Cllr Denise Mullen: Arlene Foster Cares Only For Justice For Unionists
Aontú Cllr & Deputy Leader Denise Mullen has condemned First Minster Arlene Foster’s offensive and partisan approach to justice and truth for victims and survivors of collusion during the Troubles.
Cllr Mullen:
“Arlene Foster has continued to show that the issue of victims’ justice and the collusion is a political point, not a righteous or humanitarian one. Foster intends to present an allegations of Irish state collusion with the P-IRA during the Troubles to Micheal Martin, demanding its investigation. This is political partisanship and deflection of the worst kind. In the same year that Bloody Sunday perpetrators have been let off, the British state refusing to examine how collusion between the British army and Unionists murdered Pat Finucane, and as the Glennane Gang victims remain ignored, Foster has decided to use the notion of victims justice for her own political gain. Her words and actions demanding investigation for victims of alleged collusion between Gardaí and the Provisional IRA, whilst stonewalling justice for victims of British/Loyalist collusion serve to pour kerosene on the fire – further dividing the people of the North. If the First Minister views legacy investigations and justice for victims and their families as a party political issue or a sectarian cause – then quite frankly she is unfit to lead all the people of the North. I know her party, the DUP, have had a tough time accepting the Good Friday Agreement – being the only political party to reject it – but in accepting it, they accept that it is their duty to ensure legacy investigations go ahead and the truth of what happened in the North fully laid bare.”
“To this day, there has been no investigation into the Glennane Gun which was stolen from a UDR tactics which was used in the murders of more than 110 nationalists. I would ask Mrs Forster, how she can explain calling for investigation and justice for one community then denying it to another. Where was Mrs Forster when the British government refused to investigate the collusion leading to the murder of human rights solicitor Pat Finucane only last week? Or where was Mrs Forster where Boris Johnson and his Tory parties let the soldiers responsible for the Bloody Sunday massacres off without the prosecution? The North has already suffered enough wounds from sectarian conflict and partisanship – our hope for reconciliation cannot suffer the same fate. Arlene Foster has shown her true colours time and time again, that she only cares for your suffering if it does not inconvenience her Unionist beliefs, if it benefits her politically – this crass politicisation is just another example of the DUP continuing on the Ian Paisley tactics of inflaming and dividing the North of Ireland.”
