lack of comment on the PIRA within their last report one of the Commissioners is reported as telling the press that “there are those in power who believe the focus should be elsewhere”. Is it because the IRC is happy to play along with keeping the focus elsewhere that it is so generously funded? Is that really a prudent use of public money?”