STORMONT BACK FROM THE BRINK

Posted by Jim on September 5, 2015

The DUP leader Peter Robinson has offered to take part in a fresh round
of multi-party talks as a deep crisis over allegations that the
Provisional IRA still exists appears set to extend over a period of
weeks or months.

The talks will involve input from the Dublin and London governments and
will also include a new attempt to break the deadlock over last year’s
unimplemented Stormont House Agreement.

While the status of the political institutions in the North remains
under threat from the DUP following the withdrawal of the Ulster
Unionist Party, it now appears unlikely that a suspension or collapse
will take place ahead of the talks.

Last week, the UUP said it could no longer work with Sinn Fein because
trust had been “shattered” over claims that individual members of the
Provisional IRA had been involved in the killing last month of Kevin
McGuigan, suspected of being behind the ‘grudge’ murder of top
Provisional IRA figure Jock Davison last May.

The DUP briefly considered withdrawing from the Executive, but now says
it wants to see Sinn Fein excluded rather than see the Executive
collapse. The party has urged the British government to suspend the
Stormont Assembly while negotiations take place, something which
nationalist parties have refused.

While appearing to rule out a suspension, the call for fresh talks was
met with a positive response from the Dublin and London governments and
the other parties. However, Alliance leader David Ford expressed concern
over the “seemingly endless cycle of crisis after crisis”.

UNIONIST INFIGHTING

The escalating conflict between the two main unionist parties, the UUP
and DUP, was at the centre of this week’s events. In the latest twist,
Lisburn councillors Jenny Palmer and her husband John rejoined the UUP
after twelve years in a move that was seen as a morale boost for Mike
Nesbitt’s party. Mrs Palmer had quit the DUP after claiming she had been
bullied for blowing the whistle on the DUP’s efforts to influence the
outcome of a contract.

The DUP’s Arlene Foster defended the party from the UUP’s new hard line
on working with Sinn Fein. She said the UUP’s attitude to the present
crisis had echoes of the party’s actions in the years following the Good
Friday Agreement, and condemned the UUP’s refusal to back a suspension
of the Assembly.

“In the years after 1998 that vision was hallmarked by the UUP
steadfastly refusing to take action against Sinn Fein despite continued
IRA activity,” she said. “In 2015 Mike Nesbitt’s party again chose to
join forces with Sinn Fein to ensure it’s business as usual at Stormont
next week.”

Mr Robinson, who has been on holiday, branded the UUP decision to quit
the Executive as irrational, illogical and based on “political
expediency” rather than principle. Walking away should be a last resort,
he said.

“This is not the time to flee the battlefield, it is the time to
confront violent republicanism, to stand and fight for democratic
principles and to do what is right for the law abiding citizens of
Northern Ireland,” said Mr Robinson.

He said he accepted a police “assessment” that PIRA members were
involved in the murder of Mr McGuigan and that some PIRA structures
remain in place. Such activity is inconsistent with membership of the
Executive, he said.

“The UUP position is just incorrigible.

“How any party could say that they want to take a principled stand and
stand up to Sinn Fein and then allow Sinn Fein in the business committee
to ensure that business would carry on…

“It is just an unbelievable position and one they are going to have to
spend a lot of time explaining to the electorate.”

Writing in the Belfast Telegraph, Robinson added: “We must not allow
republicans who precipitated the crisis, to end up benefiting from it.
It should be republicans and not unionists who pay the price for the
misbehaviour of the IRA.”

‘HYPOCRISY’

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein accused its political opponents of cynically
exploiting the recent killings. It also accused the UUP of hypocrisy
over its united front on parading with the political spokesmen of the
two most active loyalist paramilitary groups.

Conor Murphy, Sinn Fein representative for Newry and Armagh, said: “We
and the 178,000 people who voted for us in the last Assembly elections
will not be excluded or discriminated against. Those days are over.”

Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness said his party had a strong record of
condemning violence and said those who engage in violence are “no friend
of Sinn Fein”.

He described the killers of both Kevin McGuigan and Jock Davison as
“criminals” and “violent dissidents”. Speaking from Stormont Castle, the
Deputy First Minister said any republicans engaging in violence
“immediately become the enemy and they become dissidents”.

He said the UUP action was “all about the election” and said if the DUP
left the Executive it would show a “massive failure of leadership” which
would create a “very real prospect of an increase in violence on our
streets”.

“The only way we can defeat those people is by working together and be
seen to work together,” he said.

Meanwhile, the US administration has urged Stormont politicians to seize
the “opportunity” presented by the new round of talks. Retired Senator
Gary Hart, who represents Secretary of State John Kerry, said the US
remained “actively engaged” and would continue to support the process.

PRISONERS TARGETED

But the DUP has insisted that Stormont must not operate on a ‘business
as usual’ basis and Peter Robinson has threatened that ‘unilateral
action’ could be taken. In a foretaste of what might be planned, DUP
councillors on Belfast City Council moved to temporarily overturn a
decision to fund former prisoners’ groups.

Sinn Fein councillor Jim McVeigh said that community groups should not
be punished in the political fall-out over Mr McGuigan’s murder. He said
the funding had not only been ear-marked for ex-prisoners groups but
also victims groups, and had “become a victim of the electoral battle”
between the DUP and the Ulster Unionists.

“Republicans weren’t involved in the killing of Kevin McGuigan but we
don’t believe that community groups should be penalised,” Mr McVeigh
said.

“They have no connection to the murder of Kevin McGuigan – whether
they’re ex-prisoners’ or whether they’re victims’ groups.”