Statement by TUV Party Secretary Karen Boal:

“Back in July I asked the DUP what progress had been made in relation to the creation of the Unionist Academy and British Cultural and Equality Unit promised by the party a year previously.

“Two days after the statement was issued, the DUP made their first reference to the Unionist Academy in months when party leader Peter Robinson said:

“My plans for the development of a Unionist Academy are at an advanced stage and will be made public soon”.

“The following week Mr Robinson assured the BBC’s Martina Purdy the plans were still on track and we would hear more detail on them in September.

“Well, it’s now October, Mr Robinson so perhaps we can revisit the questions which I posed in the summer.

“In July last year the DUP published a document – which is still on the party’s website – entitled “DUP Delivering” in which they claimed:

“The Democratic Unionist Party has created two new bodies to fight-back those who would attempt to erode our British identity. Both organisations will strengthen our position to resist those who wage an anti-British agenda”.

“So where are the Unionist Academy and British Cultural and Equality Unit? Who sits on these bodies? What have they been doing since July of last year?

“The Unionist Academy was supposed to “help develop a greater understanding of Unionism”. It was to prepare “educational resources” for use in schools and youth groups. What “educational resources” has the Academy produced? Where can one access them? Which schools and youth groups have availed of them? Are there plans to produce more in the future?

“The DUP promised us that the British Cultural and Equality Unit would “take the form of a legal team to advise the public on fighting the removal of British emblems from Northern Ireland society”. What legal experts staff this Unit? Who pays them? What battles against the dilution of Britishness have they been involved in in the past year?

“I understand that Mr Robinson has been very busy discussing issues surrounding the devolution of policing and justice with self-confessed IRA commander Martin McGuinness but given that the “new” bodies have been in existence for well over a year surely they have accomplished something?”