DUP Challenges Amnesty Proposals On 34th Anniversary Of Enniskillen Bombing

Marking the 34th anniversary of the Enniskillen Bombing, the DUP's Fermanagh & South Tyrone MLA Deborah Erskine, has challenged the UK government over their Amnesty proposals.

Speaking during Members' Statements in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Deborah Erskine said: "Today we remember the 12 innocent people who were callously murdered by the IRA this day, on the 8th November 1987, 34 years ago, whilst they attended a remembrance Sunday service at Enniskillen Cenotaph.

"The Enniskillen victims were targeted by the IRA while they gathered to honour those who had fought to protect our freedoms. 34 years on and these families have yet to receive any justice against those callous and cowardly terrorists who carried out this atrocity.

"Closure comes in many forms but for many it involves justice in a court of the land. The lack of justice has made it more difficult for many families to move on.

"Today, with the Enniskillen victims in mind, I say to the Government, drawing a line under the past may be attractive to some but not for the innocent victims who I have spoken to.

"Justice was corrupted the day the prison gates were open in 1998. Evil people set free whilst their victims still suffered. Justice was corrupted when Sinn Fein and Tony Blair dreamt up the Get Out of Jail Free cards but to deny any victim access to justice ever again is the ultimate insult to those who suffered most.

"I know as time passes so does the chance of justice, but allowing murderers to stop looking over their shoulder is not right on any level. It is taking us backward not forward. It is immoral and it flies in the face of the rule of law."