Concerns for peace process after DUP move on H-Blocks

Posted by Jim on August 25, 2013

 

 Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness has warned that “the extremes of political

unionism” have been boosted after DUP leader Peter Robinson rejected

plans for a peace centre on the site of the former Long Kesh prison.

 

In a 12-page diatribe issued from his Florida holiday home last week,

Robinson blamed Sinn Fein for making it impossible to co-operate on the

project.

 

Martin McGuinness accused the First Minister of “continually feeding the

insatiable appetite of those who see life through a red, white and blue

prism”.

 

“History is littered with unionist leaders who made this mistake,” he

said.

 

Unionist hardliners have reiterated demands it be razed to the ground to

prevent it becoming a “shrine” to the Irish republican armed struggle,

and the ten hunger strikers who gave their lives there. There are fears

the historic site could now be bulldozed.

 

However, the blueprints for the £300 million development of the site

near Lisburn in County Antrim also include a number of large-scale

projects aimed at bringing employment to the predominately unionist

area.

 

Last Saturday, Mr McGuinness told a commemoration for IRA Volunteer and

former Sinn Fein vice-president John Joe McGirl in Balinamore, County

Leitrim, that Robinson’s apparent u-turn was a mistake.

 

“It is a mistake not just because it jeopardises much-needed investment

and jobs, but also for the message it sends to the vast majority of

people — nationalist and unionist — who are rock solid behind the

peace process,” he said.

 

“Some in the extremes of political unionism believe that they can unpick

the Good Friday Agreement — moves like this give them succour.”

 

Mr McGuinness said the DUP decision ignored the fact that the vast

majority of unionists wanted to see the peace process succeed.

 

“They are not interested in re-fighting battles that are long over or

harking back to a time that has long gone,” he said.

 

“They want to see their political leaders get on with the job of

reconciliation and delivering in the government.”

 

He also argued many unionists were “embarrassed by the antics” of

loyalists who attacked police in Belfast city centre riots earlier this

month.

 

TALKS

 

Commenting on the forthcoming round table talks to be chaired by former

US envoy Richard Haass, Mr McGuinness said Sinn Fein would use the

discussions to further underpin the north’s political institutions.

 

“We want to see agreement on parades, on flags and emblems and on

dealing with the legacy of the past,” he said.

 

“The Haass talks are not about replacing the Parades Commission to

satisfy the demands of the Orange Order.”

 

The deputy first minister said he was “entirely comfortable” with

unionists seeking to express a British identity in a “sensible and

non-confrontational fashion”.

 

“Likewise I expect them to acknowledge and recognise my Irishness in the

same spirit – I do not believe that is too much to ask or expect,” he

said.

 

But the DUP’s Edwin Poots hit back at Mr McGuinness’s criticisms and

accused the deputy first minister of “absolute hypocrisy and cheek”.

 

“He needs to stop blaming everyone else for the action taken on the Maze

and wake up to the reality that his party and their actions are

responsible for the lack of confidence that any peace centre can be a

shared space,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell claimed the public spat

between the two biggest parties at Stormont had soured the political

process.

 

“Last week we saw how Peter Robinson, viewing the mob violence in

Belfast from his American holiday, played to the gallery of unionist

extremism and made a funda-mental U-turn on the Maze in a bid to appease

this minority,” the South Belfast MP said.

 

“Now days later we see his deputy, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness,

similarly move to appease his party who are obviously demanding an angry

response over the airwaves.”