Commenting on further delays in the coroner’s inquest into the Kingsmill massacre TUV leader Jim Allister said:
“Just a few days ago we had some politicians from Northern Ireland hailing comments by the Secretary of State and claiming that the get out of jail free letters issued to suspected Republican terrorists were worthless. Events in relation to an inquest into the Kingsmill massacre – one of the most horrific incidents during the Troubles – have shown this to be very premature.
“The Northern Ireland Office will not even reveal if anyone suspected of involvement in the IRA murders of ten Protestant workmen near Bessbrook in 1976 possesses one of the letters. Remember that this is the sort of information which Mr Robinson demanded and said he would resign if it wasn’t forthcoming. In fact, the request to the NIO didn’t even go into as much detail as what Peter Robinson demanded. No names were asked for yet the NIO won’t provide the information to the court.
“Theresa Villiers’s pretended concern for the needs of victims has been exposed as so much hot air.
“Similarly, while Dublin has loudly called for an endless stream of inquiries into alleged security force collusion with Loyalist paramilitaries and demanded a multimillion pound inquiry into Bloody Sunday, when it comes to Kingsmill the Gardai simply refuse to cooperate.
“Many Unionists will reasonably ask what they have to hide and it will add to the suspicion that the issues exposed by Smithwick were merely the tip of the iceberg.
“Authorities in Northern Ireland have big questions to be answered as well.
“When there was a question mark over funding for the institutional abuse inquiry all the stops were pulled out to meet the shortfall. Are the victims of Kingsmill less important? Their coroner’s inquest demands a mere pittance in comparison yet it cannot be found.
“As for the Chief Constable’s comments that he wants to see a prioritising of keeping people safe today over addressing so called “legacy issues” does this also apply to historic sex abuse cases? I have written to him asking him to spell out if this is the case. If not, why is the PSNI treating murder differently?
“I suspect we all know that this has more to do with political considerations than funding issues.
“The Kingsmill families have waited long enough just to get an inquest into the murders. The delays and obstruction which they are facing from government is totally unacceptable and an issue which needs to be addressed immediately.”