Alliance And DUP Clash Over Troubles Motion

The Alliance Party and the DUP have clashed at Belfast City Council over the exact wording of a motion to remember two British Soldiers who were murdered as they drove into an IRA funeral.

Corporals Derek Wood and David Howes were beaten and murdered after being dragged out of a car in west Belfast in 1988.

The DUP described the bravery and restraint of the soldiers, but the Alliance Party has said it believes there should be a condemnation of all murders committed during the Troubles.

The Party said it would like Belfast Council to move away from looking at individual incidents.

Alliance Belfast Councillor Mervyn Jones proposed the amendment to the motion, which had focussed on the murders of Corporals Derek Howes and David Wood.

Cllr Mervyn Jones said: "Alliance proposed this amendment so that Belfast Council would show its opposition to all forms of violence and condemned all the deaths that occurred during the Troubles. I believe we need to have a holistic approach which can get agreement from all sides instead of looking at individual incidents.

"In my speech I condemned the murder of these two British soldiers, but by having a motion condemning all murders it would help us move forward us a society.

"With many anniversaries coming up in the next couple of years, I believe it is important for the Council to have direction in how we deal with the past by condemning violence from all quarters."

Cllr Jones aded: "If we are to work towards a shared society then we must have an agreed comprehensive method of dealing with the past, instead of concentrating on specific cases. We could have motions each month that brought up every incident which would not lead to progress in how we deal with the past."

(IT/CD)