Responding to William McCrea’s claim that a default mechanism to remove Sinn Fein/IRA from government if they defaulted exists, Traditional Unionist Voice vice-chair Keith Harbinson said:

“Having got over his own stomach troubles Rev McCrea is now serving up a diet which many in the Unionist community will find hard to swallow.

“His claim that the TUV are wrong to say that a default mechanism to exclude Sinn Fein from government does not exist simply does not stand up to scrutiny. Rev McCrea states that “the Government indicated that they would take action if any party defaulted”. This default mechanism, as the South Antrim MP is very well aware, is about as useful as the proverbial ashtray on a motorbike.

“We have heard it all before. Didn’t David Trimble go into government with Republicans on the basis that Tony Blair had written on a wall on Coleraine that “those who use or threaten violence” would be excluded from the government of Northern Ireland?

“But perhaps I have misjudged the situation and a workable default mechanism does exist. Well then the question arises as to why the DUP have not – following the murder of Paul Quinn, the use of IRA semtex in an attack on police officers, the harbouring of ETA terrorist José Ignacio De Juana Chaos by IRA/Sinn Fein activists and the holding of the Executive to ransom over policing and justice – employed it.

“The simple  truth of the matter is that Belfast Agreement devolution guarantees a place for Sinn Fein/IRA at the heart of our government for ever. It is only when the system which the DUP signed up to is consigned to history that the Provisionals can be removed from the Executive.”