Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows MLA has challenged Chief Constable Jon Boutcher over reported remarks portraying remaining Provisional IRA members as older people who mean no harm, arguing the organisation's continued presence runs counter to democracy and represents a latent threat to people in Northern Ireland.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows MLA said: "If the Chief Constable's comments have been reported accurately, and he has characterised remaining Provisional IRA members as older people who seek to cause no harm to Northern Ireland, then I take an entirely different view.

"The Provisional IRA is a proscribed terrorist organisation. Membership is a serious criminal offence. Age does not make membership harmless, nor the organisation's continued existence acceptable.

"Its very existence is anathema to democracy and, in my view, represents a latent threat to the people of Northern Ireland. Its name carries menace for those who suffered at its hands. There is no legitimate, benign or peaceful justification for maintaining a terrorist organisation. "What purpose do its remaining structures serve? If they exist to exercise control over Sinn Féin, that raises profoundly disturbing questions for democracy. If they exist to preserve the option of rebuilding a capacity for violence, that is equally disturbing. The public deserves answers.

"The 2015 security assessment found that the Provisional IRA retained structures and access to some weapons. It also assessed its leadership as committed to peaceful political means. That assessment does not make the organisation's continued existence acceptable.

"On 16th October, I wrote to the Secretary of State requesting a fresh, comprehensive security assessment of all paramilitary organisations, including the Provisional IRA. I welcome the DUP's subsequent support for that call. The Secretary of State should now commission and publish an updated assessment.

"There is also a legitimate question for the Chief Constable: what investigative strategy does the PSNI have to identify those who remain members of the Provisional IRA, investigate suspected membership offences and, where the evidence supports it, make arrests and submit files to the Public Prosecution Service?

"The standard must be the same for every terrorist organisation, republican or loyalist. All should disband, and the law must be enforced without fear or favour."