Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“The plan by the Secretary of State to publish revised guidelines on a pension for victims is concerning. Sinn Fein has made it abundantly clear that their issue with the scheme was the exclusion of victim makers from the scope of the pension. It would be a gross insult to those injured through no fault of their own to be lumped together with those who made a conscious decision to engage in criminal acts of terrorism. The fact that this can even be contemplated is an indictment of our society.
“It is absurd, wrong and deeply upsetting to the innocent to suggest that there is no difference between them and those who have serious convictions. Yet that is what Republicans are demanding. Should their demands be accommodated in the revised guidelines it will be yet another kick in the teeth for those who have suffered repeated insults and injustices as a result of the process.
“The scheme needs to be implemented immediately and the scope should remain limited to those who are truly deserving. Terrorists, Republican or Loyalist, have no business receiving a penny from it. It is a sad reflection on all the major local parties that this issue was not resolved as part of the New Decade New Approach deal. The fact it wasn’t is a telling sign that as far as the innocent are concerned it is a case of the same old neglect and ignoring of their interests.”