Allister slams Sinn Féin over terrorism
TUV leader Jim Allister has hit out at Sinn Féin over terrorism, amid a sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont where there was cross-party condemnation of a 600lb fully primed bomb abandoned near Newry.
During Monday’s session, Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy was among those who expressed relief that there had been no casualties as a result of the device left in a van on the Fathom Line close to the border.
“What is clear is that people have moved on from this. There is, and remains, a peaceful political path open to all of those involved,” the Newry and Armagh MLA said.
“And while there is an honourable position that people can dissent – people can disagree with the political process, they can disagree with engagement with policing – they also have a responsibility to offer a rationale.
Mr Murphy added: “If what we are doing here is so wrong – if our engagement with policing is so wrong, if our engagement with the political process is so wrong – then others have a duty to spell out how incidents such as these are a better approach.”
But TUV leader Jim Allister responded with strong words of criticism for Sinn Féin.
“So long as there is a party in government in this country which refuses to disown and to repudiate the terrorism of their IRA, then so long will there be others prepared to be their clones and to carry on where they left off,” the North Antrim MLA said.
“So as for the godfathers of today’s generation of terrorists, the very least they could do is face up to, acknowledge and express remorse over their terrorism and ensure that those they know to still be involved are made amenable for crimes that many of them were never made amenable for.”
The 600lb bomb, which is believed to be the biggest planted by dissidents, was discovered over the weekend after a member of the public raised the alarm on Thursday afternoon, sparking a major security alert.
The van had been left with its engine running and the device – consisting of homemade explosives packed into two blue barrels and complete with a detonator – inside.
