Statements by Jim Allister (TUV), following the publication of the Saville Report, (16 June 2010)

Statements by Jim Allister, then leader of Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), following the publication of the report of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Belfast, (15 and 16 June 2010)

Statement issued on 15 June 2010:

"My primary thoughts today are with the thousands of innocent victims of the IRA who have never had justice, nor benefitted from any inquiry into why their loved one's died. Thus today's jamboree over the Saville Report throws into very sharp relief the unacceptable and perverse hierarchy of victims which the preferential treatment of 'Bloody Sunday' has created.
 
"The finding that Martin McGuinness was armed with a sub machine gun, and that he didn't tell the truth about it, does not surprise me, rather it confirms my view of his perpetual unfitness for government."

Statement issued on 16 June 2010:

"If as part of the Saville mania, soldiers are investigated by the PPS, from the Unionist perspective I make it plain that the requirement is for equally vigorous pursuit of Martin McGuinness for illegal possession of a sub machine gun and possible perjury. We have already had too much imbalance in the focus of 'Bloody Sunday', without it being carried over into any police/prosecution investigation.
 
"If McGuinness is to be investigated over these events - a mere drop in an ocean of criminality for an IRA commander - then he should stand down forthwith as Joint First Minister.  In my book, of course, he should never have been in that office, but considering the First Minister, however fleetingly, stood aside from his office over far lesser allegations, the least the fall-out from Saville should bring Northern Ireland is some respite from McGuinness as deputy First Minister. Where else in the world could a Joint First Minister continue to cling to office while a major judicial inquiry suggests he was an armed gunman on such a pivotal day, and that he did not deal frankly with the Tribunal? Only where democracy and decency are so perverted that terrorists are elevated to rule over us!"