Questions are being asked about the legitimacy of the loyalist paramilitary-linked group that secured face-to-face access with two DUP ministers.
The Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), which purports to represent elements of the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando, has recently been granted meetings with Education Minister Paul Givan and Communities Minister Gordon Lyons.
It has emerged that Mr Givan declined meetings with more than 200 other groups since he assumed office in February this year.
Leading loyalists Jackie McDonald, Jim Wilson and Winston Irvine were at the LCC launch almost a decade ago, rubbing shoulders with former Downing Street chief of staff Jonathan Powell and leading church figures. However, the group’s current personnel or its status as an organisation is unknown.
Chair David Campbell has not responded to queries from The Irish News, seeking to establish whether the LCC is legally constituted.
In the past, he has declined interview requests, saying it would require “authorisation” – though he didn’t reveal from whom.
On Tuesday, First Minister Michelle O’Neill told MLAs there must be no facilitation of active paramilitary groups in any public policy discussions.
The Sinn Féin deputy leader called for a “zero-tolerance” approach to such organisations.
Responding to an Opposition Day motion tabled by the SDLP that called for the executive to undertake a “comprehensive review” of its policies on tackling paramilitarism, the first minister said it was “incredulous” for the Assembly to be debating the matter 26 years after the Good Friday Agreement.
“It’s also a reminder and underlines the fact that more needs to be done to bring an end to the scourge of paramilitarism,” she said.
The Sinn Féin vice-president did not refer specifically to the LCC meetings with Mr Givan and Mr Lyons, but she made clear that no-one in the assembly should be facilitating paramilitary groups in meetings on public policy issues.
Belfast SDLP councillor Séamas de Faoite, whose Freedom of Information request revealed the number of groups that had failed to secure meetings with Mr Givan, said there “significant questions around the status of the LCC”.
“If this group are going to be granted audiences with executive ministers then they should be fully transparent about how they are set up, run and what structures are in place within the organisation – are they a charity, company or other kind of entity?” he said.
“I would also be interested to know exactly who is funding this organisation, how that money is being spent and how one becomes a member.”
