Ceasefire commission plastering over cracks - DUP

A four-member commission to monitor paramilitary ceasefires is a “sticking plaster solution” to keep the Good Friday Agreement intact, an MP said tonight.

Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell said the monitoring body made up of two British Government nominees, Irish and United States representatives, was “more damaging than positive for the unionist community”.

The East Derry MP said: “The independent monitoring commission is a distraction from the real job that lies ahead for politicians in Northern Ireland, which is to deliver a better form of government.

“It adds nothing to help realise that longer-term aspiration and it is an illusion for anyone to suggest otherwise.”

The independent body was announced by Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy last week to monitor the role of republican and loyalist paramilitaries in violence and terrorist activity, the scaling down of military installations by the British government and the commitment of Northern Ireland parties to fully operating the Good Friday Agreement.

The British government announced that former Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice, former Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist unit chief John Grieve, former CIA deputy director Richard Kerr and former Irish Department of Justice official Joe Brosnan would serve on the commission.

But in an address to the British-Irish Association in Cambridge, Mr Campbell tonight queried whether the British government would really be willing to use the commission to drive republicans out of a power-sharing administration in Northern Ireland for breaches of the ceasefire.

He asked: “Does anyone seriously believe that the British government, having begun a process which has been predicated for over a decade on bringing Sinn Féin/IRA on board, will now take the action to remove them from an executive?

“After all, it is not as if the financial penalties are likely to have an impact on Sinn Féin/IRA given their ability to obtain money.

“The provisions are actually far more likely to be used against unionists who refuse to sit down at executive meetings which are, in any event, devoid of almost all power.”

Mr Campbell also criticised the British government for giving the Irish Government “a foothold in the door” on matters relating to the operation of political institutions in Northern Ireland.

He also attacked pro-Good Friday Agreement parties claiming that they had demonstrated once again that the accord could be altered to “suit their own self-serving agenda”.

He continued: “Now that it is clear that the basis of the Belfast Agreement can be altered to satisfy pro-Agreement parties, surely then it is ludicrous to argue against a new way forward which can encompass a majority of unionists?”

The former Stormont Regional Development Minister condemned the cancellation of Assembly elections in May and called on the government to allow them to take place soon to give Northern Ireland’s politicians a fresh mandate to negotiate a new settlement.

He stated: “Our position after an Assembly election is clear.

“If we can command enough support to block the election of a First and Deputy First Minister, then we will prevent the formation of an administration.

“That is the time for negotiations for a new agreement by those who have a mandate from the electorate and who can deliver a new agreement.

“The real issue is not what those new talks are called, but whether they are capable of bringing an outcome which both unionists and nationalists can support.

“After the election it will no longer be an option to ignore the people of Northern Ireland. It will be clear that the Belfast Agreement has been rejected.

“It will matter little whether the government call these new talks a comprehensive review of the Belfast Agreement or something else because, with sufficient support in the election, we have it within our power to make sure that the Belfast Agreement never again gets off the ground.”