THE DEMOCRATIC Unionist Party has criticised a comment by the North's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, that he would have killed every British soldier in Derry directly after Bloody Sunday had he been in a position to do so.
Unionists have also condemned a decision by Sinn Féin to stage a commemoration at Stormont for Maireád Farrell, who was shot dead along with two other IRA members by the SAS in Gibraltar.
The DUP MP and Assembly member, the Rev William McCrea, took advantage of Mr McGuinness's remarks to reiterate that the May target date for devolving policing and justice to the Northern Executive, which Sinn Féin is urging, could not be met - notwithstanding a British government poll saying the majority of DUP members supported it.
Mr McGuinness, in an interview with Eamon Dunphy on RTÉ Radio on Saturday morning, said republican attitudes "hardened considerably" after Bloody Sunday in 1972, when 13 people were killed. A 14th man died later from his injuries.
"There is no doubt whatsoever that in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday there was a renewed determination to oppose the British army and the RUC," he said.
"If I had had the opportunity to kill every single British soldier that was on the streets of Derry, I would have killed every single one of them without any difficulty whatsoever," he added.
Mr McCrea said Mr McGuinness's comments were indicative of a Sinn Féin leadership "attempting to quell disquiet amongst grassroots republicans", which was "clearly under pressure in light of recent revelations that the republican movement was riddled at a senior level by MI5 agents". He said Mr McGuinness should remember the IRA was not involved in a war and therefore killing soldiers would have been cold-blooded murder.
"McGuinness's comments add weight to what the DUP has been saying, namely that the confidence does not exist for the devolution of policing and justice," he added.
On the BBC's Politics Show yesterday, DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson, who chairs an Assembly committee charged with deciding how and when the devolution of justice should take place, also said that the transfer of these powers would not happen by May.
"It is a question of ensuring there is adequate public confidence that the Assembly is ready to take on these powers. There also has to be political agreement on it. I don't think any of these things are in place," he said.
Meanwhile, unionists are attempting to block a plan by Sinn Féin MLA Jennifer McCann to stage a function in the Long Gallery at Stormont in memory of Maireád Farrell, who was killed in Gibraltar in 1988. Ms McCann is planning to hold the event on March 7th as part of the events surrounding International Women's Day on March 8th.
Ulster Unionist MLA Danny Kennedy has written to the Stormont events office seeking to prevent the commemoration from taking place. "The use of the Long Gallery to 'celebrate' the life of a convicted terrorist is both grotesque and completely unacceptable," he said.
DUP MLA Nelson McCausland said: "For Jennifer McCann to claim that an event celebrating the life of such a criminal has anything to do with International Women's Day is quite frankly ludicrous."
Ms McCann said she had not set out to offend unionists. "I'm not asking anyone to agree with what I am doing but . . . they should respect it," she said.