Good morning ladies and gentlemen.  I am grateful to you all for coming this morning.

As you may know I want to outline my position in respect of the Conflict Transformation Initiative – CTI – project currently funded by my Department. I want also to comment on the UDA-linked violence of recent days.

Let me say first of all that I abhor paramilitarism of whatever hue.   It and the violence intimidation and criminality which it almost invariably spawns have no place in a peaceful modern society.

It has no place in Northern Ireland as we move beyond conflict with a new political and social dispensation based on mutual respect and understanding of our similarities and our differences.

It has no place in the community where we want to encourage others to invest, to visit, to live, work and indeed play.

The conflict is over. Last week saw the end of Operation Banner with the British Army going off stage. There is no excuse now for paramilitarism. It is time for all those who subject their communities to thuggery extortion and violence under the pretence of defending them to get off stage too.

I have made it clear since my appointment as Social Development Minister that I have profound concerns about the CTI project funded by Direct Rule Ministers.  Funding an initiative promoted by the UPRG to support and facilitate the UDA in moving away from paramilitarism towards some sort of normality would not have been my top priority for £1.2million of scarce resources.

Yes I would use it to help deprived communities.

Yes I would use it to enable these communities to share the increased prosperity flowing from the end of conflict and the new political dispensation.

No my first thought would not have been to use it to help the UDA get offside.

I recognise however that in conflict, and coming out of conflict, the norms of a healthy civic society are not always in place and that difficult, perhaps unpalatable decisions have had to be taken.

Before reaching any formal conclusion on the matter I have endeavoured to gain a fuller understanding of the project, its objectives, its impacts and how it is viewed by stakeholders in the communities concerned.

The project is predicated on the expectation that the UDA would move away from violence and, frankly, get off the backs of the communities where it is based and wider Northern Ireland society.  

It is clear that many of these communities are suffering from the yoke of loyalist paramilitarism and as a consequence lose hope, esteem and confidence.  

Helping those communities to shake off these burdens and begin to flourish again is, and will remain, my priority in dealing with this matter.

I am satisfied that in a number of areas away from public gaze some good work is going on and, in some cases, the worst excesses of paramilitary behaviour are being tempered.

This is overdue but welcome nonetheless.

But we need more of this and we need it now.

We need it to so that all in our community can lead normal peaceful lives.

We need it so that businessmen and women can generate investment and create jobs without fear of extortion.

We need it so that young people in loyalist communities have better role models than paramilitary thugs and drug dealers; and we need it to justify for the taxpayer, and to the taxpayer, the sums of money tied up in the project.

Instead in recent weeks we have seen unacceptable levels of violence in Carrickfergus and Kilcooley involving the UDA.

In Carrickfergus two mobs came close to outright violence. A policeman was shot and another man stabbed.

In Kilcooley we saw wholesale rioting and wanton violence with the PSNI coming under fire for doing its job.

The people in this community have had their day with this sort of behaviour. It belongs and should stay in the past.

Either the UDA does not understand that or it is living in the past.

The actions of recent days are a clear breach of the basis on which funding was awarded and I have seriously considered withdrawing the funding immediately. I have based my decision on what will offer the best future for these communities.

I have decided therefore that the funding for the CTI project will cease unless there is clear evidence that the UDA means what it says. The funding will end 60 days from now unless there is clear and demonstrable evidence that the UDA has engaged meaningfully with the IICD and has started to decommission its weapons.

I will also want to see evidence that the UDA has moved irreversibly away from criminality and violence to positive and lawful community transformation.

If the evidence and commitment that I seek are forthcoming the funding for the project will remain in place for the three year period as long as the progress towards decommissioning and reducing violence and criminality is sustained.

If, however, what I seek is not evident within 60 days the funding will stop and the project will be wound up.  Consequently I have suggested to the Farset organisation, which administers the project, that the staff involved whose interests need to be recognised be put on protective notice.

The conflict is over but the peace is not easy.

This is a test of that.  

My Department’s focus throughout has been to promote the interests of the ordinary law abiding people in the loyalist communities involved.

I agree with the Chief Constable when he commented on the events at Kilcooley. We are not getting payback for the commitment we have shown.

It is time that the UPRG and the UDA’s actions matched the rhetoric.  It is not on to say that decommissioning is not on the agenda.  

Decommissioning weapons, ending criminality and stopping extortion are the agenda. Delivering peace and stability to all our community is the priority.

As DSD Minister I am committed to making a difference to the lives and life chances of the most disadvantaged in our community.

The UDA has an opportunity to contribute to that process.

I know that I speak for all when I urge them to take that opportunity and provide for a totally peaceful future.

 

Thank you.