DUP to wait two years before sharing power
**Via News Hound
Liam Clarke
July 31, 2005
THE Democratic Unionist party will insist on a two-year decontamination period before entering government with Sinn Fein if the IRA fails to provide visual proof that it is has dumped its weapons.
The party has warned that in the absence of transparent decommissioning it will demand an extended period of IRA inactivity before sharing power with the republicans.
Last night Peter Robinson, the deputy leader of the DUP, said: “If they (the IRA) do their decommissioning in a hole-in-the-corner way, we could be talking several years of an assessment period to gauge their intentions. If they do things openly and transparently then obviously the period of assessment could be significantly shortened.”
By openly and transparently, the DUP means with a full photographic record of the decommissioning process and an inventory of the arms put beyond use. This, they believe, is necessary to build confidence among their voters that the IRA threat has passed.
“The less transparency you have the more time it will take for people to feel confident,” said Robinson.
Jeffrey Donaldson, a DUP MP and member of the party’s negotiating team, said the IRA and Sinn Fein had refused to move before carrying out a period of consultation with their grassroots and ensuring their followers were happy. “We have the same approach. We will not move into government unless we are confident that the unionist community can support what we are doing. It may be that we will want to test public opinion on the issue through an election.” Elections to the suspended Northern Ireland assembly are not due until 2007.
Donaldson added: “That period of assessment will lengthen with the lack of transparency by the IRA on decommissioning. It has already lengthened as a result of the early release of Sean Kelly (the Shankill bomber), which has dented unionist confidence.”
Robinson and Donaldson will drive the point home this Wednesday when they bring a delegation of people injured in, or bereaved by, the Shankill bombing to meet Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland secretary. He agreed to release Sean Kelly, who planted the bomb that killed 10 people in 1993, after reading a draft of the IRA statement.
The DUP’s attitude represents a setback for the British and Irish governments. They had hoped that, if the IRA held to promises made in its statement, they might restore power sharing next spring.
While the DUP may not be willing to enter government so soon, the party’s leaders are prepared to enter a shadow assembly without executive powers. Such an interim assembly would not have local ministers sharing power but could scrutinise the work of British ministers. Nationalists might accept this plan as a stepping stone to full power sharing.
The British Army is due to start demolishing a number of other security bases in Northern Ireland this week, paving the way for a reduction of troops down to garrison level. Bases earmarked for early closure include several watchtowers in south Armagh.
