NI Secretary meets with NI parties

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy was meeting the North's political parties today to discuss their ideas for restoring devolved government.

The meeting follows the release of proposals by Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists aimed at giving power of decision-making to the 108 member Assembly in the absence of an Executive.

Mr Murphy, who described the plans as interesting and constructive, said he believed all the parties should take time to consider them carefully.

The political institutions in Northern Ireland have been suspended since October 2002 when allegations of IRA intelligence gathering at Stormont first surfaced.

Last week, parties elected to the Assembly in last November’s elections met at Stormont to begin a review of the Good Friday Agreement.

With talks resuming today, nationalists have already rejected the DUP’s formula for “corporate devolution”.

Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy said it “smacks of an attempt to return to majority rule”.

“Nationalists voted for inclusive government. Nationalists voted for the all-Ireland architecture in the agreement,” he added.

The SDLP’s senior negotiator, Sean Farren, said the DUP in its proposals have not committed to working all the institutions of the Agreement.

“The Good Friday Agreement was passed by the people of Ireland in 1998, and all parties need to respect its mandate. It remains the way forward.

“The problem is not the people are fed up with the Agreement, it is that they have lost confidence in the ability of politicians to deliver on it.”

David Trimble, leader of the rival Ulster Unionists has also dismissed the plan, accusing the DUP of watering down demands for IRA decommissioning before devolution could be restored.

“I don’t think those who voted for the DUP voted for that,” he added.

But the DUP’s deputy leader Peter Robinson rejected the criticism that his party’s proposals were a devious attempt to avoid IRA decommissioning.

He argued they would provide an incentive for republicans to give up their weapons.

Under the plans unveiled last week, the party insisted there would be no prospect of Sinn Féin taking part in an Executive at Stormont until IRA disarmament.

Mr Robinson said the paramilitary wing of republicanism was an obstacle to Sinn Féin’s progress.

“The advantage for the system is that it actually for the first time makes Sinn Féin want to get rid of its weapons.

“If it wants to have a full role in the government of Northern Ireland, then it can get rid of the weapons. It is completely within its control,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s chief negotiator Martin McGuinness has challenged the DUP to enter into direct talks with his party.

Mr McGuinness said that, while Sinn Féin would not countenance a return to majority rule, he recognised that the DUP’s proposals were a shift from the “never never land politics that they have inhabited for decades".

Calling on the DUP to engage with republicans he added: “For decades they have denounced successive British governments as treacherous and dishonest. Yet they now want to use the British government as a conduit to Sinn Féin.

“They should grasp the political reality of the GFA fully and talk to Sinn Féin face to face.”