Ulster
steps out on the road to self-rule
From DAILY TELEGRAPH December 2nd, 1999
Devolution was also welcomed by Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader, who,
while acknowledging the reservations held by sections of both communities,
said the executive must work towards improving the lot of the ordinary people
of Northern Ireland. "Change will be measured not by who is in government or who is in the ministry but by the plight of working-class loyalist and republican kids who have no future. Come back in 10 years and if those people are better off, then you will know that we have done our job," he said.
However, Mr Trimble was reminded of the fragility of his own position by
Willie Thompson, the MP for West Tyrone, who threatened to resign last weekend.
Although Mr Thompson announced he would not be resigning following appeals
from within the UUP, he made plain that he would oppose the devolution process
until the IRA handed over its weapons.
Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Féin member who was selected as Minister of
Education, last night said that he could foresee the IRA being wound up.
Asked whether if it disarmed, why not disband, he said: "This would be a matter for the IRA but that is what I am working towards. I want to see a situation where the politicians are in command, where the politicians are in control."
He told BBC1's Nine O'Clock News that he hoped Northern Ireland could move
forward into "an entirely new dispensation which will see a situation and circumstances where there are no armed groups, where there is no conflict and where there is no injustice or inequality". |
