DUP: IRA must disarm

Paramilitaries must disappear if public confidence is to be restored in Northern Ireland’s system of government, a hardline unionist MP insisted tonight.

After his party met the commission tasked with monitoring ceasefires, Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell welcomed British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s warning to republicans that the IRA must be wound down if devolution is to work in Northern Ireland.

The East Derry MP said: “We are not interested in what the IRA say rather what they do.

“The IRA must engage in serious and substantial acts of completion so that all parties come to the table on the same basis and operating as equals.

“There is no place in a democracy for private armies and true democrats should depend solely on the force of their mandates not the force of their guns.”

Devolution has been suspended in Northern Ireland since October 2002 when allegations about an IRA spy ring threatened to destroy the power sharing executive.

Two attempts to revive devolution failed last year amid Ulster Unionist concerns over the IRA.

However the political landscape has changed in Northern Ireland since then, with the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists overtaking David Trimble’s Ulster Unionists as the North's largest party in November’s Assembly Election.

The DUP, which has been buoyed by recent defections from Mr Trimble’s party, is due to take part in a review of the Good Friday Agreement chaired by the British and Irish governments.

The review, which it is believed could begin on February 3, will also involve the Ulster Unionists, nationalist SDLP, the cross community Alliance Party, the UK Unionists, the loyalist Progressive Unionist Party and Sinn Féin.

The DUP will press for significant changes to the Agreement but the SDLP and Sinn Féin oppose any renegotiation.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams yesterday called for the review to be short.

The West Belfast MP also urged London and Dublin to face down the DUP and critics of the Agreement by pressing ahead with commitments on policing, the scaling down of the British army presence in Northern Ireland and the return of on-the-run terror suspects.

Mr Campbell said tonight it was clear Sinn Féin was alone in thinking there could be a deal in Northern Ireland featuring “terrorists in government wielding unaccountable executive power”.

The DUP, he said, welcomed Tony Blair’s comments and others “altering their previously weak attitude towards terrorists.”

He continued: “We are committed to finding a form of government which commands the support of both unionists and nationalists.

“We will not endorse a system that involves putting unreconstructed terrorists in government. Northern Ireland needs devolved structures that remove terrorists from the heart of government and, therefore, restores the confidence of the public in their government”.

After Tony Blair’s warning to republicans that they must engage in acts of completion, Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said republicans feared the British government was going to renege on its peace process commitments.

The Foyle MLA said during a visit to Waterford the behaviour of the British government seriously eroded “what little confidence and trust” there was in the process.

“Mr Blair seeks to disingenuously place the onus for progress solely on unionists and republicans,” he said.

“However hard he tries, he cannot absolve himself or his government from the current mess. It is British government strategy and its tactical approach to the implementation of the Agreement, which has encouraged rejectionist unionism.

“Whatever responsibilities rest with Sinn Féin and the unionists the primary responsibility at this time rests on the two governments but particularly the British government.”