SF: Pressured Paisley fears DUP embarrassment

Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley is worried that the Irish and British governments may come up with proposals for reviving power sharing at Stormont which will embarrass him, it was claimed tonight.

Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said after talks with British government officials in London that it was clear the DUP was blocking political progress towards reviving the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The comment came as Mr Paisley accusedTaoiseach Bertie Ahern of acting in bad faith in recent remarks about the deadlock in the peace process.

Mr Paisley said tonight: “It is outrageous that Bertie Ahern is now in the business of lecturing unionists to admit Sinn Féin/IRA into the government of Northern Ireland at a time when its own party refuses to countenance Sinn Féin in power in the Republic.

“Mr Ahern would be better spending his time ensuring that Sinn Féin/IRA decommission all of its weapons in a way that satisfies everyone and brings to an end all of its activities.

“His comments indicate bad faith to the democratic community in circumstances where the Independent Monitoring Commission has indicated that the IRA is still engaged in all of the activities that both Mr Ahern and Mr Blair believed were at an end in October of last year.

“It is time the Irish Government faced up to its responsibilities and stood shoulder to shoulder with those who are demanding an end to terrorist and criminal activity.”

Irish and British officials have been working on proposals which will be put to the parties in Northern Ireland on future power sharing arrangements.

The DUP has been pressing for changes to the way the First and Deputy First Ministers are elected in the Assembly.

This has been opposed by Sinn Féin and the nationalist SDLP who have also accused Mr Paisley’s party of trying to secure a veto over the work of other devolved ministers.

Nationalists have attacked the DUP’s approach to cross border co-operation with Irish Government ministers, accusing them of trying to dilute it and limit their scope of it.

Mr McGuinness tonight said it was clear the DUP was feeling the pressure from others in the process, including Mr Ahern who on Monday insisted a deal was tantalisingly close and that it would be an enormous tragedy if it was allowed to slip away.

The Sinn Féin MP said: “Ian Paisley’s comments are a clear response to the criticism from the Taoiseach of the approach of the DUP.

“It is also something to do with the fact that Ian Paisley knows that the Government is going to call the situation soon and it may call it in a way that will acutely embarrass the DUP.

“After last November’s Assembly election, the DUP was very keen to present itself as a new, confident leadership.

“However, I and others in this process have seen little sign of any leadership or confidence from the DUP in their handling of this situation.”

Mr McGuinness said his party was urging the Irish and British governments to be prepared to move on without the DUP.

“It is very clear right now that the problem resides in the inability of the DUP to come to terms and accept fundamental principles of the Good Friday Agreement,” the Mid Ulster MP said.

“Our message to both governments is that the DUP is a minority and over 70 members of the elected Assembly are pro Good Friday Agreement.

“It is therefore imperative on both governments that they call things in such a way that they are faithful to the fundamental principles of the Good Friday Agreement.

“If they don’t, the rejectionists will only be encouraged. Sinn Féin’s position is very clear that if there is an attempt by anyone to tinker with the fundamentals of the Agreement, they will find our party hostile to that approach.”

Mr McGuinness said his party would oppose anything which undermined ministerial authority in a future executive and anything which subverted the process of change.