Posts filed under 'Policing and Security'
Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has branded the recent attack on fire fighters and their appliance in Ballymena’s Dunclug estate as “mindless thuggery of the lowest kind”.
Assemblyman Dr Coulter, who served three terms as Mayor of Ballymena in the mid 1990s, called for every responsible citizen who knew anything about the attack to give the information as soon as possible to the police.
He added: “Over the last number of years, I have campaigned for much tougher sentences for those convicted in court of attacking health workers.
“I fully support our Health Minister Michael McGimpsey in having these tough sentences extended to those yobs convicted of attacking our fire service personnel and their equipment.
“This irresponsible thuggish behaviour of attacking fire crews must be stamped out by introducing laws to give the courts the power to heavily punish – both with fines and jail terms – those convicted of such crimes against society.
“Just as Minister McGimpsey has implemented my zero tolerance call for attacks on health workers, it is a matter of urgency that the same zero tolerance be introduced regarding violence against any mercy workers, and especially our much-valued fire service,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.
E-mail April 14th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
oy Beggs MLA, Ulster Unionist Spokesperson on the Public Accounts Committee has welcomed the inclusion of Northern Ireland into the National Fraud Initiative as a result of its inclusion in the Serious Crimes Bill and which can into effect on 6th April 2008.
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Continue Reading E-mail April 9th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Tom Elliott Ulster Unionist MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone said he is astonished at Arlene Foster and the DUP for their position on policing and Justice. The Ulster Unionist Party contends that it is actually the DUP who are blowing in the winds of political expediency on this issue.
In a statement Mr. Elliott said,
“Mrs. Foster’s tantrum cannot hide the fact that the Ulster Unionist Party has consistently stated its opposition to the devolution of policing and justice until such times as there would be community confidence in such a move. It was the DUP that negotiated St Andrews that included an explicit timetable for the devolution of these powers at St Andrews. If Mrs. Foster has forgotten, para. 7 of the St Andrews Agreement states that the devolution of policing and justice should occur “by May 2008”. This is the process which the DUP has accepted and is now working towards.
All this, of course, represents a considerable u-turn in DUP policy. Mrs. Foster now tells us that “sufficient community confidence” is required. The DUP’s 2003 Manifesto, however, had no time for such nuances:
The DUP opposes the devolution of Policing and Justice to the institutions created under the Belfast Agreement as decisions would be taken by Sinn Fein members like Gerry Kelly as Minister. (DUP 2003 Manifesto, p. 24.)
It is also somewhat ironic to hear Mrs. Foster give lectures to my Party on hypocrisy. Others might say that the definition of hypocrisy is to stand for election on the platform of one party, and then breezily move to another a few weeks after being elected. This, of course, might explain why she seems to forget what the DUP Manifesto said in 2003 – she fought that election on an Ulster Unionist Manifesto.
As for her comment that voters have given the UUP its ‘marching orders’ – it seems as if she has already forgotten Dromore, despite the pledge by other figures in her party that they would the lessons of that humiliating defeat. To quote Mrs. Foster, it does indeed seem to be the case that ‘you cannot believe a word they say’”.
Continue Reading E-mail March 4th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
UUP MEP Jim Nicholson today commented on the government poll that claimed that 60% of people supported the transfer of policing and Justice and 53% backed the May deadline.
Mr Nicholson said the only poll that mattered was the recent Dromore by-election poll which gave a real snapshot of Unionist thinking.
In a statement Mr Nicholson said,
“The government are clearly engaged in a concerted effort to stick to the St. Andrews Sinn Fein/DUP deal that Policing and Justice powers should be devolved by May of this year.
This latest poll is evidence of that effort to bounce us into accepting it. Polls have been cynically used by the government before to try and influence public opinion and I do not give too much credence to them.
It should be remembered that there was a recent real poll, a proper test of public opinion. This was the Dromore by-election which offered an accurate and up-to-date snapshot of Unionist thinking.
It is clear that a majority of Unionists share the UUP view that it is just too soon to devolve policing and justice powers. The Institutions need to be bed down further and public confidence needs to be built up. Any rational person can see that the increasing TUV vote, the declining DUP vote and the retention of our seat by the UUP is indicative of unease and disquiet at the direction and methods used by the DUP.
Therefore their support in this government poll should not be taken as an indicator or an underlying trend within Unionism. Quite the reverse. It merely underlines how disengaged the party has now become from mainstream Unionist thinking.”
Continue Reading E-mail February 22nd, 2008
Alex Benjamin
enny Donaldson, an UUP Party Officer has expressed concern at the ‘increased terrorist threat’ posed by dissident republicans.
