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PAISLEY WANTS IRA NOT TO DECOMMISSION WITHOUT PHOTOS 12/15/04 14:41 EST
The DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley tonight warned that any move by the IRA to decommission without photographic evidence would have "very serious consequences" for the Northern Ireland peace process.
Speaking after talks with Irish and British Government officials at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down the Democratic unionist leader warned his party could pull out of a major plan for restoring devolution in Northern Ireland if there was no visual evidence.
He said recent negotiations had been "in the context of complete verifiable and transparent decommissioning".
Even though General John de Chastelain's Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) is ready to witness the guns being dismantled, Mr Paisley insisted nothing short of photos would convince him that the IRA was gone forever.
He said: "If anything else is delivered it clearly will have implications for other elements of this agreement. Over the last few days we have had meetings with the decommissioning commission, the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State, the foreign minister of the Irish republic. We have also been talking to sources of our own who often brief us and provide us with very valuable information. There's an indication that the IRA may be considering proceeding to decommission weapons under the original IICD scheme, leaving out the additional elements relating to transparency included in the draft statement from the IICD which forms part of our comprehensive agreement."
"We want to make it clear that if the IRA does not fulfil its obligations as envisaged in the comprehensive agreement in its refusal these terms would have very serious consequences in respect to the DUP's attitude to other elements of the comprehensive agreement."
Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy and Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Dermot Ahern held talks with the DUP delegation following earlier discussions with the other main parties in a bid to rescue the peace proposals.
The blueprint for getting Sinn Fein and the DUP into government together and the IRA out of business floundered a week ago over republican resistance to the DUP demand for photos.
Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will meet tomorrow to map out their next move following today's talks which also involved the US special envoy Mr Mitchell Reiss.
Although the Hillsborough discussions did not yield any breakthrough Mr Murphy pledged to intensify attempts to reach a resolution. He said: "Everybody is still committed to the restoration of the institutions and to power sharing. We intend to re-double our efforts to bring about a restoration of these institutions because that is what we believe the people of Northern Ireland want us to do."
Asked about Mr Paisley's claims that the IRA was planning to press ahead with decommissioning he added: "I have no information to that effect."
Meanwhile, Mr Ahern has told the Dáil that the Irish and British governments' proposals on the publication of photographs of IRA decommissioning were "fair and reasonable".
In a wide-ranging statement on the peace process, Mr Ahern said he understood the issue would be "difficult" for Republicans, but believed it would have been considered by them as part of the comprehensive plan outlined by Dublin and London last Wednesday.
Mr Ahern said the publication of photographs would not have taken place until the formation of an Executive in March, months after decommissioning itself.
"If all this had worked, my own view is that a far more compelling photograph would have been one of the formation of a DUP/Sinn Fein-led Executive at that time," Mr Ahern said.
On Monday, speaking after meeting Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin, Mr Ahern said the idea of publishing photographs was "not workable".
The comments prompted Mr Ahern to telephone the Rev Ian Paisley to apologise for the comments after the DUP threatened to break contact with the Government.
Dr Paisley also demanded Mr Ahern repeat the apology on the public record in the Dáil before it agreed to meet with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, in Hillsborough Castle this afternoon.
It is unclear if Mr Ahern's Dáil speech is sufficient to please the DUP.
Mr Ahern also said the IRA would need to go further to satisfy the Government in relation to the ending of alleged criminality.
"We have always been clear, and it was commonly understood throughout this entire period of engagement, that the ending of all paramilitary activity must also encompass all other illegal activity," Mr Ahern said.
"The IRA statement on Thursday, while confirming their intentions in relation to that organisation moving to a new mode, issuing instructions to volunteers and completing decommissioning to a rapid time-scale, did not address this issue in the clear terms required by the Government.
"Clarification is required that the IRA's commitment is indeed, to a complete ending of paramilitarism and other illegal activity," the Taoiseach added.
Mr Ahern was upbeat on the prospects for an agreement leading to power sharing between the DUP and Sinn Féin. He said he did not see things in a "negative frame".
"I have always believed that this end-phase would be difficult. But just because it is difficult and awkward does not mean that we should avoid taking on the outstanding issues."
"Let me make my position clear. I will not settle for a half-solution. I will take the political risks for peace. And I expect others also to do so.
"The Good Friday Agreement made a real difference to the politics of this island and to the lives of all its people. But the Governments' proposals would bring closure to issues, which were not, or could not be, resolved at that time. There were many such issues.
"It is now time to deal with them once and for all and build the final bridge to peace," he added.
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