Former Belfast Lord Mayor Tom Ekin has described boycotts of the Belfast District Partnership as “crass” and “hypocritical”.
The Alliance Councillor stated: “When our society is under stress from far too many people failing to take responsibility for their own and society’s behaviour; where no matter how much money is thrown at problems those problems get bigger; and where hypocrisy among politicians is crass and ruinous; is it not time to improve the way we do things?
“Why have the Unionist elected representatives walked out of the District Police Partnerships, when those same people say they want accountability from the police? Why have they taken Chairmanships of those same DPPs and presumably the fees that go with it? Why did they support those people and organisations who set out to destroy this opportunity of improving
policing? They have done absolutely no favours to the people they claim to represent.
“Just as the Unionists seem to want to exclude Sinn Fein because they don’t subscribe to all the rules, so Unionist elected representatives should be excluded from the payroll of the District Police Partnerships until they start playing a constructive role.
“Of course, it might turn out that the DPPs work more constructively with centre ground politicians and the independent members only!”
ENDS