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PAISLEY WANTS IRA NOT TO DECOMMISSION WITHOUT PHOTOS
12/15/04 14:41 EST
The DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley tonight warned that any
move by the IRA to decommission without photographic
evidence would have "very serious consequences" for the
Northern Ireland peace process.
Speaking after talks with Irish and British Government
officials at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down the Democratic
unionist leader warned his party could pull out of a major
plan for restoring devolution in Northern Ireland if there
was no visual evidence.
He said recent negotiations had been "in the context of
complete verifiable and transparent decommissioning".
Even though General John de Chastelain's Independent
International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) is ready
to witness the guns being dismantled, Mr Paisley insisted
nothing short of photos would convince him that the IRA was
gone forever.
He said: "If anything else is delivered it clearly will have
implications for other elements of this agreement. Over the
last few days we have had meetings with the decommissioning
commission, the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State, the
foreign minister of the Irish republic. We have also been
talking to sources of our own who often brief us and provide
us with very valuable information. There's an indication
that the IRA may be considering proceeding to decommission
weapons under the original IICD scheme, leaving out the
additional elements relating to transparency included in the
draft statement from the IICD which forms part of our
comprehensive agreement."
"We want to make it clear that if the IRA does not fulfil
its obligations as envisaged in the comprehensive agreement
in its refusal these terms would have very serious
consequences in respect to the DUP's attitude to other
elements of the comprehensive agreement."
Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy and Ireland's
Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Dermot Ahern held talks with
the DUP delegation following earlier discussions with the
other main parties in a bid to rescue the peace proposals.
The blueprint for getting Sinn Fein and the DUP into
government together and the IRA out of business floundered a
week ago over republican resistance to the DUP demand for
photos.
Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
will meet tomorrow to map out their next move following
today's talks which also involved the US special envoy Mr
Mitchell Reiss.
Although the Hillsborough discussions did not yield any
breakthrough Mr Murphy pledged to intensify attempts to
reach a resolution. He said: "Everybody is still committed
to the restoration of the institutions and to power sharing.
We intend to re-double our efforts to bring about a
restoration of these institutions because that is what we
believe the people of Northern Ireland want us to do."
Asked about Mr Paisley's claims that the IRA was planning to
press ahead with decommissioning he added: "I have no
information to that effect."
Meanwhile, Mr Ahern has told the Dáil that the Irish and
British governments' proposals on the publication of
photographs of IRA decommissioning were "fair and reasonable".
In a wide-ranging statement on the peace process, Mr Ahern
said he understood the issue would be "difficult" for
Republicans, but believed it would have been considered by
them as part of the comprehensive plan outlined by Dublin
and London last Wednesday.
Mr Ahern said the publication of photographs would not have
taken place until the formation of an Executive in March,
months after decommissioning itself.
"If all this had worked, my own view is that a far more
compelling photograph would have been one of the formation
of a DUP/Sinn Fein-led Executive at that time," Mr Ahern said.
On Monday, speaking after meeting Mr Gerry Adams and Mr
Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin, Mr Ahern said the idea of
publishing photographs was "not workable".
The comments prompted Mr Ahern to telephone the Rev Ian
Paisley to apologise for the comments after the DUP
threatened to break contact with the Government.
Dr Paisley also demanded Mr Ahern repeat the apology on the
public record in the Dáil before it agreed to meet with the
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, in
Hillsborough Castle this afternoon.
It is unclear if Mr Ahern's Dáil speech is sufficient to
please the DUP.
Mr Ahern also said the IRA would need to go further to
satisfy the Government in relation to the ending of alleged
criminality.
"We have always been clear, and it was commonly understood
throughout this entire period of engagement, that the ending
of all paramilitary activity must also encompass all other
illegal activity," Mr Ahern said.
"The IRA statement on Thursday, while confirming their
intentions in relation to that organisation moving to a new
mode, issuing instructions to volunteers and completing
decommissioning to a rapid time-scale, did not address this
issue in the clear terms required by the Government.
"Clarification is required that the IRA's commitment is
indeed, to a complete ending of paramilitarism and other
illegal activity," the Taoiseach added.
Mr Ahern was upbeat on the prospects for an agreement
leading to power sharing between the DUP and Sinn Féin. He
said he did not see things in a "negative frame".
"I have always believed that this end-phase would be
difficult. But just because it is difficult and awkward does
not mean that we should avoid taking on the outstanding issues."
"Let me make my position clear. I will not settle for a
half-solution. I will take the political risks for peace.
And I expect others also to do so.
"The Good Friday Agreement made a real difference to the
politics of this island and to the lives of all its people.
But the Governments' proposals would bring closure to
issues, which were not, or could not be, resolved at that
time. There were many such issues.
"It is now time to deal with them once and for all and build
the final bridge to peace," he added.
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