Unionists warn minister over devolution talks
The British government was last night challenged to deal with unionists who refuse to share power after the Democratic Unionists vowed not to bow to pressure to revive the North’s political institutions swiftly in 2006.
Sinn Féin general secretary Mitchel McLaughlin said British secretary of state Peter Hain knew what was needed to get the power-sharing institutions back up and running.
“Peter Hain knows that the real problem is the refusal of unionists to share power on the basis of equality. It is this reluctance that the British secretary of state needs to tackle head on.
“The British government could and, Sinn Féin have argued, should lift their unilateral suspension of the institutions tomorrow.
“This would put immediate pressure on unionists to engage. It is this sort of leadership that is required. It is not nationalists or republicans who are reluctant to move forward but unionists,” he said.
Unionists yesterday vowed to resist pressure to reinstate the North’s assembly.
Mr Hain was yesterday told to face up to the reality that unionists would not re-enter a devolved government under the conditions in place before the suspension of the Stormont assembly three years ago.
Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds was responding to an ultimatum from Mr Hain for the North’s politicians to make meaningful progress in 2006.
The Belfast North MP said: “Peter Hain has allowed Sinn Féin a veto over political developments, stymieing any form of devolution or political movement which does not involve an executive with Sinn Féin.
“After the Northern Bank robbery and other evidence that republicans simply cannot be trusted, the government and others refused to accept any proposal for local democracy or accountability because they wanted to wait on Sinn Féin. It’s time Peter Hain woke up and smelled the coffee.
“Yes, we do want devolution and local decision-making by local assembly members but the old-style executive devolution with Sinn Féin in cabinet positions is not on the horizon.”
In July, British and Irish government hopes of a political breakthrough in the North rose when the IRA announced it was standing down all its units and had ordered them to dump arms. That was followed in September by the completion of the IRA disarmament programme.
However, the Democratic Unionists and their leader Ian Paisley have insisted that confidence-building measures will have to be introduced for the unionist community before they can even contemplate going into talks to revive devolution.
Unionists have reacted cautiously to the IRA’s recent moves and have insisted they want proof that the transformation in republicanism is genuine before they will consider returning to a power-sharing executive with Sinn Féin.
Officials in London and Dublin hope a report at the end of next month by the four-member Independent Monitoring Commission will demonstrate that the IRA is sticking to its word and that this will provide a springboard for talks to revive devolution in 2006.
Mr Hain warned in his New Year’s message yesterday that there would be little point in having elections to an assembly in 2007 if there was no meaningful devolution. He said unionists needed to know that republicans were serious about their commitments to totally lawful means.
He also acknowledged that nationalists wanted to know that unionists were serious about sharing power on a genuinely equitable basis.
The British and Irish governments’ bid to revive devolution has been complicated in recent weeks by the dramatic collapse of a spying case against three men accused of intelligence gathering for republicans at Stormont in 2002 and the revelation that one of them, Sinn Féin official Denis Donaldson, was working as an agent for the British intelligence services.
Former SDLP finance minister Seán Farren said people in North were frustrated by the constant political stalemate and were enraged by a string of bad decisions, side deals and shabby deals made by British ministers.
“All political parties in the North, along with the Irish and British governments, must finally get politics working for the people again,” the North Antrim assembly member said.
‘There can be no excuses, no more stalling and no more squabbling. The people of the North deserve something better. They deserve real politics and local politics.”
