Statement by TUV Strangford Assembly candidate Councillor Stephen Cooper:
“The weapons put on display by the Garda this afternoon obliviously raise further questions about the IRA’s alleged decommissioning.
“We are told that the weapons were in the hands of “dissidents”. However, the nature of the arsenal suggests that the weapons were bought in by the Provisional IRA. AK47s and Semtex, for example, were essential tools of the IRA’s trade in terror.
“The condition of some of the weapons also suggests that they were not brought into the Republic within the last two years.
“These guns and explosives were not brought to the Republic by “dissidents” but by the mainstream Provisional IRA whose wicked Army Council continues to control Sinn Fein. The report at the end of last year by HM Government made it clear that the PIRA retained weapons and continues to engage in serious criminality.
“This is yet another reminder that Unionists who accept the lie that the IRA decommissioned their weapons have their head in the sand. Shamefully even when the evidence that they were conned in staring them in the face they continue their partnership with the Provisional’s political wing.”