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Threats from Sinn Fein will stall negotiations on the devolution of justice powers, the DUP leader has warned..
This week Sinn Fein national chairman Declan Kearney stopped short of threatening the future of the Stormont administration but accused unionists and the government of playing fast and loose with the talks.
But Peter Robinson said republicans had become irrational about devolution of policing and justice.
"Sinn Fein needs to know that ushering little known placemen out to speak to the media and issue threats of Armageddon will only delay progress," he said.
"Any further threats will ensure negotiations are stalled. The DUP will not negotiate under threat.
"Sinn Fein should know what the consequences are as they tried this once before. It didn't work then and it will not work now."
In August 2008 Sinn Fein TD Caoimhghin O Caolain warned his party would collapse the Assembly unless there was progress on the devolution of policing and justice.
Mr Kearney said Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Secretary of State Shaun Woodward had failed to prevent Mr Robinson from creating obstacles to a deal.
Government has offered a package of nearly £1 billion to fund the transfer, but the DUP has said it will not move until community confidence in the Assembly taking-on such sensitive powers is secured.
But Mr Kearney warned: "The DUP's and British Government's short-term expediency has all the potential to push this impasse into complete free-fall - they still aren't learning the political lessons."
Mr Robinson said Sinn Fein had a tactic of arranging for one spokesman to publicly breath fire and damnation then sending out another to assure the public that it was not a threat.
"They know that what is left afterwards is the lingering odour of blackmail and they hope that others will fear the possibility that the dark decree may be the reality," he added.
"I will neither submit to blackmail nor negotiate in a climate of blackmail. The use of these tactics will bring negotiations to a halt."
Hard-line unionist party, The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), has apologised for branding Irish a "leprechaun language".
The TUV led by former MEP Jim Allister is to hold its annual conference today as it tries to build-on efforts to draw support from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
The TUV is a trenchant critic of the DUP decision to share power with Sinn Fein, but had to apologise after issuing a press release attacking the translation of Stormont government documents into Irish.
The party hit-out at news that Sinn Fein's Minister for Education Caitriona Ruane spent £47,062 on Irish translations, but its press release on the issue read: "TUV Blast Leprechaun Language Waste."
The TUV's vice chair Keith Harbinson, in whose name the statement was issued, has since apologised and said no offence was intended.
But the Alliance Party politician who revealed details of the Education Minister's spending by tabling a question at the Northern Ireland Assembly, said the TUV blunder was an embarrassment.
"This was a despicable and deeply immature comment. The TUV have shown their true colours during this episode," said the Alliance Party's Trevor Lunn.
"They tried to cynically use the answer to my question and all they managed to do was embarrass themselves.
"My question was balanced as it asked about both Irish and Ulster Scots translations and the answer was revealing in that there appears to be little demand for Ulster Scots translation services in this Department."
The Alliance Party representative's Assembly question found that between 2007/08 and 2008/09 the figure spent on Irish translation in the Education Department rose from £13,274 to £47,062.
He said: "I am in favour of the promotion of the Irish language but I am also in favour of value for money, and that was what this question is about."
The TUV said it apologised for its 'leprechaun language' comment and said the remark had only served to distract from the party's opposition to Ms Ruane's spending.
Jim Allister is a former member of the DUP who left the party over its decision to enter power-sharing government with republicans.
In June's European election his party was seen to have eaten into the DUP's support base.
Sinn Fein's Bairbre De Brun topped the poll, a first for a republican candidate in Northern Ireland, with 126,184 votes, representing 26% of the first preference votes.
The Democratic Unionists had previously topped the poll in every European election since 1979.
But after Mr Allister won 66,197 votes, representing 13.7% support, the DUP tally dramatically fell.
The DUP won 18.2% support in this year's Euro poll, a major drop from the 32% it won in the previous European election in 2004.
DUP candidate Diane Dodds took 88,346 votes, winning a seat without reaching the quota.
Mr Allister will today use his party conference to underline its opposition to power-sharing and launch its plans for the next General Election.
BY DECLAN KEARNEY
Sinn Féin Chairperson
JONATHAN POWELL describes in his book, Great Hatred, Little Room, the political relationship between himself, Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson, and David Trimble in the period leading up to and beyond the Good Friday Agreement. Blair and Mandelson defined their political role in terms of support for and compliance to Trimble and his party. There is no surprise for Irish republicans in this.
