The DUP MLA said, “On the 21st November 1974 21 innocent people were murdered and 220 injured in Birmingham when bombs exploded in two Birmingham pubs. The people responsible for such indiscriminate murder have never been identified.
Whilst other cases have received significant resources, attention and repeated investigation, the families of those murdered in Birmingham, like so many other murders, feel like they have been swept aside. The door to justice should never be closed, and the Birmingham pub bombings are another reminder of that. Attempts to close down investigations were simply another way of sweeping these difficult cases aside. Were it not for the tenacity of campaigners like Julie Hambleton, then that might have happened.
Those who campaign for truth and justice when it comes to the actions of the state, haven’t even been able to bring themselves to admit that it was the Provisional IRA who were responsible for the murders. We will continue to stand with the families of those murdered in Birmingham as in so many other cases who see a hierarchy of victims in practice.”