Iris petrified of telling the people of Northern Ireland what the DUP position really is, says McFarland
UUP Chief Negotiator and North Down Assembly Candidate Alan McFarland, responding to comments made by Iris Robinson about the UUP letting Sinn Fein off the hook, branded the DUP as a fundamentally dishonest party.
In a statement Mr McFarland said,
“I was under the impression from comments made by Iris’ husband that the DUPs battle with Ulster Unionism had been fought and won. It is amusing therefore to find 3 of the DUPs press statements currently on their web page attacking my party.
Let’s cut to the chase and save a round of needless press statements that will only alienate the public further.
Yes, the UUP will go into government on 26th March. Northern Ireland needs devolved government. We want to deal with the real concerns of the people of Northern Ireland – health, education, rates and water charges, crime, our environment, local business, agriculture, older people, first time buyers and many other areas that matter to people.
If they pledge to support the police and rule of law we can’t stop Sinn Fein being in the Executive. But we can make sure that Unionism has an effective voice, in Stormont, in government.
The truth is that for all the DUPs posturing they are being fundamentally dishonest. They too will go into government, just as they did in the last Executive, and just as they would have done ‘bar a photograph’. They are simply petrified of telling the people because it would split them right down the middle and they would lose support. So the plan is to slither through the next few weeks commitment free and spook people into voting for them with various non-existent threats and with a raw sectarian head count message. This is not the centre ground politics that they aspire to. A leopard cannot change its spots.
The people of Northern Ireland deserve better and they deserve a government now. Not when it suits the DUP.”