The same British/unionist negotiating style which Powell describes is now shared by Gordon Brown, Shaun Woodward, and Peter Robinson. This is directly causing the present impasse in the negotiations on policing and justice transfer.
You could be forgiven for thinking these negotiations had only recently begun, given the comings and goings of recent weeks. That, of course, is not the case. The negotiation on policing and justice transfer was settled in October 2006. Remember that... the St Andrew’s Agreement? The British and Dublin governments, DUP and Sinn Féin dealt with all outstanding issues in a comprehensive negotiation.
The extraordinary Sinn Féin Ard Fheis followed in January 2007. Elections took place in March. The institutions were reinstated in May. Full transfer of powers was then scheduled to be completed by May 2008.
Everyone agreed that it was all done and dusted. No mention of further preconditions or prevarication. Ian Paisley showed leadership and brought the DUP across the Rubicon.
But, within 12 months, Peter Robinson had replaced Paisley and changes were happening in Britain.
Two years later, and Robinson has become indistinguishable from David Trimble in how he deals with the Executive, engages with Sinn Féin, and conducts negotiations – without learning the political lessons.
And the British Government appears no more able to deal with the dithering, indecisive leadership of unionism in its DUP form than when it emanated from within the UUP.
The final elements of the plan to deliver policing and justice transfer were put in place two weeks ago when the financial package was agreed.
In the lead-up to this, the DUP continuously prevaricated whilst demanding movement on unconnected side deals. But with Martin McGuinness leading the negotiations a package was agreed. It was then that Robinson to introduced a new precondition in the shape of the parades issue.
CRYSTALISED
Peter Robinson’s deficiencies as a political leader have crystalised for all to see in the weeks immediately post the summer recess – indecision, avoidance and now obstruction... all in that order.
Indecision and avoidance as he continually agreed, then disagreed, then agreed to have meetings with Sinn Féin.
A similar pattern and approach to successive meetings with Gordon Brown and Sinn Féin in London over policing and justice and followed by equivocation over whether to embrace US attempts to assist negotiations in September and October.
Then more distraction with his repeated referral of essentially the same financial proposal to his party’s officer board.
And all of this against a backdrop of Robinson’s oft-repeated mantra that ultimately the critical decision on transfer would be made by an undefined test of community confidence.
Before the summer it was obvious that a financial package could be agreed. As discussions moved inexorably towards agreement, Robinson and his team simultaneously began to shift the negotiations goalposts to include a number of side deals, including a £20 million backhander to ex-RUC reservists and legal weapons for former UDR and RUC combatants.
But as Brown, Woodward and Robinson addressed the choreography on DUP acceptance of the financial package and British compliance with a DUP shopping list, Robinson raised the bar at Westminster with a declaration that dealing with controversial parades is also a precondition to transfer.
MISTAKEN ASSUMPTIONS
The DUP and NIO have played fast and loose with these negotiations. Their introduction of the parades precondition may not necessarily mean they are opposed to the transfer of powers... although it might. But it demonstrates they are considering the reckless scenario of pushing transfer of powers beyond next year’s Westminster election. And the DUP may still plan to raise new and more preconditions
It is likely, for different reasons, that the DUP, NIO, Woodward, and Brown are basing short-term, tactical expediency upon three mistaken assumptions:
1.That Sinn Féin will be weakened the longer they can play out delivery of transfer of policing and justice powers;
2.That Sinn Féin has invested so much in the achievement of transfer, we will simply roll over;
3.That Sinn Féin is so committed to the political institutions we no longer possess, or will want to use any effective political leverage in this situation.
They are codding themselves and no one else!
The political institutions are only of value if they deliver and if they deliver in the terms agreed on Good Friday and at St Andrews. They are also seriously misjudging the widespread desire for the transfer of policing and justice to go ahead.
Republican strategy is long-term and very patient.
SUB-TEXT
The sub-text to everything going on is that unionism is in a place where some unionists do not want to be.
Currently, the DUP is a divided house. It includes those who appear willing to follow the lead set by Paisley; others prepared to go with the flow; and those who will deliberately obstruct progress because they hanker after the old unionist one-party state.
Add the UUP and Jim Allister’s TUV to the mix and, overall, unionism has up to five different tendencies. And more political change in the North makes more disarray and volatility in the rejectionist wing of the unionist body politic inevitable. And the tendency in the unionist leaderships and the NIO is to allow them to set the agenda.
Hence Peter Robinson’s obstructionism and Shaun Woodward’s total compliance.
