DUP must stop pandering to SF or fail like the UUP
It is gratifying to hear about negotiations for a new agreement for Northern Ireland. I take it this means that any new arrangement will not include Sinn Féin in government by right. If the forthcoming talks about the future of devolution do not exclude Sinn Féin, then any resultant agreement will be mere tinkering with the edges of a failed agreement.
We will then have the Belfast Agreement Mark II. A new agreement that is democratically based cannot have terrorists and war criminals in the government of Northern Ireland, regardless of their mandate.
I trust that DUP MPs will listen carefully to what the people are saying, and stop pandering to SF with phrases such as that used by Gregory Campbell — “we have now crossed the Rubicon” — in relation to his party sharing government with SF, or Peter Robinson’s suggestion that “for the first time ... his party may be prepared to enter a mandatory/enforced D’Hondt-style coalition, with public backing”. This is surely an issue of such gravity that the public simply cannot give its backing to the DUP to proceed along these lines.
These phrases are sending out mixed messages to people and will have the effect of removing electoral support for the DUP if they proceed along these lines. To insist on “a legal mechanism to eject SF from government” if they default is an admission that they will go into government with that terrorist organisation.
Perhaps the DUP should give a sober hearing to MEP Jim Allister’s reminder from his party’s 2005 manifesto that an inclusive mandatory coalition with Sinn Féin under D’Hondt was out of the question — “and so it should remain”.
Well done, Jim.
The DUP is in great danger of going back on its 2005 manifesto and on its election promises to the voters if it follows the line taken by Peter Robinson and those who agree with him, and repudiates the commonsense position taken by Jim Allister. It is also profoundly disappointing to note that the DUP has now forgotten about the victims and their concerns since they do not reckon in their key demands, as reported.
Why is this? People can be forgiven for thinking that all the talk about supporting victims was mere public rhetoric, and no more.
If the DUP does not listen to the voters, it will suffer the same fate as the UUP. Party members must not be deceived by talk about devolution and power and influence over the affairs of Northern Ireland by the DUP.
However, they must analyse clinically what the party is doing and the direction in which it is going, and they must then act with courage even if it means going against party policy. Only then will the public know that there are people within the DUP who are prepared to stand up for what is right.
Dr JE Hazlett Lynch
Director
West Tyrone Voice
Moyle Road
Newtownstewart
Co Tyrone
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