Paisley ultimatum as Assembly meets

The Rev Ian Paisley tonight warned Sinn Féin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair there would be no cabinet seat for republicans in a future power sharing government of Northern Ireland unless the IRA had gone out of business.

After the new Northern Ireland Assembly met for the first time since devolution was suspended three and a half years ago, the North Antrim MP said: “If I could get the last drop of blood from the republican stone, then I would do it.

“Let me tell you that without apology when I think of the people that they have murdered, the awful crimes they have committed.

“The last time I talked to the Prime Minister he said that I am the best Blairite in this House.

“You made a promise to me on the record that there must be a complete doing away with terrorism, with criminal activities and there must be absolute support for the police.

“Let them fulfil it. They haven’t done it.”

Mr Paisley’s ultimatum came after Assembly members were told in a letter read out by the new Speaker Eileen Bell from the Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain that they had an opportunity to give politics in the North a new beginning.

While acknowledging that there would be obstacles between now and November 24, the deadline Mr Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern have set for the establishment of an executive, Mr Hain said politicians had to focus on what united them.

“Now is the time for Northern Ireland politicians to shoulder the responsibility for their people’s future as they have been elected to do so,” he said.

“It is time to open the chapter of stability, opportunity and restore devolution in Northern Ireland.”