Ross Hussey, Chairman of the RUC GC Association Part Time Officers Welfare Group has welcomed the news that his colleagues are in line for part of a £20,000,000 settlement of their claim for the payment of a gratuity for part time service with the RUC. He commented ’I am delighted that Mr Kelly the junior Minister has today announced that HM Government is now prepared to settle our long outstanding claim for the payment of a gratuity for those who served as part time police officers. This payment will recognise the service of part time members and also serves as an acknowledgement that part time officers were underpaid for the work that they did and the sacrifice of in many cases social and family life. I have been involved in this particular fight for over 10 years from my time as a serving officer and over the past 3 years within the RUCGC Association and our own specific group. Mr Kelly has been very critical of the award and has made some very scathing remarks in relation to what he refers to as a side deal. Perhaps Mr Kelly can explain why his master the Deputy First Minister refused to meet with us despite giving assurances to New York Police that he would? Perhaps Mr Kelly would explain why he is now ’kicking up’ in respect of this recognition of the service of part time police officers when he commented on the Nolan Show that this was of no concern to him as this was a seperate matter. Mr Kelly Sinn Fein and all political representatives in Northern Ireland would have been aware of the campaign for recognition of the service of part time Reserve Constables by the payment of a gratuity as it was discussed twice in the Assembly, and I met the Leaders of all NI political parties that accepted my request for a meeting and those that did not received a written submission justifying our claim for recognition. I look forward to hearing further details of the settlement and to seeing this long and hard fought battle to a conclusion.’

On another issue I suppose I had better put on my political cap as an Ulster Unionist Councillor and comment on the press release by Tom Buchanan MLA where he stated his commitment to the payment of the gratuity to the part time Reserve and made some totally unwarranted comments that ’the UUP were happy to dump the part time reservists and forget about them when they agreed to the Patten Report and never fought for any type of recognition for them’. Perhaps Mr Buchanan is beginning to have selective memory loss or perhaps he is attempting to rewrite history. Several years ago I brought a motion to the Ulster Unionist Party Conference in relation to the payment of a gratuity for part time RUC Reservists which was supported by my then party colleague Jeffrey Donaldson MP. I go further my brother Derek when an MLA introduced a debate into the Assembly in relation to the payment of a gratuity to part time Reservists which received cross party support with the exception being Sinn Fein. The matter was again raised by the UUP in the Assembly and the Office of First and Deputy First Minister were to bring a report back to the House - Rev Dr Ian Pasiley being the then First Minister. I in my capacity as Chair of the RUC GC Association met with Sir Reg Empey OBE MLA and the members of the Ulster Unionist Party, I met with Alex Atwood and Dolores Kelly of the SDLP, I met with David Ford and Eileen Bell of Alliance and I met the DUP members. Over recent months I have again met with Mr Ford, Sir Reg Empey, Mr Peter Robinson and Mr Jeffrey Donaldson. At no time has Mr Buchanan spoken to me on this issue even though we sit only a few seats apart on Omagh District Council, I have never formally met with him when I was meeting his political masters and his association of the payment of the gratuity to the Reserve with Patten indicates his total lack of understanding of why this payment was sought. It has absoltely nothing to do with Patten and is a stand alone issue which pre-dates Patten and was based on the failure of HM Government to properly compensate part time police officers for their hours and years of service.