Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:-
“For years, as part of the choreographed deception of “the peace process”, the British Government, along with the major parties in Northern Ireland, have peddled the notion that the IRA was gone.
“Now, when Provos have been caught out murdering, the Secretary of State’s pathetic response is to attempt to sanitise the IRA, by claiming that nonetheless they are not engaged in terrorism. What is murder by members of a proscribed organisation other than terrorism, or does it now qualify as peace building?
“And, then, as if to make it better and unremarkable, she tells us she has known for years that the IRA still exists! That means for all these years that Sinn Fein has been in government they’ve had a paramilitary wing – just as TUV has long maintained!
“Sinn Fein remains the political wing of the IRA and it is this reality that those unionists who sustain them in office must face. While I draw some comfort from the fact that some of the most impatient enthusiasts for getting into government with Sinn Fein, like Ian Paisley, are today discovering they are not fit for government, it will take action, not words, to rectify the situation.
“The DUP and UUP will be judged by what they do, not what they say.”