Kenny was responding to comments made by the Chief Constable yesterday when he said that; dissident republicans are inept but dangerous.
The Chief Constable indicated that Security was being stepped up across Northern Ireland in answer to the evolving security situation.
In a statement, Kenny said: “Last night, I travelled from Coleraine to my home at Crossmaglen and I was stopped on five occasions by Police check-points, it is clear that dissidents are planning further operations and I would ask the public to be patient and supportive of the efforts of the PSNI. Security check-points are designed to root out terrorist activity and the public must be prepared to experience some minor discomfort in the pursuit by our Police to crush terrorist activity at source.
“It is clear that there continues to be people within the community who have not understood or indeed, refuse to accept, the changed political and societal dispensation Northern Ireland has entered. There continue to be wreckers out there who are prepared to reap misery upon the Northern Ireland community.
“It is difficult to understand the mindset of those who wish to continue engaging in terror as a means of furthering ‘so-called political objectives.’ The reality is that the terror campaigns of their sister organisations before them were futile; they failed and achieved nothing but plunge this Country into civil strife.
“The Provisional Movement and its’ political leaders have immense responsibility in all of this. Sections of their ‘republican community have fractured’ and this has happened because they promised that community the ‘undeliverable for decades,’ they used physical force republicanism as a means of trying to overthrow the Northern Ireland State, that failed and they need to face up to this.
“Northern Ireland’s place within the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is now protected in International Law via the consent principle my Party, the UUP fought and won in the political settlement of The Belfast Agreement. It’s time people got real, it’s time people put their shoulder to the wheel in building Northern Ireland as a place where all people, irrespective of class or creed are given a quality of life which has been denied them previously, that should be the priority of all who claim to represent people,” concluded Kenny.
Continue Reading E-mail February 6th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Ulster Unionist Representative and former Serviceman Alderman Michael Copeland today welcomed verbal confirmation from the Ministry of Defence that Northern Ireland Soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan will qualify for the £140 rebate paid to their colleagues on the mainland as a tax-free rebate against the Council Tax.
In a statement Alderman Copeland said,
“The confusion arose due to a response from the Ministry of Defence which indicated that the rebate would be paid to set against Council Tax bills. Soldiers from Northern Ireland do not pay Council Tax and until today’s comment from the Ministry of Defence, this was not taken into account.
I’m now seeking clarification that this rebate will also be available to those who rent public sector housing in Northern Ireland and who consequently are not furnished with separate rates bills.”
Continue Reading E-mail January 29th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
In a statement today UUP Leader Sir Reg Empey said,
“Last week Nigel Dodds said that the devolution of policing and justice was ‘not on the agenda.’ I beg to differ. Far from not being on the agenda, for both the Government and the republican movement, it is top of the agenda.’
If it is not on the agenda, why did the Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, make it the principal point in his New Year message? Why did Gerry Adams, in an increasingly rare intervention, raise the issue before Christmas, calling for the implementation of all of the St Andrews Agreement? Why did Ian Paisley jr raise it in a recent interview?’
All of this activity, and its re-branding by the Secretary of State as the ’second phase of devolution’ tells Ulster Unionists that it is a top priority for 2008 and beyond.’
The developments of last week in the Eames/ Bradley debate over ‘amnesty and a potential reclassification of the ‘troubles’ as a ‘war’ indicate possible linkage between these two key issues. This is not a healthy development.’
Nigel Dodds has already said that he did not see devolution of policing and justice taking place in his political lifetime. In light of developments, how credible is this? It is widely known that the Northern Ireland Office is totally focused on devolving police powers. What I think is a mistake is to link this exclusively to the standing down of the IRA’s so called army council. This is not the only important matter to be considered. It is however, the one area where republicans have bargaining power with the Government. This is where the link to the kite flying of last week over dealing with the past could carry grave dangers for all of us.’
Most people do not see further devolution to Stormont as a key issue going forward. People want to see the Assembly delivering better services for health, housing and the economy generally. If the key aim of the Executive is to grow the economy, then lets all focus on that as we run up to the economic conference in May. Let us get Stormont to work for the people rather that side track the whole political process with endless rows over devolution of policing and justice.’
I think the parties can unite on the economy this year. Shaun Woodward should not be seeking to divide us on policing issues where disagreement is inevitable.”
E-mail January 15th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey today wrote an open letter to the Secretary of State urging Mr Woodward to issue a clear statement indicating that there will be no amnesty or expunging of terrorist records and no reclassification of ‘the troubles’ to ‘a war’.
