Extract from a speech by Traditional Unionist Voice Chairman, Ivor McConnell, to Lagan Valley TUV Branch AGM on Thursday 26th February 2009.

“The Secretary of State recently announcement the scrapping of the proposed £12K payments to all families of those who lost a relative doing the Troubles – terrorists as well as innocent victims. This we welcome, but beware, whilst we objected to the £12K payments that is not all we found objectionable in Eames – Bradley and in fact the payments are not the most objectionable part of the report.

“How could anything be more objectionable than £12K being paid out to the perpetrators of violence alongside the victims of their violence with the equating of the two – the gunman with the person he shot, and so on?

“Well, this isn’t the worst aspect of Eames – Bradley as the same reasoning, rational, definition of “victim” which makes the murderer equal to the murdered is still in tact and affects, underlies every one of the thirty remaining proposals in the report.

“The £12K payment by its very nature is a token gesture and a one off, the other aspects of Eames – Bradley have a longer lifespan and some are permanent in the damage they inflict upon the basic, foundational principles of law and order and justice.

“Don’t misunderstand me, I objected to the payments as much as anyone but even if they had gone ahead, in 5 or 10 years time we probably would have forgotten about them but we would not be able to forget about the longer term effects of Eames – Bradley. For example, the adoption of the “Quigley Hamilton” proposals would make it illegal to discriminate against anyone in employment on the basis of any prior convictions for terrorist offences; The concept of “collective responsibility” and the shared guilt we’re supposed to share with the paramilitaries; The effective Amnesty including for “on the runs” after a five year period; But most dreadful of all – the effective end of any prospect of proper legal process against as yet untried terrorist offenses. There will not even be the pretense that the law might tract down the perpetrators of terrorist crimes and the courts try them and justice be seen to be done.”