Unionist Politics by Feargal Cochrane
Cork University Press 2001
The UUP slogan of 'no guns, no government' was turning into exactly that.
The proposed deadline for the Executive 'going live' (10 March) came and
went without agreement. This was knocked back by Secretary of State Mo Mowlam
until the 'natural deadline' of the week beginning on 29 March, the week
of Good Friday. This was a case of déj&aagrave; vu for the peace process, as Prime
Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern dutifully arrived to hold
the hands and twist arms of the protagonists. While Blair had talked famously
a year earlier about feeling the 'hand of history on our shoulders', one
commentator remarked cheekily that this time around it was more a case of
'a finger of fudge'. 30 The fudge being attempted on this occasion was one
that had underpinned the whole Agreement, namely, how to find a form of
words over decommissioning that would keep the UUP on board and allow the
political process to move forward into the implementation stage. These discussions
resulted in the Hillsborough Declaration on 1 April. The key points in the
declaration related to what was now being called the choreography of 'jumping
together' on the issues that divided the pro-Agreement unionists and Sinn
Féin. The document suggested that while decommissioning was not a precondition
of the Agreement, it was an 'obligation'. It also proposed that on a predetermined
date, nominations would take place, under the d'Hondt procedure, of ministers
for the Executive, after which a collective act of reconciliation would
take place that 'will see some arms put beyond use on a voluntary basis'.
The Hillsborough Declaration was initially welcomed by UUP leader David
Trimble as having the 'potential' to resolve unionist concerns over decommissioning.
Others within his party were less sanguine, however, with Jeffrey Donaldson
declaring that its language was 'decidedly woolly'. The DUP suggested that
the Declaration was simply a form of words that would achieve little in
practise and did not provide any greater guarantee of decommissioning than
did the Agreement itself. Sinn Féin, on the other hand, were incensed by
the Hillsborough Declaration and believed that the British and Irish governments
had caved in to unionist pressure and had effectively re-negotiated the
terms of the Agreement. Sinn Féin's chief negotiator in the 1998 talks,
Martin McGuinness, summed up the republican mood when he declared that 'I
don't believe the IRA are going to jump to any ultimatum issued by David
Trimble or those elements within the British military establishment.' 31
Sinn Féin chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin stated that the Declaration was
'an attempt to rewrite important aspects of the Good Friday Agreement, especially
the decommissioning section so that the establishment of the institutions
are on unionist terms. This is an unacceptable departure from the commitments
given on Good Friday 1998.' 32 The consequence of the Hillsborough Declaration
was that it alienated republicans who felt that it had moved the goalposts
on decommissioning, while not impressing sceptical unionists that any substantive
guarantees had been provided. It was back to the drawing board and more
talks for the two governments. Eventually, following another marathon session
of meetings, the British government set a deadline of 30 June for the full
devolution of powers to Northern Ireland. The statement, prepared at a meeting
between the two governments and major parties on 14 May, was notable for
the fact that despite its positive tone, no specific commitments over weapons
decommissioning were required before the formation of the Executive was
to commence. The key passage in the 14 May document reads as follows: All
parties agree to the full implementation of all aspects of the Good Friday
Agreement including the objective of achieving total disarmament and complete
withdrawal of all weapons from politics in Ireland. They accept the issue
of arms must be finally and satisfactorily settled and will do what they
can to achieve decommissioning of all paramilitary arms within the time-frame
set down in the Agreement, in the context of the implementation of the overall
settlement. The International Commission on Decommissioning will now begin
a period of intensive discussions with all parties and report back on progress
before 30 June. All parties anticipate, without prejudice to their clear
positions on this issue, a devolution of powers by 30 June.33 Unionists
were upset that this had fudged the decommissioning issue. |