GAMBLING
The NIO and Downing Street are gambling with policing and justice transfer in a misdirected bid to address the agenda set by rejectionist unionists in an increasingly competitive electoral context – and without learning the political lessons. Principal amongst these, in my opinion, is that a majority of the unionist electorate still want to move forward on the agreed basis. Much better to listen to this voice than to the siren song of Jim Allister or Campbell’s ‘Gregorian Rant’ which assault our ears from time to time in support of a return to the Protestant state for a Protestant people. This, clearly, is unacceptable, unavailable, unobtainable.
They cannot arrest the momentum for change in the North.
And our role in that is central.
Nothing galvanises the republican base like a gang-up by the unionists and British. Nothing focuses the republican organisation more than an election. The next Westminster election is now less than seven months away.
The NIO and DUP strategists ought to remember that election results bring their own dynamics and pressures. Last June’s European poll in the North comes to mind.
The old unionist one-party state has gone forever. Today, unionists can exercise power in the Six Counties only if they accept partnership and equality. And, if the DUP can’t do partnership and equality, then it won’t be doing government either!
So, Robinson does have decisions to make.
Sinn Féin is in no such place.
The republican political project won’t be blown off course by DUP or NIO brinkmanship. It will remain intact regardless of DUP recklessness or fall-out from continued unionist disarray because our political objectives follow a national trajectory.
Wider nationalist opinion has this impasse sussed out. So republican activists need to keep our nerve and patiently step through this latest DUP/British manoeuvring. With a clear analysis of what’s happening we should now move directly onto intensive preparations for the Westminster election campaign next spring and with maximum resolve and determination.
The DUP’s and British Government’s short-term expediency has all the potential to push this impasse into complete free-fall – they still aren’t learning the political lessons.
NATIONALISTS will not accept the abolition of the Parades Commission demanded by the DUP as a new bargaining chip in return for the devolution of policing and justice to the Stormont Assembly, Sinn Féin’s Seán Murray has said.
Murray, a spokesperson for the Springfield Residents’ Action Group (SRAG) and who sat on the Strategic Review of Parading said:
“Nationalists will not be bullied into accepting the abolition of the Parades Commission as a political demand.”
Murray was reacting to a speech made by DUP leader Peter Robinson in the British parliament last week (Tuesday 27 October) in which he demanded the abolition of the Parades Commission as a precondition to the transfer of policing and justice to the North.
In a speech that highlighted the DUP’s foot-dragging over the policing issue, Robinson demanded that the Parades Commission be scrapped.
The DUP leader claimed:
“If the issue was left until afterwards it would plant a seed at the heart of government which would be corrosive and divisive.”
Responding to the Robinson speech, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said:
“Any attempt to put the resolution of that issue in front of and as a precondition for the transfer of policing and justice powers is totally and absolutely unacceptable.”
MISREPRESENTED
As the row rumbled on it became clear that the DUP, aided and abetted by the SDLP, were intent on misrepresenting Sinn Féin’s position in regards to the Parades Commission and in particular the view of Seán Murray on the Strategic Review of Parading.
Both the DUP and the SDLP have claimed that Murray had agreed to the abolition of the Parades Commission. But the Belfast republican dismissed the claims.
Paddy Ashdown, former leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats, has been conducting a review of the parades issue and has proposed a mediation system for resolving disputes over controversial marches through dialogue.
“I have consistently said for the last 18 months that I won’t sign off on the Ashdown proposals until three key elements have been engaged by all parties.
“Those issues are the full transfer of policing and justice powers, draft legislation regarding a parades ‘code of conduct’ being true to the substance and spirit of the Ashdown recommendations and the right for people to live free from sectarian harassment incorporated in a bill of rights.
“Until those issues are resolved, I won’t be agreeing to anything,” Murray said.
Murray also pointed out that he outlined these “key elements” in an interview with An Phoblacht in May 2008.
In that interview Murray made it clear:
“The report published last month [April 2008] by the review body is an interim report designed to encourage further debate. It is not written in stone. No one has signed up to the proposals. It’s simply a work in progress.”
SMOKESCREEN
Murray went on to accuse the DUP of using the Parades Commission as a “smokescreen” to block the transfer of policing powers.
“I don’t think the DUP want the transfer of policing and are simply caving in to pressure from the Orange Order. The DUP just want the scalp of the Parades Commission for their own selfish political ends.
