Call to suspend Sinn Féin from talks

The British government faced unionist demands tonight that Sinn Féin should be excluded from talks to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly.

As Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde met with the British government to discuss an alleged breach of the IRA ceasefire, the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists and David Trimble’s Ulster Unionist insisted Sinn Féin must be removed from the review of the Good Friday Agreement at Stormont.

DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson declared: “As far as we are concerned we have asked the Secretary of State (Paul Murphy) to put them out of the process, to suspend them and to follow the precedent the [British] government used on a previous occasion with both the representative of the UDA and the IRA.

“Unless the Secretary of State shows in a very tangible way this kind of activity is not acceptable, the IRA will assume it can carry out such activity and can get off with it.

“They can have their cake and eat it.”

Mr Robinson was commenting after four men appeared in a magistrates court in Belfast accused of unlawfully imprisoning a man and causing grievous bodily harm to him in Belfast city centre on Friday night.

Charges of IRA membership against the four were dropped but unionists today insisted the Provisionals’ alleged involvement made a strong case for Sinn Féin’s removal from the review.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble recalled how in the talks leading up to the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Féin’s involvement was suspended in January 1998 after the IRA was alleged to have carried out a murder.

The Upper Bann MP said before his meeting with Mr Murphy: “What we are going to impress today on the Secretary of State is that he does that, that he excludes Sinn Féin from these discussions until there is an end to paramilitary activity.

“It is pertinent when we look at what happened over the weekend that we say ‘where is the referee?’ And isn’t it time that people were shown more than just a yellow card?”

Mr Trimble said his party felt it was ridiculous to talk about matters relating to the restoration of devolution until the issue of paramilitary activity was dealt with.

Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness, however, insisted his party would not be removed from the talks.

“There is no prospect whatsoever of Sinn Féin not participating in the review talks and David Trimble knows that better than anybody else,” the Mid Ulster MP said.

“I think what we all have to do is recognise the great strides forward that have been made but also recognise that there is much work still to be done and we can only successfully accomplish that work if we all work together.

“Sinn Féin is prepared to do that. We are going to continue with our work. We are not going to allow anybody in this process to use Sinn Féin as a whipping boy.”

Nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan said last Friday’s attempted abduction was now a matter for the four-member commission set up by the British and Irish governments to review paramilitary ceasefires and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

Noting Mr McGuinness’s claim that Sinn Féin was an essential part of the process, the Foyle MLA said: “The Chief Constable’s assessment is far more credible than the evasions that we hear from others.

“Sinn Féin can talk about their pretensions about being at the heart of the process.

“They cannot keep posing as the heartbeat of the process unless they confront the head beaters who were out last Friday night.”

As British and Irish government sources began to signal that there was no mechanism for removing Sinn Féin or imposing sanctions on them in the review, Mr Robinson suggested parties could freeze republicans out of the talks.

The Democratic Unionist MP for East Belfast ridiculed Mr Trimble’s comments, claiming he was beating his chest and trying to play catch up with the Reverend Ian Paisley.

“I have a challenge for Mr Trimble,” he said.

“This party has refused to meet Sinn Féin/IRA within this process. It is down to all of the reasons that have been evident over the last number of days.

“I challenge Mr Trimble if he is running to catch up with us in the comments he makes about Sinn Féin/IRA to catch up with us in terms of refusing to meet Sinn Féin/IRA.

“Instead of whinging from the sidelines, asking the Secretary of State to take action, here is something he can do himself and his party can do.

“We are in a better position than other parties in the process in that we are not in dialogue with Sinn Féin. We have not met with them.

“That is why the challenge should go out to those who are asking the Secretary of State to do something. Rather than asking the Secretary of State to turf Sinn Féin out, they can close Sinn Féin off by refusing to meet them.”