Statement by TUV South Antrim Assembly candidate Mel Lucas:

“Despite all the hype from some about a caring interest in victims, the reality is that innocent victims of terrorism are one of the most politically exploited and neglected sectors in the new Northern Ireland.

“Having their innocent victims still hurting while the IRA sits in government, is an inconvenient embarrassment for those who ushered Sinn Fein into the top office in the land, where Martin McGuinness – the personification of the IRA’s wicked campaign – has joint oversight of victims’ issues. But the comfort of office eases the embarrassment. Even at the Hillsborough negotiations nothing was secured for victims.

“At the heart of the inequity meted upon innocent victims is the atrocious definition of “victim” which remains in The Victims and Survivors Order (NI) 2006. By equating victims with those who made them victims, we have this obscenity of the perpetrator having the same standing and rights as his innocent prey. Until this definition is changed there will be no justice for victims.

“At every election since coming to power the DUP has promised that they would have the Assembly change the definition, even though they knew the nationalist veto they accepted as the price of office would prevent such change. For example, just before the European election Diane Dodds promised, “Very soon, legislation will be brought before the Assembly to change the definition of a victim. It has been passed to the Bill Office and is at an advanced stage.” Two years later the Bill is dead.

“In their Assembly manifesto the only reference the DUP make to the situation say that they will “continue after the election period to build broader consensus around amending the definition of a victim to exclude perpetrators of terrorist acts”.

“Thus after four years of devolution the atrocious definition of “victim” remains.

“Devolution which can’t even deliver a just definition of “victim” is devolution in hock to the forces of terrorism. TUV is pledged to continue the fight both for justice and adequate funding for the victims sector, with a proper statutory definition of ‘victim’ being the key requirement.

“TUV shares the belief of so many of those who have lost loved ones that justice must be the over-riding priority and that means bringing the guilty to account, not sanitising their evil deeds and then trying to equate them with their victims.”