Republican camp bleats of rights whilst IRA terrorists are lionised

Naming a play-park after a convicted terrorist, believed to be involved in one of the most heinous and atrocious acts throughout their barbaric campaign of mass murder, is bad enough.

But to twist the knife further into the innocent victims’ families by holding some sort of depraved appreciation for his savage past shows them for what they really are.

The constant bleating from republicans about rights has descended into some sort of sick piece of theatre, in which the smell of cordite wafts from the stage from actors professing their wish for a shared future.

It is appalling that we have the glorification of terrorism not only continuing, but actually increasing in memorials and demonstrations throughout this part of the UK and in the Irish Republic.

The province-wide campaign from republican residents’ groups to stir up controversy and prevent respectable expressions of culture from the unionist tradition is widely known; however, these mostly religious parades are in stark contrast to republican marches celebrating those who skulked in the dead of night and shot and bombed so many innocent victims in places of work, leisure, and even worship.

It is truly dreadful how far we have sunk as a consequence of rewarding terrorism and debilitating those trying valiantly to enforce the rule of law through the outworkings of the disastrous Belfast Agreement.

Appeasing criminality only entices and damns future generations to repeat the mistakes of those who went before.

Stephen Cooper, TUV councillor, Comber