Allister Responds to Latest RUC Athletics Association Developments
20 March 2012
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“I welcome the fact that Mr Robinson has belatedly joined me in calling for the retention of the RUC Athletics Association’s title.
“It is now incumbent upon Assistant Chief Constable Kerr to come clean and spell out where the original threat to the funding of the RUCAA came from and to reassure members that the threat has now been removed.
“It is now almost three weeks since I wrote to ACC Kerr asking who had threatened to withdraw funding or withhold it in the future should the name change not go ahead. He has yet to reply.
“It is totally unacceptable that members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary George Cross Athletic Association should have a gun held to their head in this fashion before the vote. It is all the more unacceptable when one considers that Assistant Chief Constable Kerr has yet to spell out where the threat is coming from – some three weeks after being challenged to do so.
“Additionally, I have been contacted by members of the RUCAA who have received other correspondence threatening grave consequences should a name change not take place. This level of blackmail is intolerable and raises very serious questions about how free and fair the vote will be.
“Now that the Justice Minister has stated that the name of the organisation will have no adverse impact on future funding applications – in spite of being on record as saying that he favoured dropping the RUCAA’s title – it behoves ACC Kerr and others to say very publicly that the threat has now been removed.”
