07 September 2009
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister QC
"Embarrassed into belatedly supporting the quest of IRA victims for compensation from Libya, the Prime Minister, if serious, needs to do much more than delegate some Foreign Office staff to give support. It was he, in his overriding pursuit of oil and trade, who withheld support when the political leverage was at its most optimum. To try and undo that he needs now at Prime Ministerial level to intervene with Gaddafi, even though, sadly, he has surrendered most of his cards.
The fact that hitherto the Government chose oil from Libya over justice for victims is, of course, part of the same lack of morality which has seen perpetrators of terrorism elevated to the highest offices in our land. Both the suppliers and users of IRA weapons of death should be brought to justice.
The battle for compensation should go on, but it is important that local politicians, who have made their own huge contribution to sanitising the IRA by sitting in government with them, do not indulge expectations for the sake of currying favour with the cause of victims. This will be a tough battle, but one with right on its side.
I have two challenges. First, no one is better placed than IRA/Sinn Fein and particularly Martin McGuinness to give direct evidence of the links with Libya and precisely what they supplied. He knows the details of the shipments and of the links which prove the supplies were officially sanctioned at the highest level in Libya. So, if he is now, as some pretend, wholly committed to the rule of law, let him come forward to help those his organisation so callously made victims with these weapons and explosives. If in any other country in the world there was a Joint First Minister who concealed such guilty secrets, he would be hounded out of office, but we have a system where such travesty is the norm. So, quite apart from what Gordon Brown should be doing to help, what is McGuinness prepared to do? Nothing, of course, because his first allegiance is still to his wicked IRA, not to the rule of law.
My second challenge is to the two Joint First Ministers. The website of OFMDFM boasts as one of the responsibilities of Peter Robinson and McGuinness, “international relations”. Well, on behalf of Northern Ireland is OFMDFM prepared now to speak up on behalf of the victims and call on Libya to pay compensation?
I am today writing to the First Minister in the following terms:-
Dear First Minister,
The office of OFMDFM boasts responsibility for both ‘victims’ and ‘international relations’. The current quest for compensation from Libya for IRA victims touches upon both these responsibilities. Accordingly, please advise what steps OFMDFM has taken and/or intends to take to advance the case against Libya.
Moreover, are you satisfied that all Ministers within OFMDFM, as those supposedly pledged to assist the rule of law, have taken all possible steps to assist in this case, not least by furnishing information which would help substantiate the case against Libya?
Yours sincerely,
NI politics