“If the DUP are serious about resolving the parades issue they should use their influence with the Orange Order and persuade them to sit down and talk with nationalist residents.”
Murray asked if the DUP had in fact read the interim report of the review group.
“If they have, they will know that they have to agree to a bill of rights, a parades code of conduct and the transfer of policing and justice before anything remotely happens to the Parades Commission.
“If they say that what is contained in the report is enough to do away with the Parades Commission then they will have to agree to everything else.
“The report will only work in practical terms if the political situation is conducive and all elements are engaged.”
TALK NOT WALK: The DUP should use their influence with the Orange Order to resolve the parades issue
Friday, 6 November 2009
The SDLP should stand for a strong North in a strong Ireland. The leadership battle looks set to be fought out between Margaret Ritchie and Alasdair McDonnell, both formidable characters with strong track records.
Will it be a personality contest or is this an opportunity to debate the future direction of the party and Northern nationalism?
My own view is that it must be the latter if the SDLP is to become a major force in Irish politics again.
The DUP-SF coalition isn't working. There is no respect between the two parties and this is reflected by their failure to address the rising youth unemployment crisis, the education fiasco or the looming public finance squeeze. Not to mention the stand-off over the big elephant in the room of northern politics, sectarianism.
Sinn Fein has also seen its vision for an Ireland outside Europe and disinterest in managing the economy - to quote Gerry Adams - rejected by Southern voters. Truth is Mr Adams and the rest of SF's leadership look old these days. They are where Hume, Mallon and Rodgers were in 1998.
This creates a series of opportunities for the SDLP.
The electorate needs an alternative to the DUP and Sinn Fein. Opposing those who want to undermine power-sharing does not mean you should not work with parties which support it. There is an opportunity to co-operate across the community divide on issues which matter. Jobs, education, and the looming public finance crisis are opportunities for the SDLP, the UUP and Alliance to evidence an alternative. Co-operating in the interests of this region is not a denial of community identity; it is an expression of confidence and ambition for the North and this island.
The SDLP also has to get serious about unity and what it actually means for Northern Ireland and for the rest of this island. The party has said it sees a Northern Assembly remaining in a united Ireland but what does this mean?
Also, has the collapse of the Republic's economy made a united Ireland more or less likely and how would people in the Republic respond to the prospect of a referendum in the current climate?
What would any change mean to the living standards of the least well off? Would it be good or bad for business and public services?
Such questions have never seriously been posed. To date unity has equalled a one size fits all Ireland ruled centrally from Dublin.
This vision has given rise to Sinn Fein's often cited mantra that Northern power-sharing is just a "transitional arrangement".
We live in complex and uncertain times, and vague generalities won't cut it anymore. The SDLP has always been the party of ideas and surely it is time for a party with such a radical past to take up that mantle again, and to have the courage to ask the questions, and articulate a new nationalism.
The forum on unity proposed by Mark Durkan is the place for such a debate.
All this will be meaningless if the party can't sell its vision for the North and this island to a new generation. This means changing the face of the SDLP and bringing forward new public representatives that reflect today's Ireland.
The acid test of a good leader is her/his ability to build a talented and ambitious team. The next leader will have to recruit to recruit people who might someday do his/her job.
The truth is less people are joining political parties today. Everyone's membership base is shrinking as many opt to support from the outside. Finding new ways of building organisation and bringing in funds will be a major challenge for the new leader. This means making politics more conversational and being at the heart of campaign which transcend party politics.
The SDLP can see Fianna Fail and Irish Labour support groups in the North as a threat but given neither are contesting elections why not convert them into allies. The new leader can walk alone or seek to broaden the party's support base from within democratic nationalism and the non aligned middle ground without diluting the party's independence or integrity
Soil on a boot belonging to republican Colin Duffy matched a sample in the getaway car used after the murder of two soldiers, a court has heard.
Colin Duffy is accused of murdering two soldiers
Mr Duffy, 41, of Forest Glade, Lurgan, County Armagh, denies the murders of sappers Mark Quinsey, 23, and Patrick Azimkar, 21.
They were shot dead at the gates of Massereene Army barracks in March.
Mr Duffy was applying for bail at the High Court. The hearing was adjourned by Mr Justice Weatherup.
This was done so prosecutors can confirm whether or not a case is to proceed against Mr Duffy, who is also accused of of five counts of attempted murders and possession of firearms with intent.
