'Ignored the many valid points'

In response to an anonymous letter in last week’s Lurgan Mail I want to make it absolutely clear that the author of this letter is completely incorrect and deliberately misrepresents the reality of the situation in the accusations he hurls at me.

No wonder he is ashamed of revealing his true identity. Only cowards with nothing better to do send such personal spiteful attacks to the Press. His unsubstantiated smears would not stand up in a court of law. He should be very careful what he says and should be aware of the laws of libel.

It is strange that he simply ignored the many valid points I made concerning the DUP’s Stephen Moutray welcoming another Sinn Fein/IRA councillor into the Council and hoping he will have a “long and successful” time on the Council. Is Stephen unable to answer for himself that he has to get an anonymous letter writer to cover up for him? This was a comment on DUP policy but in no way a personal attack on my former friend.

It is notable that the letter writer never attempted to answer any of the substantial points of policy that I brought up. He attempted to shield Mr Moutray from the embarrassment of what he did in Council and instead viciously attacked me personally in his letter. I assume that your correspondent fully supports the DUP policy of putting terrorists in government, a policy that Stephen Moutray now fully endorses.

In my letter I was simply making the point that Mr Moutray as Mayor was not speaking for me and many other unionists when he welcomed Sinn Fein/IRA into the Council.

This is the ongoing problem with the DUP – they refuse to answer legitimate questions concerning their policy of power-sharing with terrorists. We all remember very well that on the doorstep the DUP (including Mr Moutray and Mr Simpson) in the 2007 Assembly election led unionists to believe that they would not share power with terrorists in government but then after the election they did the very opposite. When challenged in the Press the DUP refused to state exactly where they stood. We certainly know now!

Unlike the letter writer, at least I have the courage and conviction to stand for election. What is important to me is that the people trust me and they know where I stand. That is why my vote has increased threefold from 6% in 2005 to almost 20% in 2010.

It is time for DUP supporters to come clean and stop this pointless game of hiding behind anonymous letters to the Press. If you are not prepared to be up-front and put your own name to your letter then no credibility should be given to such ranting.