'All or nothing' approach on Assembly criticised

Nationalist politicians in Northern Ireland were today accused of pursuing a scorched earth policy over the revival of the Stormont Assembly.

Democratic Unionist Deputy Leader Peter Robinson said it was regrettable that Sinn Féin and the SDLP appeared to be adopting an all or nothing approach to the resumption of power sharing.

The East Belfast MP also said that his party’s call for the revival of the Assembly short of full blown devolution was not, as some nationalist critics claimed, an attempt to set up a talking shop.

“It is regrettable that nationalists have adopted an all or nothing approach to executive devolution when they know that the outcome is going to be nothing,” the former Stormont Regional Development Minister told PA.

“The Independent Monitoring Commission has said criminality by the IRA is still going on and in that context you cannot expect us to go into government with Sinn Féin.

“This idea that you call the Assembly together and give it six weeks is certainly a recipe for ensuring it collapses and we have a crisis.

“It is a scorched earth policy by nationalists.”

Devolution in Northern Ireland has been suspended since October 2002 and it has been run by a team of British government ministers currently headed by Peter Hain.

There have been three attempts to revive the Assembly but all have failed.

The last in December 2004 involved the DUP, Sinn Féin and the British and Irish Governments but faltered when the Rev Ian Paisley’s party insisted IRA decommissioning should be accompanied by photographs.

Last year in an unprecedented move, the Provisional IRA declared an end to its armed campaign and in September completed its programme of disarmament.

However unionists remained sceptical, insisting they could not go into government with Sinn Féin without any proof that the IRA had given up all involvement in crime.

Their scepticism was also fuelled by reports that despite the final act of weapons decommissioning, intelligence sources believed some Provisionals had retained a range of weapons.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern have both expressed determination to bring back devolution in Northern Ireland this year.

However recent efforts to secure an agreement between unionists and nationalists have floundered over the proposal that the Assembly could meet in shadow form.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and SDLP leader Mark Durkan have both described the proposal as unacceptable.

The idea was originally floated by the DUP.

Mr Robinson explained that the DUP’s proposal wasn’t about setting up a meaningless body.

“We want a maximum amount of devolution that can be obtained at this time,” the East Belfast MP said.

“We are not looking for a shadow assembly that is going to sit around until we have executive devolution.

“We want something meaningful. We want an assembly which will have a real role and be able to tackle issues like the review of public administration, water charges, the rates and the shake up in education.

“That can be done at this stage without moving to executive devolution.”