Speech by Councillor Andrew Girvin.
Conference,
A year ago last month Her Majesty’s Government published a report which told us that the IRA retained weapons, had murdered a man in the street of our capital and that its wicked Army Council remained in place.
It went further saying that IRA members believe their Army Council oversees both Sinn Fein and the IRA with an overarching strategy. The IRA we were told remains involved in criminal activity such as large scale smuggling.
Prior to going into government with Sinn Fein/IRA the DUP published what they called their “Seven Principles”. These were included in not just one but several manifestos and policy documents. Principles two, three and four said:
No negotiations with the representatives of terrorism but we will talk to other democratic parties.
Those who are not committed to exclusively peaceful and democratic means should not be able to exercise unaccountable executive power.
Terrorist structures and weaponry must be removed before the bar to the Stormont executive can be opened.
A year ago we got a report which confirms that Sinn Fein/IRA is not a democratic party but one which is “overseen” by the IRA Army Council yet the DUP don’t just negotiate with the representative of terrorism. They govern hand in glove with them!
Oh yes we did have the sceptical of the DUP having revolving door Ministers. Ministers were in office for a few hours and then resigned again. Remember that farce?
But after having it confirmed that the IRA retain weapons, an Army Council, departments with specific responsibilities and remains engaged in intelligence gathering, large scale smuggling and murder the DUP used the report to justify going back into the executive with Sinn Fein/IRA – something they said they wouldn’t do under their third and fourth principles.
We have an Executive which doesn’t just pander to paramilitaries. It contains paramilitaries!
Who now talks about Kevin McGuigan much less Paul Quinn or Robert McCartney never mind the thousands of dead and injured of a thirty-year terror campaign?
Friends, it’s not just ordinary run of the mill scandals which Stormont has to sweep under the carpet.
It’s bodies.
It isn’t just the membership of the executive which is the issue when it comes to paramilitaries but its policies.
The panel set up to look into addressing this scourge in our society noted that one of the difficulties with dealing with paramilitaries was “engagement by the state with members of illegal organisations”.
Yet since the panel report was published we have seen more of the outworkings of the Social Investment Fund.
A fund without transparency, accountability or financial probity has seen millions channeled to originations which have rightly caused public outrage.
The fact that £80m can be distributed to ‘community organisations’ without any procurement, without a competitive tendering process for the appointment of the lead partners is scandalous.
Conference, as someone who grew up in East Belfast in a working class area I know the grip that paramilitaries can have on an area. I know too that people, particularly young men, can be sucked into organisations which they then find it difficult or even impossible to leave.
It sickens me that that grip is being tightened by way of the Social Investment Fund. I want to see the hold of paramilitaries broken. But we currently have a First Minister who happily hands money to organisations which seem to be little more than a front for them.
Shame on her!
The sad reality is that there are many worthwhile groups across Northern Ireland who do excellent work and struggle for funding.
We often hear the mantra that because you have a past it doesn’t mean you cannot have a future.
Conference, often times I wonder if it would be more honest to say unless you have a past you don’t have a future. At least not when it comes to government handouts.
Friends, I believe that we in Northern Ireland have a right to expect that the government will take action against those who break the law. In fact, isn’t that the most basic duty of any government? Yet here we have a situation where they have been elevated to the heart of government or had millions of pounds in taxpayers’ money thrown at them.
I’m proud to be a member of a party which points out the immorality of that.