UUP should assert itself against DUP

Foreign Affairs Minister Brian Cowen was clearly embarrassed

It obviously complicates matters by diverting attention to the views of an adviser, rather than the views of the minister, or the Government as a whole.

Each minister receives various briefing documents arguing the different sides of any issue. The views express merely the attitude of the adviser, not necessarily the minister or the Government. Brian Cowen said that he had not drawn on that document, but there is no doubt that many people will agree with the views expressed by its author.

The disclosure "will do nothing to restore confidence between the parties at this juncture," according to the Fine Gael leader. This is hardly surprising, seeing that the author of the document argued that nothing is likely to happen because the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is so fixated by its impending electoral contest with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that it is afraid to make any deal with the other parties favouring the Good Friday Agreement.

The UUP resents the description of the party as "internally dysfunctional." The truth is often bitter. That would seem to be the reality of the situation, as the UUP has lurched from one crisis to another with David Trimble being forced into the position of a spoiled child repeatedly proclaiming that he is not going to play unless the others play by his rules.

As Northern Secretary some years ago, Mo Mowlam compared her job in the North to babysitting for fractious children. Everybody has to tread carefully for fear of hurting their feelings, or giving one an excuse to misbehave. Critics of the Good Friday Agreement have seized on the latest leaked document as a pretext justifying their stalling conduct.

Jeffrey Donaldson proclaimed, for instance, "this document from the Irish Government proved that the IRA are continuing to engage in terrorist activity." It did nothing of the sort.

The document did not reflect the views of the Government, but of an adviser. In that adviser's opinion the Sinn Féin leadership has been pushing the IRA leadership as far as it will go towards implementing the Good Friday Agreement, which is what the Sinn Féin leaders signed up to do.

Although the IRA is depicted as recruiting and gathering intelligence, this is not the same as engaging in "terrorist activities." Instead, the document clearly depicts the organisation in a ceasefire mode acting for defensive reasons only.

This behaviour is presented in the positive light of preventing the "leaching away of Provisionals to dissidents." There have always been significant dissident elements among the paramilitaries on either side of the divide. People should welcome peaceful efforts to stem the flow of disaffected individuals to any of those dissident elements.

Instead of criticising the honest expression of opinion in the briefing document, the UUP would be much better advised to prove their own effectiveness by acting positively and demonstrating that the party is not "internally dysfunctional," or paralysed by its fear of the DUP.