Statement by South Antrim TUV candidate Mel Lucas:

“The repeated refusal of US based Roman Catholic priest, Sean McManus, to condemn the murders of RUC officers on Radio Ulster this morning was outrageous.

“There was absolutely no difference between the murder of Constable Kerr and the brutal slaying of over 300 RUC officers.

“Murder was just as unjustified and unjustifiable in 1981 as it is in 2011.

“McManus can waffle about “context” all he likes but there never was any just cause for anyone in Northern Ireland to go out and take the life of a police officer. There were many Roman Catholic RUC officers who risked their lives to serve during the IRA’s brutal campaign of violence. Some even paid with their lives. Indeed the IRA had a policy of deliberately targeting Roman Catholics within the ranks of the RUC in order to deter that community from joining.

“The sentiments of this Provo Priest will rightly have disgusted and outraged many people throughout Northern Ireland and I would call upon the Roman Catholic Church to publicly distance itself from what McManus has said.

“However, the views expressed by McManus also raise questions for Sinn Fein, with whom the priest is particularly friendly. Do they now accept that murder was always wrong and that the killing of RUC men – who served and protected both sides of Northern Ireland’s divided community – was unjustified?

“If we were to hear those sorts of comments from Sinn Fein/IRA then many people would believe that we have started to move on in Northern Ireland. We are, however, a very long way from hearing the like from the Republican movement.”