Ulster MEP addresses Parliament on ETA ceasefire
22 March 2006
When the ETA ceasefire was announced to the European Parliament, DUP MEP Jim Allister had the opportunity of responding on behalf of the Non-Attached Members.
In his speech Jim Allister drew upon the experience in Northern Ireland to caution against the temptation to reward terrorists for claiming to abandon that which they never should have started. Mr Allister warned that such was invariably counter-productive, because it caused terrorists to believe that they could keep a foot in both the criminal and the democratic camp.
"This the IRA had been allowed to do and thus the transition to exclusively peaceful pursuits had been excessively delayed. I, therefore, urge the Spanish Government to proceed with caution and not to fall into the fundamental error experienced in Northern Ireland", said the Ulster MEP
