Paisley: talks with IRA a sop

DEMOCRATIC Unionist leader Dr Ian Paisley said unionists were very bitter and very angry at the British Government’s plan for demilitarisation of the North.

Following a meeting with North Secretary Peter Hain, Mr Paisley said he was “much concerned” by the meeting, at which he had handed over a document outlining his party’s next steps.

“As for the joint declaration, so-called, the joint declaration did not come into the negotiations or talks that we had with the Government and it has nothing to do with us to resurrect it now,” he said, describing it as a “sop” to negotiate with the IRA.