Trimble accuses Paisley of conceding ground

Ian Paisley conceded even more ground to republicans during the latest Northern Ireland peace negotiations than was in the Good Friday Agreement he vowed to smash, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble claimed today.

Mr Trimble attacked the rival DUP chief over his handling of the failed bid to restore the Stormont power sharing administration, accusing him of backing a deal that would have strengthened cross border bodies.

Published plans for achieving total IRA disarmament and restoring devolution, which broke down over demands for photographs of paramilitary weapons destruction, also went further to meeting Sinn Féin demands for policing and criminal justice powers to be switched from Westminster to the Belfast Assembly, Mr Trimble insisted.

The UUP leader, who pulled the plug on the last big push for a political settlement in October 2003 over the transparency of IRA decommissioning, has since been eclipsed by the Democratic Unionists’ rise in electoral strength.

But he went on the offensive today, brandishing copies of the April 1998 Good Friday Agreement and the draft proposals revealed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Wednesday.

Holding aloft the two documents, Mr Trimble said: “When Dr Paisley accepts this he accepts that.

“We have to say to the DUP now you have accepted this what on earth was the last six years about?

“What on earth were you doing for the last six years when at the end of the day you accept these and when you go through the detail of this you will see very little you have achieved for it all and lots of things you have done to meet the agenda of republicans.”