“It is utterly ridiculous that some members of the DUP jump to repudiate the recent Eames/Bradley proposals when it was their party that agreed the St Andrews package allowing Sinn Fein/IRA tradionalists to sit on the Police Board and to have access to sensitive Civil Service and Ministerial positions, without any sanction whatsoever,” he said.

“I have serious reservations about the concept of a ‘clean sheet’ re-start, but as far as I have seen those who continue to pay a price for our present arrangement are the Army under the outrageously costly ‘bloody Sunday enquiry’, and the RUC at the hands of Police Ombudsman’s 5-year attempt to discredit those who saved us from outright civil war. I just haven’t seen many terrorists being held to account since the Paisley/McGuinness alliance was put in place.

“Nor is there any logic in Sinn Fein MLA Martina Anderson’s nonsensical idea that Roman Catholic’s from Poland weren’t really Roman Catholics for political purposes. That’s an insult, both to Polish immigrants and to Irish Roman Catholics.

“It’s now time to stop posturing and for everyone to concentrate on curbing criminality – smuggling, protection rackets, drugs abuse and people trafficking. It is time for those in the Assembly to concentrate on how we can achieve better community health and education services; how we can cater for those with disability and how we can move forward in a way that will ensure that there is no place for the ‘ bluster and bravado’ that some continue to employ.”