Unionists warns on arms ahead of Ulster package release

The Irish and British Governments were poised today to release a "take-it-or-leave-it" package of proposals to prevent the collapse of the Good Friday Agreement.

As Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid and Foreign Minister Brian Cowen prepared to formally launch the proposals at Hillsborough Castle, they were warned by unionists the plan would not work unless there was actual movement by the IRA on arms decommissioning.

The proposals, which Irish and British Government officials have been working on for two-and-a-half weeks, will be released as the North's latest victim of loyalist paramilitary violence Gavin Brett is buried in Glengormley.

The document is aimed at addressing unionist and nationalist concerns over paramilitary weapons, the British Army and its military installations, police reforms and the operation of the political institutions.

It will be hand delivered to the province’s pro-Agreement parties and will be released publicly to journalists a half an hour later.

Unionist sources were today stressing the decommissioning section of the document would be crucial to how they responded to the package.

The UUP will be looking to the Governments to pressurise the IRA for a start and an end date for disarmament and to clarify what it means by putting its weapons "beyond use".

They were not confident, however, the Governments would deliver.

"At best, the comments on decommissioning may only be aspirational and that will not be good enough to put forward David Trimble or any other Ulster Unionist in the Assembly for election as First Minister," a source said.

"At the end of the day, there is going to have to be product from the IRA if we are going to have power-sharing with Sinn Fein.

"That means statements from the IRA and from General de Chastelain’s disarmament commission will be crucial, saying how they will decommission, when they will decommission and confirming decommissioning has begun."

UUP leader David Trimble resigned as First Minister on July 1, prompting a six-week countdown to the election in the Assembly of a new First and Deputy First Minister.

Failure to re-elect Mr Trimble or a replacement by August 12 would spark a serious crisis in the institutions and result in fresh Assembly elections.

The document will be scrutinised by the nationalist SDLP and Sinn Fein today for how the Irish and British Governments believe policing reforms should be amended.

Nationalists and republicans have been pressing for more powers for the board which will hold the new police service accountable as well as inquiries into several controversial killings including the murders of solicitors Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.

Sinn Fein has also been pressing for guarantees that ex-paramilitary prisoners will be allowed to serve on local police boards and for moves on the scaling down of British Army bases and operations in republican areas.

The party’s chief negotiator Martin McGuinness appealed yesterday to the leaders of all the parties to sit back and seriously consider the contents of the package when it is released.

However he appeared to rule out an IRA statement indicating a disarmament gesture ahead of the release of the package.

The anti-Agreement Democratic Unionists’ Ian Paisley Junior today dismissed the document, claiming it would deliver "more concessions to Sinn Fein with little or nothing for unionists".

"For the third time, unionists will be sold a dead horse and told it’s a thoroughbred," the North Antrim MLA said today.

"We are told this is a take-it-or-leave it document. Unionists would be best advised to leave it."