Ulster Unionist MLA Mike Nesbitt has firmly rejected a claim by Professor Kieran McEvoy of Queens University, that the Ulster Unionist Party’s opposition to the Stormont House Agreement without suggesting an alternative was ‘morally outrageous.’

Mike Nesbitt MLA said:

“Quite frankly Kieran McEvoy is just plain wrong when he says that the Ulster Unionist Party did not offer alternative proposals to the Stormont House Agreement.

“It is quite astounding that someone could appear in front of a Westminster committee in the guise of an expert and be ignorant of the fact that we produced a document on ‘Dealing with the Past’ in June 2012, over a year before the Hass-O`Sullivan talks, never mind the Stormont House negotiations.

“He should also not be ignorant of the fact that we have proposed an alternative to the flawed Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) which is the cause of great concern for a very large number of victims and survivors.

“With regard to Stormont House, we have – like others - many valid concerns about the information recovery process. 

“The Oral History Archive is one of the main pillars of the Stormont House proposals. It has intrinsic difficulties and dangers, but these can be addressed if properly implemented. This was an Ulster Unionist Party initiative.

“I call on Kieran McEvoy to apologise for his unwarranted comments and we will be writing to the Vice Chancellor of Queens University Belfast regarding the Professor`s remarks to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, because when a Queens’ Professor displays this type of bias and ignorance in his comments, it reflects on the reputation of the University itself.”