NI 'soon a two-party state'

Northern Ireland is moving towards a two-party system with the Ulster Unionists and SDLP increasingly marginalised, a Stormont Assembly member has claimed.

In an address to sixth formers at a Catholic grammar school in Dungannon on Wednesday night, the text of which has only now been released, Democratic Unionist chairman Maurice Morrow said the next local government and Westminster elections would confirm his party and Sinn Féin as the main parties in their communities.

The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA said republicans must, in this new political context, face up to reality and fully disarm and abandon paramilitarism in return for a place in a power-sharing government.

Mr Morrow told pupils at St Patrick’s College: “None of the SDLP seats would appear to be safe from challenge by Sinn Féin and equally no Ulster Unionist MP can afford to relax with the continued rise of the DUP.

“It is clear that we are moving from a four-party system, with the UUP and SDLP in the lead, to increasingly a two-party system with the SDLP and UUP marginalised.

“I believe that last November’s election has brought considerable clarity to the political situation in Northern Ireland.

“It must be clear to republicans now that only a total end to paramilitarism and decommissioning will allow them into an administration in Northern Ireland and it is clear to unionists that without nationalists there is unlikely to be any restoration of devolution.

“Those are the two inescapable realities of the political process here.”

After talks at Leeds Castle, Kent in September, British Prime Minister Tony Blair believed the IRA was poised to make groundbreaking moves on disarmament and paramilitary activity.

In recent days it has been claimed that the IRA was prepared to disarm fully by the end of this year, as part of a deal to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly.

But the IRA’s move has been put on hold because unionists and nationalists cannot agree on a future model for power-sharing.

The DUP has been arguing for greater ministerial accountability to cabinet colleagues and to the Assembly.

Sinn Féin and the SDLP have said what the DUP is really trying to secure is a veto over the work of other parties’ ministers.

Nationalists have opposed DUP efforts to secure a separate election in the Assembly for First and Deputy First Ministers.

They have also accused the party of trying to water down and limit the amount of cross-border co-operation with the Irish Government.

Irish and British officials are expected to put proposals soon to the parties aimed at bridging the gap between them.

However, optimism is in short supply, with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams in recent days accusing the DUP of acting as a barrier to political progress.

Mr Morrow told sixth formers last night his party was committed to honouring any deal it signed up to.

However, the DUP chairman said all parties in a devolved executive had to be on equal terms on the basis of their own mandates and with no private armies.

“Let me make it clear that what we demand of republicans, we also demand of loyalist paramilitaries,” he insisted.

“There cannot be one rule for one and one for another.

“The Independent Monitoring Commission’s report last week made it clear that paramilitary activity was continuing by all the major paramilitary groups.

“This is totally unacceptable in a democratic society and is a vindication of the stance that we have taken.” Mr Morrow said nationalists needed to face up to the reality that the majority of people in Northern Ireland, one million unionists, wanted to remain in the United Kingdom.

The DUP chairman stressed his party wanted devolution because it stood to take five of the 12 ministries and wanted to retain grammar schools, limit taxation and cut down bureaucracy.

He also said: “The DUP indicated before the last Assembly election that we would be unbending on matters of principle but flexible in how those principles would be implemented.

“I believe that we have demonstrated that in the talks this year.

“Obstacles do still lie ahead, indeed some formidable obstacles, but the last 12 months have moved Northern Ireland closer to a lasting peace than we have known in the last 35 years.

“I believe that with more work and effort on all sides we can make the progress we need to see devolution restored and an entirely peaceful future.

“I am sure that, whatever our differences, that is what we all desire.”