Statement by TUV South Belfast candidate Andrew Girvin:
“Last night’s Sinn Fein campaign launch at the Europa was a grotesque spectacle given the setting. Here we had the political wing of the terrorist organisation which repeatedly bombed the hotel in which they met daring to pontificate about democracy and respecting the will of the people.
“There is nothing undemocratic about refusing to operate the Belfast Agreement structures which could foist a Sinn Fein First Minister upon Northern Ireland. The choice of venue for this Republican jamboree underscores the fact that no Unionist should ever agree to take up the position of deputy to a Sinn Fein First Minister.
“Yet just weeks out from the election both the DUP and UUP are dodging this vital question. Will they act as bridesmaid to Michelle O’Neill? Why is there reluctance to be open and honest with the public on this point?
“TUV is unapologetic and clear on this matter. We will never provide a stooge deputy to a Sinn Fein First Minister. If all Unionist parties were equally clear then we would be going into the election confident in the knowledge that a Republican First Minister was an impossibility.
“No one who supports the current arrangements which deny the fundamentals of democracy – the right to vote a party out of government and the right to have an opposition to hold government to account – is in any position to be giving lectures. Least of all when they have displayed a willingness to deploy terrorism to achieve their political ends in the past.”