David Black

David Simpson Excerpts

Friday 2nd November 2012 Commons Chamber

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I join the Secretary of State and right hon. and hon. Members in paying tribute to Mr David Black, who was shot—or assassinated, as the term should be—in a part of my constituency that is well known for dissident republicanism. It is good to hear the news this morning that the PSNI moved swiftly to make arrests. We hope and trust that charges will be forthcoming and that these people will be kept in to serve time for this heinous crime.

Although we can all pay tribute today and give the family our genuine sympathy, there is an empty chair, and that chair will not be filled—it will remain empty. This man had served 30-odd years, I believe, within the prison service. He had made a lot of plans to be with this family, but that will no longer be the case. My right hon. Friend the Member for Belfast North (Mr Dodds) said that, whatever resources are needed, it is essential that the Government give the Chief Constable every co-operation, financial or otherwise, to stamp these people out. It has been said before, in the House and in press reports, that the dissidents do not have the capacity to stage a long-term campaign. Well, they do not have to. They just have to do this every six months, every year or every two years, and it opens up all the old wounds of people who have lost loved ones down through the years. I urge the Secretary of State to do everything in her power to bring these people to justice.

[Mrs Villiers]

We will indeed do everything in our power to support the PSNI in its efforts to bring these murderers to justice. The hon. Gentleman spoke eloquently about the danger that these kinds of incidents could open up old wounds. We all need to work together so that this incident merely reinforces our wish to ensure that the peace process is not derailed but built on, and that we continue the fantastic progress of recent years, which has seen those sectarian divisions start steadily to be dismantled. There is more work to be done on that front, however, and it would be a fitting tribute to a great man and a dedicated public servant if this was an opportunity for the community across Northern Ireland to come together in the face of adversity, rather than be driven apart by terrorists.