Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has condemned the death threats made against Irish people serving in the British Army by the Continuity IRA at a republican commemoration in Limerick city at the weekend.
Mr Elliott said:
“At an event to commemorate a dead IRA terrorist in Limerick on Saturday, a statement on behalf of the Continuity IRA was read out threatening Irish people serving in the British Army and used the old Provisional IRA language of “legitimate targets.”
Clearly these people have no respect for anything or anyone of a British nature. They have so little confidence in their own culture and identity that their only reaction to the sight of anyone else’s is to resort to cowardly murder.
A significant proportion of the Royal Irish Regiment is drawn from the Republic and this is a threat which must be taken seriously.
It is absolutely essential that the Garda and the authorities in the Irish Republic bring the full weight of the State to bear on these criminal gangs and not repeat the mistakes of the 1970s and 1980s where the Provisional IRA prospered in the Republic because of an unduly lenient approach."