Call for Sorcha Eastwood to 'clarify' her view on Naomi Long's claim that some terrorists are victims
Sorcha Eastwood has been asked to clarify whether she agrees with comments by her party leader Naomi Long, in which she claimed that some terrorist perpetrators could also be victims.
The Alliance boss also said that she is not “incapable of empathy” with some involved in Troubles violence – and suggested their own experience of violence was “part of how they came to the point” where they carried out terrorist acts.
The DUP say that Ms Eastwood, the MP for Lagan Valley, should “come clean and state whether she stands with” Mrs Long on the matter. The constituency has a large number of police families, both serving and retired.
However, the Alliance MP has yet to make clear whether she agrees with her leader on the issue, and has not responded to queries from the News Letter on the matter.
Upper Bann MP Carla Lockhart said: “This week Sorcha Eastwood visited the RUC GC Museum and paid tribute to the men and women of the RUC GC who were brutally murdered during the Troubles.
“That recognition is welcome. But only last week the Alliance Party was expressing its view that the very terrorists who carried out those murders should be regarded as ‘victims’ too. That is hypocrisy of the highest order.
“Sorcha Eastwood must now come clean and state whether she stands with Alliance in claiming that the perpetrators who lurked in the dark or planted booby trap bombs and murdered brave RUC officers are somehow ‘victims’ themselves.
“The families of those murdered RUC officers deserve clarity and honesty from Sorcha Eastwood – not double-speak. Will Sorcha clarify, or will she stay silent - silence will speak for itself”.
The comments by justice minister Naomi Long came as she defended her party’s decision to back Sinn Fein on removing the word “innocent” from a definition of a victim during a Stormont debate – saying there are “many people” who both carried out violence, and were victims of it.
The Alliance leader said that “everyone who has a basic need in terms of their recovery, in terms of dealing with their trauma” should be “able to access the service”. In the interview with the BBC’s Nolan Show she said that wouldn’t “change the moral authority” about whether their actions were right or wrong – but said “to try to exclude people” based on what they had done at another point in their lives is “a dangerous road to go down”.
Earlier this year, Sorcha Eastwood appeared to hit out at her own party’s handling of the justice system amid outrage about a lenient sentence given to loyalist Winkie Irvine over weapons offences.
Despite the ministry being largely held by Alliance since justice was devolved, the Lagan Valley MP said a perception of unfairness has become “reality in some people's eyes” and cannot be dismissed.
UUP MLA Doug Beattie said Mrs Long had been “silent when she should have been vocal, argumentative when she should have seen others trying to help, and visible only when things are going her way”.
The Alliance leader did not respond to questions about Ms Eastwood’s apparent criticism.