DUP deception exposed
15 February 2010
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister QC:-"Attempting to sell a disastrous deal for Unionism, it hasn't taken the DUP long to stoop to brazen deception.
The pretence that the Hillsborough handover has nothing to say or do with the Irish language or north/southery is just plain wrong. That is exactly what Section 5 is about: it commits to a work programme to action everything outstanding from St Andrews. Hence the commitments in St Andrews to the Irish language and the demands for expansion of the north/south bodies and a north/south parliamentary forum and civic forum, as well as a Single Equality Bill, will all now be progressed, at Sinn Fein's behest, as their next staging posts. Just as non-delivery on policing and justice was the excuse for the Hillsborough brinkmanship, so they've got their new grievances embedded, ready for their next stand-off and the next meek delivery by the DUP as the price of clinging to office.
So, for the DUP to pretend that the Irish language and north/southery are untouched by the Hillsborough deal is utterly disingenuous. People are not stupid and, therefore, the DUP should not try to treat Unionists as incapable of reading and understanding for themselves what Section 5 of Hillsborough plainly means.
Just like Trimble tried to spin the disastrous Belfast Agreement as a "good deal for Unionism", so the new Trimbles - Robinson, Mrs Foster and Wilson - are feverishly spinning their push-over product as wholesome and everything it is not."
