UDA must shut down now instead of making empty gestures

Commenting on the UDA’s expulsion of two members today, Alliance Spokesperson Cllr Tom Campbell has stated that they must shut down now and said that hollow gestures like today’s mean very little. The UDA have expelled Gary Fisher and Tommy Kirkham, who last year demanded 8.5 million pounds of government funding for loyalist paramilitaries.

Newtownabbey Alliance Councillor Tom Campbell said: “People are still in shock that loyalist paramilitaries are to be given over 1 million pounds of the public’s money. The UDA need to shut down and go away. Empty gestures like today’s expulsions are simply not good enough.

“The government has already spent a large amount of public money on the UDA and today’s gestures illustrate that the disgraceful power struggles continue and nothing changes.

“They have absolutely no support and they must be consigned to the past. Local people and local businesses from all sides have been tortured by the UDA and people across Northern Ireland cannot wait to see the back of this group. They have no role to play in the future and must recognize that.

“Northern Ireland has moved on from the carnage of the past. It is time that these despicable relics of the past went away for good.”

ENDS