Blair slams actions of dissident republicans

Prime Minister Tony Blair tonight accused dissident republicans who attempted to murder two police officers of attacking the future of Northern Ireland.

His comments came as the Real IRA said it was behind a bomb attack on a police vehicle in Downpatrick, Co Down.

The Prime Minister said the attack, which followed yesterday’s unprecedented apology by the IRA for the murder of civilians, was an attempt to derail the peace process.

‘‘When they attack officers of this new police force they are attacking the agreement itself and they are attacking a future for Northern Ireland based on mutual respect and prosperity,’’ he said.

Despite yesterday’s IRA statement, Mr Blair is under increasing pressure to take action against Sinn Fein.

Unionists are demanding sanctions following allegations of IRA involvement in terrorist activity in Colombia, in the break-in at a Special Branch office in east Belfast and of orchestrating violence in Belfast.

The Prime Minister is expected to respond to Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble during Prime Minister’s Questions on the last day of the Parliamentary term next week

Mr Trimble said he would have preferred the IRA statement to have referred to recent acts of violence perpetrated by republicans and to their future intentions.

‘‘Because that has not been addressed in this statement, we still call upon the Prime Minister to carry out the promise that he made at Hillsborough to define more precisely the ceasefire and to indicate what happens in the event of breaches.

‘‘I expect those proposals to be put before Parliament before it rises this day week,’’ he said.

President Bush’s special envoy to Northern Ireland Richard Haass today welcomed the IRA statement but said the next step was to get rid of its weapons.

‘‘So long as the IRA or any organisation retains the capacity for violence then no-one can say for sure what it will do.

‘‘That’s why the focus is on seeing the elimination of all arms, not just by the IRA but by all paramilitaries.’’

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid said the IRA must now demonstrate by its actions that the war was over.

‘‘It doesn’t matter exactly how it is put in words, what matters is the practice and it is by making sure that there is sufficient confidence among people in Northern Ireland that the past really is over.’’

His call came as politicians on all sides condemned the attack on the police vehicle in Downpatrick.

The security forces have established that the device consisted of a piece of metal tubing packed with explosives dug into the roadside.

Terrorists used a command wire to fire the device at the car. The two officers were badly shaken by the incident but the driver managed to return to the police station.

Eddie McGrady, the area’s MP said: ‘‘I think this is the first real serious attempt to murder personnel in many, many years and it’s obviously intended at this very delicate political time to create the maximum political dissension and maybe break the peace process which has been so carefully put together.’’

Lord Maginnis, the former Ulster Unionist security spokesman said this morning’s attack showed the irrelevance of the IRA’s apology to victims.

‘‘There have been statements made by various organisation apologising in the past and yet the violence continues,’’ he said.

Jim Wells, Assembly member for the hardline Democratic Unionists, blamed the attack on the Provisional IRA.

‘‘It would be impossible for a so-called dissident republican group to have attacked the police in Downpatrick early this morning without the full support or acquiescence of the Provisional IRA.

‘‘It was either carried out by the IRA or one of their sub-contractors,’’ he added.

As politicians continued to react to the IRA’s statement, the victims group Relatives for Justice, which represents the families of people killed by the security forces, said a similar apology by the Government would be insufficient.

Group member Kate Duffy, whose brother Seamus Cassidy was shot dead by a soldier in July 1972, said the Government must acknowledge full culpability for actions that contravened human rights standards.

‘‘363 people have died directly as a result of actions perpetrated by the RUC and the British Army - 75 of whom were children. The overwhelming majority of those killed posed absolutely no threat whatsoever,’’ she added.

But the Secretary of State said there was no moral equivalent between acts of terrorism and the defence of society by the armed forces of the state.

‘‘If there have been mistakes that have been made not only will the British Army apologise for them but the British Army has been attending an inquiry and scrutiny for instance Bloody Sunday which no terrorist organisation has ever been subjected to,’’ added Dr Reid.