Empey: IRA statement 'leaves basic questions unanswered'

The Irish and British governments are throwing concessions at Sinn Féin on the back of an IRA statement which has failed to answer basic questions, it was claimed today.

Just two days after the IRA declared an end to their armed campaign and vowed to complete their disarmament programme, Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey accused London and Dublin of fawning around republicans on the back of a vague IRA statement.

The former Stormont Economy Minister argued: “The statement should have been judged against basic criteria. Does this mean the IRA is finished and has gone away for good? Does this mean that all weapons will be given up? Does this mean that all the criminal activity is to be ended forthwith and not privatised or outsourced to criminal elements?

“Does this mean that republicans now support the police in the execution of their duty and will remove the threats against those nationalists who want to join the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland)? Does this mean that Sinn Féin will now urge young nationalists to join the PSNI?

“As far as the Ulster Unionist Party is concerned, these fundamental questions remain unanswered.”

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the administration of US President George W Bush have all welcomed the IRA’s statement, believing it could lead to a restoration of devolved government in the North.

However unionists remain sceptical, with the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists, the North's largest party, insisting the IRA will have to prove over time that its words are for real.

Not only do the DUP and Ulster Unionists want the IRA to end paramilitary activity such as the recruitment of members, training, targeting and shootings, but they are demanding an end to criminality like bank robberies, tobacco, alcohol and fuel smuggling, money laundering and the manufacture and sale of pirated DVDs, music CDs and video games.

Unionists and the leader of the nationalist SDLP, Mark Durkan have warned republicans they must not try to privatise criminal activity by carrying on unlawful acts without using the IRA’s name.

The governments, unionists and nationalists will also be watching closely over the coming days for an announcement from the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning on a fourth act of IRA disarmament.

With Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain aiming to hold talks on reviving devolution next spring, political progress may depend on two reports by the four member Independent Monitoring Commission in October and January.

The Commission scrutinises paramilitary ceasefires and will be able to tell the Governments and other parties if the IRA is honouring its statement.

Following the beginning yesterday of moves to dismantle three Army watchtowers along the Irish border in south Armagh, Reg Empey also claimed in an article in today’s Belfast Newsletter that the North’s 18 MPs and three MEPs would soon be given speaking rights in the Dáil.

The plan, which would see the MPs and MEPs take part in Dáil debates affecting the North, surfaced last year during talks which failed to hammer out a deal between the governments, Sinn Féin and the DUP.

Mr Empey said: “I warned the DUP at the time of the dangers of this proposal but my concerns were dismissed. This, part of Sinn Féin’s all-Ireland agenda, is effectively an embryonic all-Ireland Parliament. It must be opposed by unionists at all costs.”