Statement by TUV leader and North Antrim MLA Jim Allister:

“The appointment of Mary McArdle as the Special Adviser to the Culture Minister underscores just why the title Sinn Fein/IRA is an appropriate one for the DUP’s governmental partners.

“The attempted assassination of Magistrate Tom Travers in which his 22 year old daughter was killed was one of the most shocking incidents during the Troubles. The murder of a young school teacher as she left Mass illustrated possibly more than any other single killing the depths to which Republicans were prepared to stoop.

“Perhaps the most eloquent comments on where Northern Ireland is today came from the surviving daughter of Magistrate Travers who in the aftermath of the murder of Constable Kerr commented:

“They’ve never once said sorry for my sister’s murder. They’ve never once apologised to my mum. In fact they condoned it.

“Martin McGuinness condoned it because our father was a member of the British judiciary, which was nonsense”.

“Today’s news will be yet another insult to the Travers family. It is a stain on the character of our Province that such an appointment should be made.

“Sadly the Minister and her special adviser are well matched as Ni Chuilin was an  IRA prisoner and member of Sinn Fein’s so-called POW department. In 1989 she was sentenced to 8 years on explosive charges but released after 4.”