A Crown barrister said on the night of the attack two masked gunmen fired more than 60 rounds at the victims before escaping in a waiting car.
She told the court it was later found partially burnt out in Randalstown and forensic examinations were carried out on the tip of a glove retrieved from the front passenger side of the vehicle.
She said: "The result from that is the chance of obtaining a matching profile of DNA other than that from this applicant (Mr Duffy) would be less than one in one billion."
Mixed profiles from up to three people were also found on a seatbelt buckle. A forensic scientist concluded that one of them could have come from Duffy, according to the prosecution.
Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey were shot dead
Further searches of a glove compartment located the same type of ammunition used in the attack, while a hold-all found in the boot contained camouflage jackets, trousers and more bullets, the court heard.
The barrister claimed that because of the length of sentence Mr Duffy faces should he be convicted there would be an "almost overwhelming" temptation to flee the country if was released on bail.
She also disclosed that soil comparisons were carried out after footwear was seized during searches of his home.
"The forensic expert concludes that the soil taken from the applicant's boot matches the soil found in the car at that time."
'Paucity'
However a defence barrister claimed the report only stated the earth may have come from the same location.
He said this reflected the "paucity" of the case against his client, and stressed that eight months after the murders the authorities have still to decide whether to press ahead with the charges against Mr Duffy, who denies any involvement in the attack.
"Mr Duffy makes no bones about the fact, and never has done, that he is known as a prominent republican, in the mainstream sense of the word, in Lurgan," the barrister said.
"But at no time did the police ever arrest him in relation to dissident republican activity prior to his arrest on March 14 this year."
Mr Justice Weatherup said he was not satisfied that no risk existed by releasing the accused, but he stressed that any potential delay in bringing the case to trial was unacceptable.
"This situation cannot continue without specific justification for continued detention. Therefore I require that justification to be presented when this matter next appears before the court."
Media coverage of the latest report on paramilitary activities places undue attention on republican violence
Disarming republicans has always been the obsession of conservative politicians on both sides of the Irish Sea. That agenda has so infused the prevailing perceptions that to this day it dominates debates about peaceful coexistence in Northern Ireland.
The coverage of the Independent Monitoring Commission's (IMC's) 22nd report on paramilitary activities, vindicates that tradition. Shootings by dissident republican sects at war with both the British and Sinn Féin defined the news. A month ago when US secretary of state Hillary Clinton visited Northern Ireland it was the same story: new threat from republicans. So, is peace in Northern Ireland still threatened by the republicans?
No, says the IMC.
In fact, the Provisional IRA has disarmed and disbanded. The Irish National Liberation Army has declared that "armed struggle is over" and promised to decommission. According to the IMC, Sinn Féin and the IRA army council have adhered to their commitment to peaceful politics. The loyalist paramilitary organisations, the UDA, LVF and UVF – despite some acts of decommissioning – have not.
Decommissioning of republicans dominated political discourse throughout the 1990s, before, during and after the historic ceasefires in 1994. It dogged the peace process that delivered the Good Friday agreement in 1998. And it was the spectre haunting the intermittent progress towards devolved self-government.
The sovereign government finally established at Stormont was wrecked not by republicans but Peter Mandelson's undiplomatic and undignified endorsement of a unionist agenda and by MI5's messing about with spooks at Stormont. Neither Mandelson nor MI5 and the security services have ever been called to account for the shady shenanigans that destabilised Northern Ireland's elected government.
The 22nd report of the IMC confirms that the most responsibility for violence in Northern Ireland lies with loyalists. And yet this week's story is the usual republican threat. The devil is in the detail, however. The report shows that casualties of violence by loyalists – shootings and assaults – number 38 in the past year, a 245% increase on the previous year. Casualities of republican shootings and assaults number 25, up by 56%.
These figures indicate some very worrying trends: loyalist gangsterism is rife, dangerous and productive, and dissident sects have murdered members of the security forces at a time when diplomats and politicians in Washington, London, Dublin and not least Belfast are desperate to get unionists and republican parties to sign up to "normal" policing.
The IMC notes that it is "inexperienced young men" who are enlisting with the dissident republicans. But it is mute about the sinister synergy between these young men's pessimistic attraction to violence and unionist resistance to "normalisation" of policing and the apparent lack of sanctions against loyalist warlords and their sponsorship of gangsterism. When the IMC reports again in six months' time, it is to be hoped that it finally turns its mind to that scary matrix.
Updated: 12/4/2009
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