Ulster Unionist Justice spokesperson Tom Elliott MLA has accused Padraic Wilson of insulting people’s intelligence with his claim that he was never an IRA member.
Mr Elliott said:
“According to media reports in his recent court appearance Padraic Wilson made a hand written statement in which, amongst other things, he denied ever having been an IRA member.
If this is the case, perhaps he could he explain how in 1999 when he was released from the Maze prison he was described as the IRA’s “commanding officer “ in the jail and was described by the BBC as a “senior IRA prisoner”? Surely this amounts to a contempt of court?
The people of Northern Ireland have long had their intelligence insulted by the claims from Gerry Adams that he was never a member of the IRA, and now we have the former commander of IRA prisoners in the Maze attempting to deny that he too was a member.
This is yet another example of how republicans have no compunction about lying to order and why any form of truth commission as a means of dealing with the past is a complete non-starter.”