THE VAST majority of people will only deliver a “bundle of lies” if they ever decide to address the issue of the past, Ulster Unionist Party leader Tom Elliott told the Assembly yesterday during a discussion on the legacy of the Troubles.
He was addressing an Alliance motion calling on Northern Secretary Owen Paterson to convene talks between the Northern political parties to broker an agreement on how to deal with past.
The SDLP also tabled an amendment, which Alliance accepted, stating that the Irish Government must also have a function in agreeing methods of facing up to the past. Unionist MLAs opposed this with Gregory Campbell of the DUP and Mr Elliott accusing the Government in the past of assisting the creation of the Provisional IRA or “turning a blind eye” to its activities.
The SDLP amendment was lost by 42 votes to 41 while the original Alliance motion was passed by acclamation.
Mr Elliott said the majority of people wanted to hear the truth. “But what I am telling you is the reality, and you cannot step away from that reality: you will not get it,” he said.
