Republicans 'cannot implement obligations in isolation'

Republicans cannot implement their peace process obligations “in isolation” while unionists fail to use their influence on loyalist paramilitaries to disarm, Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin claimed today.

In a hard hitting speech to Sinn Féin’s annual conference in Dublin, the Foyle MLA told delegates the party had delivered “right to the last comma on every commitment that we have made” while the British and Irish governments had failed to honour their pledges.

The Foyle MLA said: “Sinn Féin has never stepped outside of the Good Friday Agreement or campaigned on any issue that is not enshrined in the Agreement.

“The Agreement calls for all parties to use their influence to bring about the disarmament of all armed groups.

“Can anyone deny that Sinn Féin is the only party to address this issue in a positive and responsible manner?

“How has the Ulster Unionists used its undoubted influence with unionist paramilitaries? By appointing a senior member of the party – David McNarry – to the Loyalist Commission.

“The children of Holy Cross school and the residents of the Garvaghy Road are entitled to more than that.

“How has the Democratic Unionist Party used its unquestionable influence on Ulster Resistance? Where are its arms dumps and how many have been put beyond use?

“What are (the DUP’s) Peter (Robinson), Gregory (Campbell) and Ian Paisley doing to influence those that they were happy to don the red beret with?

“What is Tony Blair doing to carry out the commitments to demilitarisation that he has made on numerous occasions?

“Where is Bertie Ahern’s delivery of his obligations under the provisions on the release of prisoners, northern representation, and the Irish language.”

Mr McLaughlin said Sinn Féin was fully committed to the faithful and complete implementation of the Agreement including its sections on weapons.

However he warned others in the process the patience of republicans was gradually being eroded.

“Sinn Féin cannot implement its obligations in isolation while the two governments continue to renege on their obligations and continue to indulge the insatiable demands of unionism in their attempts to wreck the Agreement,” he said.

Mr McLaughlin also denounced as a sop to “rejectionist unionism” the setting up of the four-member Independent Monitoring Commission to assess the state of the loyalist and republican ceasefires and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

“This is not the only area where the British government has acted outside the Agreement with the full connivance of the Irish Government,” he said.

“It has unilaterally taken powers on itself to suspend the political institutions, postpone and cancel elections and introduce draconian legislation that inhibits, discourages and removes electors from the electoral register.

“These are all breaches of the Agreement by the British government and must be rescinded.”