Unionists face a 'terrible dilemma'

Ulster Unionists have been left with a ‘‘terrible dilemma’’ about the current political system in Northern Ireland as a result of the British government’s handling of the paramilitary ceasefires, a Stormont minister warned today.

Sir Reg Empey claimed his party was struggling with the morality of sharing power with Sinn Fein under the Good Friday Agreement while the IRA remained active.

‘‘There is a big dilemma here because on the one hand we want to keep the institutions going, we want to implement the Agreement that we supported,’’ the East Belfast MLA said.

‘‘On the other hand, there is this enormous moral dilemma where you have involvement with a party that is clearly linked to a paramilitary organisation and that organisation has not completely terminated its paramilitary operations and, indeed, it is not even honouring the commitments both in letter and in spirit that were entered into by Sinn Fein.

‘‘Now that is a terrible dilemma and what has happened hitherto is that Government has been coming down on the side of those who pose to them the greater threat and those are the people with weapons and with armies.

‘‘That is a challenge that democratic parties like ours should not be facing.’’

Earlier this week Northern Ireland’s secretary John Reid and the British prime minister Tony Blair sought to allay Unionist concerns about republican violence by warning Sinn Fein that they would move in future to expel them from the government of Northern Ireland if it was proven that the Provisional IRA ceasefire had been broken.

Their statement did not satisfy some Ulster Unionists, like South Antrim MP David Burnside, who warned that the UUP could have to move in the autumn to punish Sinn Fein in the absence of any government initiative.

With speculation continuing that the UUP leadership could come under pressure at a meeting of its ruling council to change its tactics on powersharing in the autumn, Sir Reg insisted that the party had worked the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement in good faith, with little in return from the paramilitaries.

This included working institutions like the north-south bodies, in good faith, which they were not keen on.

He told BBC Radio Ulster’s Inside Politics programme: ‘‘The problem basically is: you cannot say to me that we will remain in Government under all circumstances.

‘‘Nobody is suggesting that. So there is a balance to be struck and it is a genuine, difficult dilemma but we should not be in this position that is the point that we are making.

‘‘Tony Blair is ultimately responsible as the prime minister of the United Kingdom for the security of the United Kingdom and we should not, therefore, be doing this.

‘‘We are only getting involved in this because of a shortfall in the actions of the government and it is a terrible dilemma for us because we do not want to see this place plunged into any further disorder.

‘‘But equally, we cannot say forever that we will simply soak up and absorb everything because all that does is send a signal to the government and to the paramilitaries that they can do what they like.’’