Unionists 'must address Sinn Féin contradiction'

Ulster unionists must address the contradiction of Sinn Féin being in Government in Northern Ireland while the IRA is active on the streets, hard line MP Jeffrey Donaldson claimed today.

As party members arrived in a South Belfast hotel for a crucial meeting of their 860-strong ruling council on the future of power sharing, Mr Donaldson hoped the party could unite around a policy.

The meeting, which could determine whether Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble leads his party into the next Assembly election, was being held amid Unionist concerns about allegations of IRA activity in Colombia and on the streets of Northern Ireland.

Mr Donaldson said: “I haven’t spoken to all 860 delegates, so I don’t know what the outcome is going to be, but we will put forward our proposals and we will see what the response is so we can get agreement on a way forward that will address the issues of concern to our party and the electorate.

“Those are the contradictions in Sinn Féin’s position in Government while there is IRA violence on the streets, the problems with Sinn Féin making further demands on legislation on policing.

“These are issues that will exercise us today and I hope we can adopt a strategy which can address these problems.”

Northern Ireland’s First Minister David Trimble arrived saying little at the council meeting venue, the Ramada Hotel.

However, sources close to the Upper Bann MP speculated that he might have to shift to the right of the party to address mounting concerns about power-sharing with Sinn Féin in the run-up to next year’s Assembly election.

Hard-liners are expected to press for a series of phased sanctions against Sinn Féin.

Mr Trimble was expected to put his own proposals to the council following the presentation of the strategy devised by Jeffrey Donaldson and South Antrim MP David Burnside.