Unionist hardliner calls for Sinn Fein expulsion

Nothing short of the expulsion of Sinn Fein ministers from government office in Northern Ireland will rekindle Unionist confidence in the peace process, a leading Ulster Unionist MP said today.

Hard-liner Jeffrey Donaldson told thousands of Orangemen gathered for the annual Twelfth of July celebration in Lisburn, Co Antrim that the day of reckoning for the peace process had arrived and the sooner everyone faced up to that fact the better.

‘‘The process is broken and needs to be fixed. It is in crisis. Paramilitaries must no longer be permitted to hold the process to ransom,’’he said.

The much-promised peace and stability heralded by Prime Minister Tony Blair had failed to be delivered, he added.

‘‘We are entitled to ask the question of Tony Blair why Sinn Fein ministers are still in the government of Northern Ireland when there is incontrovertible evidence that the IRA are continuing to use and threaten violence on the streets and engaged in re-arming and international terrorism.’’

It was a ‘‘travesty of justice’’ that Mr Blair had not acted against them, said Mr Donaldson.

He recalled his party leader, David Trimble, had set a deadline of July 24 for government action against the republican movement and was prepared to resign as Northern Ireland First Minister if Mr Blair failed to act.

Words alone would not suffice, he said. ‘‘Nothing short of the exclusion of Sinn Fein/IRA from ministerial office will do.

‘‘The promise to act in the future is not enough we have heard it all before and are tired of Tony Blair’s broken promises’’.

And he said the suggestion that a line be drawn over IRA involvement in Colombia, the Special Branch break-in and recent street violence in return for paramilitaries making a recommitment to the peace process was ‘‘a non-starter’’.

One of four resolution passed at the 17 Orange rallies held across the province questioned the fairness of a political process and the ‘‘inclusion in Government of men who have not renounced the use of violence’’.

The fourth resolution, declaring Orangemen’s ‘‘total condemnation of all violence’’ was added at the last minute following the clear involvement of members of the Order in vicious attacks on police at Drumcree on Sunday.

The Grand Master of the Orange Order Robert Saulters, speaking at the gathering in Dollingstown, Co Down, hit out at members who had been involved.

‘‘There is absolutely no excuse for what happened at Drumcree this year,’’ he said.

Those who had taken part in the disturbances had ‘‘shamed our institution’’ with violence which was ‘‘deplorable’’.

It was something the Order ‘‘does not and will not accept’’, said Mr Saulters.

But he tempered his condemnation of members with the comment: ‘‘Let’s not forget anyone can buy a second-hand collaret’’.

He also said that given the events Northern Ireland had witnessed over the past 30 years, the media frenzy surrounding what happened on Drumcree Hill ‘‘beggared belief’’.

Order Executive Officer George Patton echoed the condemnation at the gathering in Newtownhamilton, Co Armagh.

But he said the organisation needed to seek answers to fundamental questions.

‘‘We have to look at what prompted normally law-abiding citizens to act in the way that they did. I know of some of those who were caught up in events last Sunday and what happened was totally out of character,’’ he said.

Mr Patton put it down to frustration, hurt and anger born out of the current situation.

At the largest demonstration of the day, in Belfast, Imperial Secretary John McCrea returned to the attack on Sinn Fein. There was no place in Government for politicians who had not in word and deed renounced violence for political and other purposes, he insisted.

Four years down the line from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and public and private assurances from the Prime Minister, ‘‘I personally, and many people in Northern Ireland feel let down and realise that lies have been told to meet the occasion.’’

Mr McCrea asked: ‘‘Were the people of Northern Ireland conned?’’

Answering his own question, he said: ‘‘Many now believe they were and Mr Blair has failed to deliver on his promises’’.