Ulster Unionist MLA Ross Hussey has called on the Government to ensure that the security services have access to all the resources they need to combat the threat posed by republican terrorists.

Mr Hussey, who is his Party’s representative on the Policing Board, said:

"Wednesday’s announcement that recent information uncovered by the intelligence services has led to the threat level from so-called dissident republican terrorists in Great Britain being raised from ‘moderate’ to ‘substantial’, is indeed very concerning.

“Whilst not wanting to overstate the threat posed by those republican groupings who are still wedded to violence, it is very clear to me that the State must take the threat seriously and remain ever-vigilant. It is essential that a robust security response is available, and that organisations and agencies such as the Police, the Intelligence Services and the National Crime Agency have all the resources they need to not just meet the threat, but to remove it from our midst entirely.

“There is a serious question as to just how many weapons in the hands of the so-called dissidents, originate from the stockpiles of the Provisional IRA.

“For some time now I have been asking questions as to just how much of the Provisional IRA’ s weaponry was actually decommissioned and how much was retained. Indeed, in 2013 it was revealed that of 568 firearms recovered by police since 2005, 16 originated from PIRA stock. At that time, I was also concerned to learn that in the previous five years there had been 18 gun attacks on police from which 93 spent cases were recovered. Of these spent cases 58 apparently originate from PIRA stock.

“Quantities of semtex which should have been decommissioned have also been recovered, and there are claims that republican terrorists have access to more than a tonne of the plastic explosives which were smuggled in from Libya in the 1980s.

“At Easter the PSNI confirmed that recent bomb attacks and weapons finds in both Northern Ireland and the Republic indicated that a sizeable quantity of semtex acquired by the Provisional IRA was in fact held back from decommissioning.

“As I have said previously, this makes uncomfortable reading for those who claim they only entered into Government after full decommissioning. It also proves PIRA weapons are still out there and available for use by the latest wave of IRA terrorists.”