Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:

“TUV believes it would be most unwise for Her Majesty the Queen to visit the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin.

“The individuals commemorated there were no friends of the Royal Family and used terrorism against the Crown forces.

“Remember the “blood sacrifice” so often talked about by Patrick Pearse and the other terrorists who engaged in the Easter Rising inspired later generations to carry out similar acts of “heroic bravery” for the cause of “Irish freedom” such as the murder of Her Majesty’s cousin, Lord Mountbatten in 1979 along with14 year old  Nicholas Knatchbull and 15 year old Paul Maxwell. The tradition of Pearse was again carried on by those who murdered Constable Kerr on Saturday.

“It is vital that Her Majesty the Queen is not used as a political football in order to make a misguided points about the “peace process”.”