The Other View

Cameron Mitchell examines the political reaction…

Once again Westminster has taken control of Northern Ireland's affairs as our power-sharing executive slipped back into indefinite suspension. This, the fourth suspension of the institutions since devolution first began in late 1999, was ordered by the former Secretary of State, John Reid, as "a decisive action in order to safeguard the progress already made" amid resignation threats from the Ulster Unionist Party.

Similar to previous suspensions, the unionist finger of blame points towards the IRA. The Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, threatened to walk out before accusing the IRA and republicans of dragging their feet over decommissioning. The last suspension was resolved when the IRA announced that it had put some of their weapons "beyond use".

But for the unionists this time, they say that their trust has eroded. Some believe that republicans are pursuing a "dual strategy" - participating in constitutional politics while retaining the capacity to return to violence. Unionists are not satisfied that republicans are "fully committed to peaceful politics".

First came the arrests of three suspected IRA men in Colombia two years ago. The Colombian authorities accused the men of working with the FARC rebels. The IRA has denied any involvement. Then in March of this year, there was a break-in at Castlereagh police station. Again the IRA was accused.

Though the latest and most damaging event has been the allegation that republicans were operating an intelligence gathering spy ring in the Northern Ireland Office.

The Ulster Unionist and North Belfast MLA, Fred Cobain, believes that a recent opinion poll commissioned by the BBC’s Hearts and Minds programme suggests that a high degree of "unionists are falling away in support of the Agreement" and that "Sinn Fein’s behaviour within government has tarnished power-sharing in the eyes of some unionists".He added, "While this poll is interesting in its findings, it should be pointed out that it takes in the views of only a small number of people and comes at a time when there is anger over the circumstances and disappointment about the suspension of the Assembly.

"It is understandable that there are feelings of pessimism in the Unionist community over power-sharing because many people feel let down by the Government. It has failed to fulfil its commitments to the people of Northern Ireland by taking decisive action against Sinn Fein over the failure of republicans to fully commit to what they signed up to in the Agreement - a complete transition to exclusively peaceful and democratic means."

John Reid delivered a blunt message to the IRA during an emergency Commons statement on the suspension - choose between violence and democracy:

"We are now, I believe, at a crossroads, and I do not believe it is possible to sustain the power-sharing element of this Agreement unless there is some substantial move, a definitive move in that direction".

The unionist plan to oust Sinn Fein may have backfired. The Ulster Unionist Party criticised the government for taking the easy option - rather than excluding Sinn Fein from the Northern Ireland executive. Speaking from Westminster, the North Down MP Lady Sylvia Hermon said that she "remained firmly in support of the Belfast Agreement" but was "particularly disappointed in John Reid’s decision":

"Instead of punishing only the guilty and excluding Sinn Fein from the Executive, he has decided to take the easier option of suspension and thereby punishing the innocent parties as well".

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, defended the suspension and told the IRA that the process would fail if they continued to carry on "half in, half out" and that the peace process is on "an unstoppable path".

"The continuing existence of the IRA as an active paramilitary organisation is now the best card those whom republicans call 'rejectionist' unionists, have in their hand. It totally justifies their refusal to share power; it embarrasses moderate unionism and pushes wavering unionists into the hands of those who would just return Northern Ireland to the past".

This keynote speech has angered many republicans. Sinn Fein president, Gerry Adams, said that Tony Blair was taking the wrong approach and warned him "removing the political anchor of the process was a grievous mistake". He also suggested that Tony Blair should not have singled out the Provisional IRA, "I don't tolerate what the loyalist paramilitaries are doing. I don't tolerate the allegations of IRA activity and I certainly don't tolerate what the British forces or the police services are doing".

The IRA rejected the calls from Tony Blair and unionists to disband. In a statement to the press they said that it was "not a threat to the peace process and will not accept the imposition of unrealistic demands". The statement then added, "There is considerable concern within the IRA at recent developments and at sustained efforts to present the IRA as a threat to the peace process".

Sinn Fein Dail group leader, Caoimhghin O’ Caolain believes that the suspension was not caused by the IRA's or Sinn Fein's ill actions but rather the anti-Agreement forces within the Ulster Unionist Council.

"An internal unionist battle for political advantage is now being waged between the UUP and the DUP with the Assembly and the Executive being used as the destruction of the Good Friday Agreement as the ultimate prize.

"The suspension was never about Colombia, it was not about Castlereagh, and was not about the raids on Sinn Fein's offices in Stormont. It was bringing about an end to changes that were required of unionism in respect of the Agreement. It is their reluctance to share power and to be part of real change that is driving their agenda to have Sinn Fein ejected from Stormont".

Patricia Lewsly, SDLP, also sees the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly as "the result of a crisis that has been fuelled by anti-agreement unionist politicians and paramilitaries". The Lagan Valley MLA continued, "Now the ordinary people who were beginning to reap the benefits of devolution have to suffer. Under devolution, local Assembly Members were able to fight the cause for local people and were improving society and standards of living for everyone’.

The view that the Ulster Unionist Party has slid into the no-camp has been dismissed by its chairman, James Cooper. At a party conference in Londonderry he told delegates:

"Our message to Martin McGuinness and the world is that this party is not afraid of peace - what is stopping the peace are the thugs, the mafia, the terrorists and the murderers, that he and Gerry Adams refuse to abandon.

"But we must not only time and time again condemn republican violence. We must also continually and relentlessly abhor loyalist violence - which likewise must be wiped from our community.’

In an interview with this magazine, the Progressive Unionist Party MLA, Billy Hutchinson, explained that the Executive should be put back into place with the inclusion of Sinn Fein:

"There can be no exclusions of paramilitary organisations because paramilitaries will do what they want, irrespective of political parties. What we need to do is create an inclusive process and at the same time have some type of mechanism in place, which actually punishes people when they do things that are wrong.

The problems don't exist in the agreement the problems exist through the deals that were done between Trimble and Adams. They were done to get us over a hump or to get us through a crisis.

It is a process that we are involved in and the process should have been that we took a number of years to stabilise the country and make all paramilitaries irrelevant and get on with the politics. And we would have done that if we had shown that politics work".

This is something that the DUP strongly oppose. According to their leader, Ian Paisley, the Good Friday Agreement is "fatally flawed" and was "doomed from the start". The only way forward is to "move on and seek a new arrangement".

Dr Paisley stated, "The present arrangements can neither withstand trouble in the community nor the outcome of the next Assembly election. In order to create long-term stability and a mechanism to move away from crisis management it is necessary to have institutions that can withstand the attacks of terrorism from any quarter or any election result.’

Mr Reid believes the suspension is short term. David Trimble believes that the Assembly will be restored by February. But for the foreseeable future - the Executive is closed for business. The challenge now is to get the parties back around the table and begin to restore the trust.

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