Allister speaks of moral quagmire at the heart of government
01 April 2010
Speaking in Kilkeel on Wednesday night (31st March) TUV Leader Jim Allister QC said the DUP and Sinn Fein were not only joined at the hip politically in the Stormont coalition, but were now joined by scandal engulfing the leadership of both parties.
“Whereas, the Sinn Fein scandals of cover up of alleged paedophilia and involvement in crimes of kidnap, murder and widespread terrorism plumbed the depths of criminality, and are therefore of the most repulsive and sinister category, the aura of unexplained links with developers, which again engulfs the DUP, is also quite shocking, not least because the standards of probity expected by and of unionists is high. When you put terrorists in government, revelations that prove them to be exactly of that ilk can’t be totally surprising, though still loathsome, but when those who exalt their own probity are besieged by allegations that require but are not getting answers, then, public distain is magnified.
“Surely, Northern Ireland must be the only place in the democratic world where the leaders of the two parties heading up the government can be so immersed in scandal and the government continues unabashed. It tells you much about how our terrorist-inclusive government is bereft of any moral compass. If Gordon Brown was alleged to have financially benefited personally and spectacularly from a land deal with a developer friend, while his political ally was accused of past involvement in murder and mayhem, there would be no question of them continuing in office, but, here, anything goes. Such is the moral quagmire into which we have descended.
“Likewise, it must be the only place where a leader can declare himself cleared and hope to get away with it, without ever even publishing the mere opinion upon which he proclaims his vindication! DIY exoneration is a pretty tawdry and self-serving exercise.
“The lack of a thorough-going police investigation into the serious allegations against Adams suggests a hierarchy of justice where some are pandered to as untouchable. It’s time the Chief Constable dispelled this perception by going after Adams for all alleged against him. When policing and justice falls under the spell of the terrorist-inclusive Executive at Stormont then the prospect of such pursuit will be even more remote.
“Likewise, it is hard to escape the impression that the DUP believes their presence at the top of a rigged system of government shields them from the accountability which would be taken for granted in a normal society, where moral imperatives wouldn’t be jettisoned to form and maintain a government.”
