Ulster Unionist MLA, Tom Elliott has condemned the erection of a monument in Newtownbutler to commemorate IRA Hunger Strikers.

 

Speaking after the monument was erected at the entrance to Galloon Gardens, Mr Elliott said: “The decision to erect a monument in memory of IRA terrorists is provocative, hurtful and a gross insult to the local Unionist Population. The IRA, no matter what branch we are talking about, were and still remain murderers and criminals who took many innocent lives as they sought to shoot and bomb their way to a United Ireland. Despite the fact that this aim is now no more than a pipedream, with everyone else moving forward and working for peace, there remains a section within the Republican community who continue to hark back to the past and remember individuals such as the Hunger Strikers as heroes when really they were terrorists with no regard for innocent lives.”

 

“The majority of people in the Newtownbutler area simply want to get on with their lives. Like everywhere else in Northern Ireland the last thing the area needs is monuments commemorating terrorists. Nobody wants that and I would call upon those who erected the monument to take it down. It is highly offensive to many in the Protestant and Unionist Population, some of whom have suffered at the hands of terrorists.”