Councillor predicts flood of visitors to north coast over Easter after Bobby Storey ruling

Alderman George Duddy spoke out after a social media post  which appeared on the Police Causeway Coast & Glens Facebook page urging people to stay within the regulations, prompted a raft of dismissive replies from members of the public.

The police message on social media on Thursday said: “As we approach Easter we are asking everyone to celebrate the holiday period at home and in your bubble. By following the regulations and working together we can get back to normal faster”.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Ald Duddy  said: “Considering the protracted Bobby Storey inquiry and the PPS outcome highlighting there would be no prosecutions, it is now very clear, when you read the most recent post on the Police Causeway Coast & Glens Facebook page, that the public, after having been locked down for some considerable time and having had adhered to the regulations, are at the end of their tether.

“The comments attributed to this post are quite clear the regulations finished yesterday after the ludicrous PPS decision.

“Community representatives locally have been meeting with senior police over the last eight months. They have been consistently warning the senior police, confidence was at an all-time low within large areas of the Causeway Coast Borough Council area. They requested that the police  reconsider their operational tactics across the Triangle area. The police failed to do so and ignored those requests.

“Yet we see what can only be described as a nonsense post from the Causeway Coast & Glens senior management team.  The PSNI Corporate message is now not worth the time and effort it took someone to type it after the outcome on Wednesday.

“It has and will fall by the wayside because the regulations are not clear. Up to and including Mr. Storey’s funeral the vast majority of people were abiding by the regulations. Even during the most recent lockdown people were doing the same.

“Those regulations are now most likely not going to be adhered to now when it is clear senior government ministers from Northern Ireland are not being held accountable to the law namely the Covid-19 regulations which they endorsed.

“I would advise anybody travelling to the north coast on the back of this tragic and perverse decision made by the PPS and because they are fed up with two-tier policing and double standards, to take the necessary precautions in regards to social distancing and continue to assist the NHS in whatever way possible by staying as safe as possible when in the Causeway Coast Borough Council area,” said Alderman Duddy.