Sir Reg is concerned at the stepping up of ambiguous language used firstly by Commission for the Past and latterly by the Prime Minister this week on the subject. He warned that any moves towards an amnesty, expunging of records or reclassification of ‘the troubles’ to ‘a war’ would have far reaching consequences.
Continue Reading E-mail January 11th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Speaking at Knock and Ballyhackamore Ulster Unionist Branch AGM, Ulster Unionist deputy Leader, Danny Kennedy MLA, said :
“The one thing political observers in Northern Ireland have become aware of in the past year are the warning signs that the DUP and Sinn Fein have done yet another deal behind closed doors and are in the process of selling that deal to a public they consider to be putty in their manipulative hands.”
“We had evidence of this in the past week when Ian Paisley Junior said he would offer leadership on the issue of the devolution of policing and justice to be rapidly followed by the unedifying spectacle of an unruly public meeting of the Consultative Group on the Past, following heavily staged leaks that the troubles were to be regarded as a war rather than a terrorist campaign.”
“No doubt, having worked up a spurious debate on the issue of whether the suffering inflicted on innocent civilians for thirty five years was a war or a murderous terrorist campaign, the inevitable collapse of that ridiculous assertion will be hailed as a victory by the DUP and, on the back of that artificially created debate, that party, having created the wriggle room they need to get away with it, will then deliver on the secret promises it has made behind closed doors to Sinn Fein during the St Andrew’s Agreement negotiations - or offer leadership as they put it.”
“The sequence of deals being made behind firmly closed doors between the DUP and Sinn Fein over a whole range of issues is not only in danger of excluding the smaller parties from ownership of these DUP-Sinn Fein decisions but it will also leave the public behind.”
“The issue that best brings this out is the devolution of policing and justice. There is, quite simply, no demand or appetite for this from the wider unionist community. Yet here we have Junior Minister Ian Paisley offering what he calls “leadership” on this issue. I don’t think the people want to be “led” anywhere.”
“What we need to ask is what is the deal cut by the DUP and Sinn Fein - of which Mr Paisley’s comments no doubt form a sequenced part ? Will there be another six months slippage with the deal being done in October rather than May, if past form is anything to go by?”
“What are the behind the scenes shopping lists of the two big parties ? Have those shopping lists anything to do with the well-being of the people or have they more to do with a shopping list of “goodies” for the two big parties ? No doubt what we are really being asked to believe – or swallow – is that what is good for the DUP is good for Northern Ireland.”
“The two big parties, the DUP and Sinn Fein, are both set on self-gratification, on what could be called a carve-up of the spoils of office. Both are intent on following agendas which are to the benefit and self-interest of those two parties but which have little or nothing to do with the well-being or interests of the people of Northern Ireland.”
“The tragedy in all of this is that neither of these monolithic bullies – Sinn Fein or the DUP – have any ideas when it comes to rebuilding Northern Ireland and its economy. Their programme is lacking in imagination which is really all you could expect from two command and control structures which prize and value control freakery over ideas.”
“Producing a Programme for Government and a Budget, after a motion I proposed in the Assembly asking where these items were after 6 months of inactivity, forced their hand, and was like watching an elephant giving birth to a pea. The Programme was, on the whole, banal and uninspiring. It lacked vision and looked, in the main, like a civil service rehash.”
“In devolving policing and justice both the DUP and Sinn Fein are seeking to increase their patronage and extend their control and dominance in this double-lock vice-like grip or stranglehold which Sinn Fein and the DUP currently have on political life in Northern Ireland.”
“At some point people will tire of the self-interested political fixing of the DUP and Sinn Fein and they will ask – what is really in this for us ?”
E-mail January 11th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
Ulster Unionist Party Leader Sir Reg Empey today responded to comments made by Nigel Dodds in the House of Commons last night in relation to the devolution of Policing and Justice powers where Mr Dodds said it was not on the agenda.
In a statement Sir Reg said,
“I disagree with Mr Dodds’ analysis that the devolution of Policing and Justice is not on the agenda. I recall that last year Mr Dodds said that he did not anticipate it in his political lifetime. Now with Sinn Fein comments and recent comments from people within his own party, it seems the only thing preventing the devolution of these powers is the standing down of the IRA army council.
I believe that a major push will take place this year but I also believe that the issue of the devolution of policing and justice should not be solely dependent on the standing down of the IRA army council. There are a whole range of other matters that are relevant, it is also naïve to suppose that the Government and Republicans will simply rest on their oars on this matter.
I warned yesterday that there could be a link between the devolution of policing and justice and some sort of amnesty or expunging of criminal records and a declaration on the status of the troubles.
Extreme vigilance will be required in the months ahead.”
Continue Reading E-mail January 11th, 2008
Alex Benjamin
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