TUV challenges DUP over Sinn Fein Speaker
02 March 2011
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:-
“Recently there has been some idle talk about William Hay continuing as Speaker in the next Assembly. But, is the reality not that the DUP has already done a deal to install an IRA/ Sinn Fein Speaker?
“It would be odious to see such a person – maybe even one linked by David Simpson MP to notorious Provo deeds – preside over Stormont, but, sadly, in their rush to power I believe the DUP has already done the deal. On 8th May 2007 when William Hay was elected the DUP Leader, Ian Paisley went on record in the Assembly to declare, “I acknowledge that at the next Assembly election, we will support a candidate drawn from the other side of the House….we will support someone from the other side of the House in the next Parliament.” Can this mean anything other than a blank cheque to Sinn Fein? No, because of the cross-community threshold for election.
“It is time therefore for the DUP to come clean and declare their hand. Have they, as appears clear, already pledged their support to a Speaker of Sinn Fein’s choosing?
“William Hay, appallingly, in his term has already sought by his rulings to protect IRA/Sinn Fein from exposure – last week he even tried to stop reference to Bomber Kelly’s past – but by installing a Provo-linked Speaker that process will move to a new level. No doubt interesting times lie ahead when TUV arrives in Stormont. Cosy camaraderie in Stormont with IRA/Sinn Fein will be over.”
