Assembly recall is nonsense - Paisley

The Northern Ireland Assembly should be allowed to have its say on key issues affecting the North even if a devolved government cannot be formed, the Rev Ian Paisley insisted today.

As British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern prepared to unveil their roadmap for reviving the Assembly during a visit to Armagh on Thursday when Mr Paisley celebrates his 80th birthday, the Democratic Unionist leader said he did not believe a multi-party executive could be formed at Stormont.

The North Antrim MP, who will meet Mr Blair on Tuesday, said he believed it would be foolish to initially call the Assembly in May to try and form an executive.

“I think that to say that they are going to call the Assembly together to try and get the executive set up is absolutely nonsense,” he said.

“They can’t do that. It is not going to happen because the foundation for such a decision is not even laid.

“The foundation, of course, must be the end of terrorism and must be that this is on a solid democratic foundation.

“Now they haven’t done that. So that is not going to work.”

The British and Irish leaders are expected to advocate a two-phase approach to restoring devolution.

It is believed the North’s 108 Assembly members will be recalled in May and given six weeks to form a power-sharing executive featuring the DUP and Sinn Féin.

If that proves impossible, the British government is expected to introduce new legislation changing the rules which govern the Assembly and which will park the body through the difficult summer marching season in Northern Ireland.

The Assembly would be recalled in September and given what the parties believe will be a November 24 absolute deadline to set up the executive.

It is possible that in the weeks leading up to the deadline Assembly members would be given a programme of work at committee level.

Sinn Féin and the nationalist SDLP have been critical of any suggestion that there could be a shadow Assembly ahead of full-blown power sharing.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan told the Irish Labour Party conference in Dublin last night that he had deep concerns about the governments’ proposals.

He also accused Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain of trying to acquire new powers for himself in any emergency legislation which would be passed during the summer and he warned these could undermine the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Paisley told BBC Radio Ulster today that he was still not clear as to whether the British government were planning a shadow Assembly after the first attempt to set up an executive.

“I think we are not going to have an executive,” he said.

“But why do they not turn the Assembly into a body that has power to consider important matters and let the government know what the elected representatives feel about these matters?”