Reacting to Chief Constable Matt Baggott’s comments suggesting that Garda and PSNI officers could police both sides of the border TUV vice-chair Keith Harbinson said:

“This outrageous suggestion by the Chief Constable will rightly alarm all Unionists. The border is not, as the Chief Constable suggests, “an artificial thing” but something which reflects the political reality of Northern Ireland’s existence. Without it he would have no Police Service of Northern Ireland to be Chief Constable of!

“In a meeting with TUV a few weeks ago the Chief Constable attempted to argue that he was above politics. This, of course, ignored the fact that he had already gone on record as supporting the devolution of policing and justice powers to the failed, terrorist inclusive executive at Stormont. Now he has made a statement, which could easily have emanated from a Sinn Fein/IRA press release.

“His contention that if he lived in a border area he “would probably be less hung-up on the sensitivities providing my family were being looked after” reflects just how little he understands of the sensitivities of Unionist communities in border areas, who have throughout the troubles been at the front line of the IRA's murderous onslaught.

“The reality is that Mr Baggott doesn’t live in a border area. Perhaps if he did he would share the widespread resentment of Unionists in those areas at the fact that the Irish Republic was effectively a safe-haven for terrorists throughout the Troubles. The inability or reluctance of Garda officers to combat the IRA threat emanating from the south was what made those areas so dangerous over a thirty year period.

“Even if the Chief Constable believes that he doesn’t have enough officers to provide adequate policing cover for Northern Ireland without getting help from the Garda that doesn’t prove the necessity of such universal and widespread cross-border co-operation. It proves that the PSNI are undermanned and again underscores the folly of his decision to scrap the Full Time Reserve – a decision which TUV, unlike other Unionist parties, remains united in implacable opposition to.

“The Chief Constable’s comments on the McCartney murder, Omagh bombing and Northern Bank cases will do little to fill ordinary people with confidence either. We can only “make the future better”, Chief Constable, by ensuring that those guilty of crimes in the past are brought to justice. If, as some foolishly claim, Sinn Fein/IRA genuinely supported the rule of law then, of course it would be an extremely simple matter to bring at least some of those responsible for these crimes to account.

“The reality is that justice has been dispensed with in Northern Ireland under the Belfast Agreement.”