Acceptable legislation on 'on-the-runs' a long way off current proposals -

12.00.00am GMT Wed 7th Dec 2005

Alliance Party Leader David Ford has said that for legislation on 'on-the-runs' to be acceptable to the Alliance Party, it would have to take a form unrecognizable compared to current Government proposals.

Speaking after he tabled an amendment to a motion on the legislation in Antrim Borough Council, Mr Ford stated: "This legislation has become unacceptable to absolutely everyone including Sinn Féin. There is no reason to pursue it along the lines currently set out by the Minister, David Hanson.

"While other parties have tied themselves up in knots about this, we in Alliance have been consistent and active throughout. To deal with guilty before innocent, terrorist before victim, and carve-up before fairness is not only morally reprehensible, it simply does not work.

"The UK Government should stop dilly-dallying with the unworkable and the indefensible. There are real issues to deal with, they must be dealt with sensitively, and they must be dealt with in cooperation with all the Assembly parties. The day of the political sop has long passed."

ENDS