Sinn Féin agenda calls for Dunblane-style gun controls in the North

DUNBLANE-STYLE gun controls should be introduced in Northern Ireland as part of efforts to deal with legally and illegally held weapons, Sinn Féin argued yesterday.

Sinn Féin, in its agenda for the review of the Good Friday Agreement, starting on February 3, will press for a programme of withdrawal of all British soldiers from the North and a date for a poll on a United Ireland.

The document, launched in West Belfast by Gerry Adams yesterday, said Sinn Féin believed “all parties must use their influence to resolve the issue of arms, in the context of the implementation of the Agreement”. However, it also said: “In addition, the proliferation of legally held arms needs also to be addressed through the introduction of Dunblane-style controls in the North of Ireland.”

In 1997, the British Government steered through Parliament a total ban on handguns following a campaign by the families of 16 schoolchildren and a teacher killed by Thomas Hamilton in the Dunblane massacre in Scotland one year earlier.Republicans believe there are 40,000 legally held handguns and 133,000 legally held weapons in Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin said the removal of these weapons must be considered along with the disappearance of IRA, loyalist and security force arms.

The IRA has carried out three acts of disarmament to date, the most recent taking place last October.

Sinn Féin yesterday also called for:

* A re-endorsement of the Agreement by all participants.

* The abolition of Northern Ireland’s four-member International Monitoring Commission set up to scrutinise paramilitary ceasefires and whether parties and governments are honouring commitments under the Agreement.

* Guarantees in the review that there will be inclusivity in political institutions and the rights and interests of all sides will be protected.

* The repeal of legislation which allows the British Government to suspend the Assembly.

* Recognition that participation in the North-South Ministerial Council is an essential right and a responsibility of relevant ministers in the Stormont Executive, who cannot veto it.

* A promise that breaches of ministerial office will be subject to sanction within the terms of the Agreement.

* Efforts to address the suffering of victims of the Troubles as part of the process of reconciliation, with no hierarchy of victims.

* Addressing all remaining issues affecting prisoners.

* Full disclosure on collusion between members of the security forces and loyalists in killings, including the publication and implementation of Judge Peter Cory’s reports together with the independent inquiries into the killings of Pearse Jordan, Roseanne Mallon, Robert Hamill, and thehuman rights lawyers, Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.