Adams angry at `stupid' Trimble demand
From IRISH TIMES October 30th, 2000
By MARY MINIHAN
The Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, has described Mr David Trimble's
hardened stance on IRA decommissioning as a "stupid and unattainable" demand.
Speaking at a meeting of Sinn Féin party activists in Castlebellingham,
Co Louth, yesterday, Mr Adams said the Ulster Unionist Council's adoption
of Mr Trimble's six-point plan represented an "ungracious rejection of the IRA initiative" on arms inspections. Mr Adams said Mr Trimble had failed to tackle the problems presented by the anti-Belfast Agreement wing of the Ulster Unionist Party and was close to breaching the terms of the agreement by threatening to exclude Sinn Féin Ministers from the North-South Ministerial Council. "He has chosen to step outside that agreement and if he follows through on his threat he will be in breach of the agreement, and in contravention of his pledge of office and of his ministerial code," he said. "Sinn Féin does not hold Executive position by dint of patronage from the UUP. We have a mandate and the citizens we represent must have exactly the same rights as all other citizens." Mr Adams said he had been in contact with both the
British and Irish governments yesterday but said the "primary responsibility"
for upholding the terms of the Belfast Agreement lay with British Prime
Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and his colleagues. "They cannot allow a unionist veto," he said. He appealed to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to use his influence
with Mr Blair to persuade him to continue to implement the terms of the
agreement. The Sinn Féin Minister, Mr Martin McGuinness, said the party
intended to send a Minister to this week's proposed meeting of the North-South
Council, despite Mr Trimble's threat. "We will be endeavouring to attend that meeting," he told the BBC's On The Record programme. "I'm not going to be treated as a second-class Minister by the leader of the UUP - or, indeed, by Peter Mandelson or anyone else." Mr McGuinness called for an immediate meeting of the Executive to discuss the UUC's decision. He claimed
the anti-agreement wing of unionism had succeeded in bringing Mr Trimble
over to its side. Unionists and British politicians opposed to the peace
process must not be allowed to "emasculate" the agreement. Mr Gerry Kelly,
Sinn Féin Assembly member for North Belfast, described Mr Trimble's threat
to bar Sinn Féin ministers from the North-South Ministerial Council as a
"recipe for disaster". "We want the gun moved out of Irish politics but this is the wrong way to do it. If Mr Trimble thinks threatening to pull down the institutions will help, he is wrong," he said. "The institutions are the alternative to violence. He is threatening to withdraw the alternative. . . . No nationalist, republican or IRA person is threatening to pull down these institutions," he said. "The combined effects of the British government's approach to the implementation of the agreement and the UUP's tactical engagement are leading to a timetable for disaster," he said. |
