Paisley rediscovers IRA/Sinn Fein Army Council
11 February 2008
Commenting on Ian Paisley’s Radio Ulster interview on policing and justice, Traditional Unionist MEP, Jim Allister said:-
“I see Ian Paisley has re-discovered something called “IRA/Sinn Fein”, which still has an illegal Army Council. What he didn’t explain, of course, is how it is only wrong to share power with IRA/Sinn Fein in policing & justice, but right to have them as your equal in every other facet of government! How long the Army Council, which once was an obstacle to any IRA/Sinn Fein presence in government, will in fact remain an obstacle to devolving policing and justice, is a matter of speculation. This time last year political lifetimes were the measuring rod, now all that has been quietly forgotten.
What should be one of the biggest obstacles to devolving policing & justice, namely that it gives IRA commander McGuinnes an equal say in recommending who should serve as Lord Chief Justice and as Lord Justices of Appeal, and a role in removing judges, doesn’t seem to bother the First Minister in the slightest.
As for the supposed insistence on more finance from GB as a prerequisite for devolving policing and justice, the public will recall a mega financial package from the Treasury was, in the word of the last DUP manifesto, “a precondition for establishing devolution.” That soon fell by the wayside so little faith will be placed in this latest pre-condition
