It’s always interesting to see how the DUP view the Belfast Agreement. Sammy Wilson claimed on the Nolan Show that the Belfast Agreement - an agreement in which the DUP was not involved – has strengthened the Union and ties Sinn Fein into the Northern Ireland institutions. Yet Sammy is giving no credit to the UUP!
There is no doubt that had the Ulster Unionist Party walked away in 1998 we would be in a very different scenario today. Moreover, there is no doubt that without the Belfast Agreement we would not have the secure Union which we have today. In fact, it’s due to the UUP that Sinn Fein is embedded in the institutions of the Crown in Northern Ireland. The Union is stronger as a result of the Agreement and the explicit acceptance of Northern Ireland’s constitutional position within the United Kingdom.
Sinn Fein might ‘talk the talk’ about wanting a policing and justice system on an all-Ireland basis but some of the penalties in the South appear to be a lot harsher than those in Northern Ireland. Which justice system do you want Gerry? In fact, Gerry Adams rather mischievously claims that the devolution of policing and justice will bring a United Ireland closer. What absolute nonsense. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (incorporating the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC) is the police service in Northern Ireland. Also, policing, in effect, has already been devolved under the oversight of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. Gerry talks of an all Ireland police service - does that mean they are prepared to see Police Officers from NI cross the border in hot pursuit of various criminals who operate in the border areas. Are they prepared to see PSNI Officers cross into the Republic to question offenders and take statements in any town south of the border? What would Sinn Fein think about PSNI officers arresting a suspect and carrying him or her off to the separate jurisdiction of Northern Ireland for due process in a separate legal system? We are two separate states and we cannot logically have one police service with all that that entails.
Not only do the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Garda operate within different legal systems and legislation, so does the rest of the justice system. I am sure many will recollect the cases where a senior Garda Officer could state in a court that he believed a person was a member of a terrorist organisation and his word was accepted by the court. I, personally, would like to see a similar law in Northern Ireland where a senior PSNI Officer can declare he believes a person to be a terrorist and that person to be convicted on such a statement. It is also interesting to note that recently in a court in the Republic two men who were convicted of having ’bomb making equipment’ were jailed for 9 years, perhaps a lesson for our judiciary – it’s one I would certainly support.
Councillor Ross Hussey |
