Adams pleads with Paisley for face-to-face talks
The Sinn Féin president warned that exhaustive attempts to reach a power-sharing deal and achieve total IRA disarmament were reaching a defining moment.
The settlement foundered on the organisation’s resistance to its weapons’ destruction being photographed, but the Irish and British Governments have pledged to keep trying to resolve this final issue before Christmas.
The IRA broke its silence to accuse Mr Paisley of attempting to humiliate it over impossible demands for visual proof of decommissioning.
As London and Dublin tried to plot a way out of the impasse, Mr Adams called on his sworn political enemy to break his policy of not talking to republicans, for the sake of peace.
He said: “I’m appealing to Ian Paisley today as a leader of unionism, as a mandated political leader, to come and meet and talk to me about all these issues.
“I’m appealing to everyone not to lose this defining moment in the entire process, which some of us have worked a very long time to bring about. I don’t think we can park anything. If we lose this moment and if we go and try to sort it out again it will be much more difficult.”
His call was rejected, however, by a senior DUP negotiator, who insisted the guns had to go first.
Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson also insisted his party could accept nothing less than photos.
“If there’s a more imaginative way around this I haven’t heard it,” he said.
Although dismayed that the breakthrough was still tantalisingly out of reach, Northern Secretary Paul Murphy vowed there would be no let-up.
Mr Murphy and Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern will hold fresh talks with the political parties next week.
Despite his confidence, Mr Paisley delivered a scathing assessment of IRA intentions.
“The terrorists’ refusal to allow photographs proved they never planned to destroy any weapons,” said Mr Paisley.
His attack followed an IRA statement, issued through An Phoblacht, in which the organisation disclosed the lengths it was prepared to go to if a comprehensive peace deal was struck.
This included the IRA moving “into a new mode” reflecting a transition to a totally peaceful society.
All IRA arms would also be destroyed in a verifiable manner, possibly by the end of December in the presence of two clergymen.
Every Provo would be ordered not to get involved in any activity that could put the deal in peril.
Turning to weapons, the Provisionals said: “Ian Paisley demanded that our contribution be photographed, and reduced to an act of humiliation.
“This was never possible. Knowing this, he made this demand publicly, as the excuse for his rejection of an overall agreement to create a political context with the potential to remove the causes of conflict.
“We restate our commitment to the peace process. But we will not submit to a process of humiliation.”
THE IRA yesterday accused Ian Paisley of collapsing the latest initiative in Northern Ireland’s peace process by making impossible demands on the issue of IRA arms.
Here is the full text of its statement, issued through the republican newspaper An Phoblacht.
“More than ten years ago, an IRA cessation publicly heralded the onset of the Irish peace process.
“Since then, the IRA has, time and again, demonstrated its commitment to sustaining and developing that process through a series of very significant and substantive initiatives.
“In the context of the work to conclude a comprehensive agreement, the leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann decided:
To support a comprehensive agreement by moving into a new mode which reflects our determination to see the transition to totally peaceful society.
All IRA Volunteers be given specific instructions not to engage in any activity which might thereby endanger that new agreement.
The IRA leadership also decided that we will, in this context, conclude the process to completely and verifiably put all our arms beyond use.
We instructed our representative to agree with the IICD (Independent International Commission on Decommissioning) the completion of this process, speedily, and if possible by the end of December.
To further enhance public confidence we agreed to the presence of two clergymen as observers during this process.
“The IRA leadership decided to contribute in this way to a comprehensive agreement to resolve all outstanding issues, including those of concern within unionism.
“For his part, Ian Paisley demanded that our contribution be photographed, and reduced to an act of humiliation.
“This was never possible. Knowing this, he made this demand publicly as the excuse for his rejection of an overall agreement to create a political context with the potential to remove the causes of conflict.
“As the IRA leadership has said before, this is a context in which Irish republicans and unionists can, as equals, pursue our respective political objectives peacefully.
“We restate our commitment to the peace process. But we will not submit to a process of humiliation.
“We commend our Volunteers and the wider republican base for their patience and discipline in these testing times.
“Our commitment, like theirs, to our republican objectives is undiminished.
“We thank those who have made genuine contributions to the efforts to find solutions to ongoing problems. While acknowledging these efforts, we reiterate our view that progress cannot be made by pandering to the demands of those who are against change.
“The search for a just and lasting peace is a challenging one.
“The IRA leadership has risen to that challenge. The British Government and the leaders of unionism must do likewise.”
Like all IRA statements, it concluded with the words: “Signed P O’Neill, Irish Republican Publicity Bureau, Dublin.”
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