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Poots Hearing Voices in Policing Debate

29 November 2011

Below is the text of Mr Allister’s speech in the debate on alleged wrongdoing by police and the rather strange intervations by Edwin Poots yesterday.

Mr Allister: There is a sphere of the law called equity, whereby people make a case that the outcome that they require is an equitable necessity. There is a rule that governs the law of equity, and it is that the person seeking that remedy must come with clean hands. Today’s motion comes from those who represent an organisation with not clean hands but blood on their hands. As has been said quite rightly by several Members in the House, the motion does not seek an equitable solution across the board to a legacy issue — and this is a legacy issue. The motion seeks a partisan, party political and self-serving outcome as a means to further the campaign to vilify the RUC and, indeed, its successor, the PSNI, as has been said.

On the theme of coming to the House with this motion and making these demands with clean hands, one could well ask the mover of the motion and the speakers to it whether they have told all they know about the crimes in which they were involved. Has Mr Gerry Kelly told all he knows about the Old Bailey bombing, about those who were engaged in the background organisation of that and about those who helped in any capacity? Has Mr Sheehan told all he knows about the crimes of which he was duly convicted? Have Members on those Benches told all they know about some of the most notorious incidents in recent years, such as Enniskillen, Whitecross, Kingsmills and Teebane, or do they harbour in their hearts and in their ranks secrets — dark, bloody secrets — about all of those matters? So before anyone from the Benches occupied by Sinn Féin points a finger, they should remember the number of fingers pointing back at them. Let them be the first to lead by example. There is so much that they could do in that regard but never will.

Mr Givan, when he addressed the House, was right to identify the hypocrisy —

Mr Poots: Attacking unionists.

Mr Allister: The hypocrisy —

Mr Poots: Attacking unionists.

Mr Allister: Sorry? I am attacking unionists?

Mr Poots: Yes.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Order. The Member will resume his seat. For the third time, I have to ask that Members please make their remarks through the Chair and not across the Floor. Continue, Mr Allister.

Mr Allister: I am staggered by the sedentary intervention from Mr Poots to the effect that I am attacking unionists. I thought, since I got to my feet, that I had been exclusively attacking Sinn Féin. If Mr Poots, as a Minister with Sinn Féin in the Government, feels so precious about them that, in some way, there is some sort of cross-fertilisation and he feels attacked, I am sorry. However, I was making the point that Mr Givan was right to attack the rank hypocrisy of what Sinn Féin Members have said in the debate and what the clumsily worded motion seeks to convey and where it seeks to go.

However, if Mr Poots wants hypocrisy, I could well say that, yes, there is hypocrisy in demonstrating the depth of knowledge about the real Sinn Féin and elevating those same people to the top and the heart of government.

Mr Deputy Speaker: Order, please. The Member will resume his seat. The Member should stick to the motion and he should not point his finger in any direction. Will you continue, please?

Mr Allister: I am sure, Mr Deputy Speaker, you will recall that I was led down that path by Mr Poots’s sedentary intervention. However, there it is. The point is quite clear: if the cap fits, let it be worn by both —

Mr Deputy Speaker: Bring your remarks to a close, please. Your time is up.

Mr Allister: As I said at the beginning, this is a legacy issue.

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