Statement by TUV spokesperson David Vance:

“How can the DUP claim that Republicans are supportive of the rule of law when the leader of the Provisional movement is saying that terrorists “can look back on their IRA involvement with pride”? Are these the comments of someone who has had a Damascus Road conversion to the cause of genuine support for the police and courts?

“It is nothing short of outrageous Adams’s party will soon have a veto over every legislative proposal from the Justice Minister and every financial allocation to him under the terms of the Hillsborough handover.

“Adams’s remarks are a timely reminder that Sinn Fein is still “inextricably  linked” to the IRA and feels no remorse about the hundreds of policemen and judges murdered by their wicked and vicious organisation during a thirty year campaign of terror.

“That any Unionist should even contemplate giving them a say in the running of the police and courts in Northern Ireland beggars belief.”