Impasse could collapse Executive, warns Durkan

Sinn Féin boycotting the North’s ministerial Executive would leave them adopting old unionist tactics linked to the Government’s collapse, the Assembly heard today.

Co-operation arrangements with the Republic will suffer from the impasse over this week’s Executive meeting in a throwback to suspensions involving former Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, the SDLP claimed.

British prime minister Gordon Brown is in Belfast today to press for progress on issues like handing down policing and justice powers to a local minister.

The Executive has not met for three months amid Sinn Féin unhappiness at Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) attitudes towards justice powers devolution and an Irish language act.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said: “From Sinn Féin’s point of view, they realise that if they do not have the meeting (of the Executive) this week that will lead to a further locking of the business in relation to the North/South Ministerial Council and their tactics will bizarrely leave them in Trimble country whereby their tactics against another party in the Executive end up in effect grounding the business of the North/South Ministerial Council.

“That would be some achievement and some victory for their tactics if they achieved that.”

Mr Trimble’s party was the largest in Government when it collapsed over the discovery of an alleged Sinn Féin spy ring at Stormont in 2002.

He also resigned as First Minister in July 2001 over the IRA’s failure to decommission arms. The Assembly was suspended in 2000 over the same issue.

Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin responded: “The overriding cause of the difficulties experienced in the current political context is the refusal from some unionists and the inability of other unionists to accept the basic principles of partnership and equality in government.

“Rather than approach issues on their merits too often the unionist approach has been, ’if it’s important to nationalists we won’t support it’.

“The disgraceful attitude by the DUP to the Irish language act is but one more example, this prejudice can’t be permitted to continue.”

DUP Assembly member Stephen Moutray said Stormont’s Assembly and Executive Review Committee to address the policing matter should get down to business.

“There are serious issues requiring immediate dialogue and this country should not be hindered by those members who are delaying progress,” he said.

“We in the DUP are committed to making this process work and we have been engaged in intensive, high-level talks aiming to resolve these matters.”