Below is the speech by Jim Allister during the Matter of the Day debate on the terrorist attacks in France:
“I join in the absolute condemnation of the horrific events that unfolded. Like, I am sure, most people, I was aghast at the bloodthirsty brutality as it unfolded before our very eyes over the weekend. I welcome the most robust response of the security forces in France, their swift and effective action and the dispatching of those who had perpetrated that horror to meet their maker, not to be rewarded but to be condemned for the most flagrant breach of the laws against murder. Certainly, it is a relief that those individuals who were minded to murder as they did in that fashion will never kill again. It behoves all of society to ensure that those who think like them will not have the opportunity to kill again either.
“In welcoming the condemnation, I note that it even includes those who, to this very day in Northern Ireland, continue to justify the terrorism of the IRA. There are no good terrorists, whether they have become Members of this House or not. Terrorism was, is and always will be evil, whether it was the murder of Martin O’Hagan or the litany of butchery by the IRA.
“I also express my great regret at the attempt by Dr Raied Al-Wazzan of the Belfast Islamic Centre to justify and support Islamic State. I was quite shocked to hear him on Radio Ulster on Friday do exactly that. That is a man who played the injured party and the sympathy card when Pastor McConnell was being hounded in the media, but it now seems that he stands with Islamic State. Such equivocation and such support as we saw for years from Sinn Féin on terrorism is the very thing that underwrites and encourages more terrorism, and it, too, is wrong.”