Commenting on the first meeting of the Policing Board to be held completely in Irish Jim Allister said:

“Tonight’s meeting in Londonderry will mark yet another important concession to Republicans and serve to further alienate Unionists. Irish is not just a language but a political and cultural weapon. A booklet published by Sinn Fein/IRA in 1982 entitled Learning Irish included a speech by Padrig O’Maoicraibhe, a Sinn Fein cultural officer, who said that “every phrase you learn [in Irish] is a bullet in the freedom struggle”.

“Far from Sinn Fein/IRA abandoning their campaign against all things British in Northern Ireland they have merely changed their tactics. Tonight’s meeting will serve to further illustrate just how they are working to undermine Northern Ireland’s constitutional position through the positions they occupy courtesy of the DUP”.