Allister attacks Deputy First Minister
24 May 2007
MEP Jim Allister used a debate in the European Parliament to attack anti- rule of law moves by Sinn Fein since they came into government in Northern Ireland. Picking up on a call in the Parliament's report for the Council of Ministers to monitor the governmental activities of regional governments whose members include political figures with links to criminal organisations, Mr Allister rounded on Martin McGuinness for his opposition to the use of a European Arrest Warrant to extradite an alleged IRA bomber.
In the course of his remarks Mr Allister said:-
"Members of this House might assume that anyone sitting in government anywhere in the EU would be unreservedly committed to the Europe-wide fight against organised crime and terrorism. I wish it were so.
Considering the antecedents of some of those recently admitted into the new government of Northern Ireland, the irony of the welcome call in this report for the Council of Ministers to monitor the governmental activities of institutions at regional level whose members include political figures with links to criminal organisations, is not lost upon me. Especially, in a week when the Deputy First Minister in my country, Martin McGuinness, protested the use of the European Arrest Warrant to seek the extradition to Germany of a person wanted for an IRA bombing and his policing spokesman condemned arrests in an organised crime investigation, in which a leading Irish Republican figure has been charged.
If you genuinely support the rule of law then you do not attack and protest against the means of securing international justice. Nor, do you oppose police operations targeting organised crime. But, shamefully in Northern Ireland, if you are a Sinn Fein Minister, then your first loyalty is still not to the rule of law but to protecting the interests of the republican movement. Little wonder some of us still regard Sinn Fein as unfit for government."
Note: You can listen to this speech by following this link: http://www.jimallister.org/uploads/_237.zip
