The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice spokesperson Tom Elliott MLA has hit out at the DCAL Minister Caral Ni Chuilin following an answer she gave to a question regarding grant funding to organisations which have grounds or trophies in which she appeared incapable of distinguishing what constitutes a terrorist.     

Mr Elliott said;          

 “I recently tabled a question to Caral Ni Chuilin, the Sinn Fein Minister of Culture, Arts & Leisure asking whether an equity clause, as a standard condition for grants in funding programmes, precludes organisations, which have grounds or trophies named after terrorists, from funding.

Her response was as follows - “I am not aware of any sports organisations which have grounds or trophies named after any deceased person whom all sections of the community recognise as having been a terrorist.”

This is an absolute disgrace and a cop-out. The fact that a section of our society is so far removed from normality that it is incapable of recognising a terrorist when it sees one is irrelevant when it comes to allocating public money.

It is undeniable that the GAA has sports grounds and holds competitions in Northern Ireland which are named after individuals who have been convicted of terrorist offences up to and including murder.  

That this is not terrorism is a revealing insight into the Sinn Fein mindset. It may also explain why Sinn Fein politicians have felt able to give assurances that there will be no terrorist shrine at the Maze. If they – or a section of the community – chose not to regard the IRA as terrorists, then using the Sports Minister’s logic, the shrine to Bobby Sands and the hunger-strikers would not be a terrorist shrine. This clearly presents problems for those DUP politicians who have claimed there will be no Provo shrine at the Maze.”