Vote McCord

Raymond McCord senior has announced that he intends to run in the forthcoming Assembly elections in North Belfast.

I would urge people of all political persuasions in the constituency to vote for this brave individual, in the hope of breaking the deadlock of headcount politics in Northern Ireland.

In the interests of truly creating a modern society that offers freedom from hatred, respect for all and a severing with our violent past, it is absolutely essential that we now have a full public inquiry into ALL allegations of collusion, be they those that relate to the RUC and Loyalist terrorists or those that relate to British or Irish forces and Republican terrorists.

And those found guilty of colluding with terrorists in the murder of civilians from ANY community ought now to be prosecuted, and if found guilty, to serve at least token sentences under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

The normal people of Northern Ireland, who never saw fit to lift a gun to their neighbour, deserve no less. It is time to look forward, not back. It is time to create a province at peace with each other and all of our neighbours.

But before we can do that, we must pay the honour due to those innocents who were murdered for no reason by getting to the bottom of the crimes that caused their deaths and holding those responsible to account.