US envoy: Ulster peace depends on IRA response
The US administration put fresh pressure on the IRA today to declare its total rejection of violence and backing for democracy in Northern Ireland.
President George Bush’s special envoy to Ireland, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, said he wanted an early response from the IRA leadership to Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams’ pre-election call for them to fully support the use of only democratic means to move the political process forward.
Speaking in Belfast after a series of talks with the local political parties, Ambassador Reiss said it was clear political progress “does hinge on the IRA’s response".
He said: “I think it is important that they respond in a very positive and unambiguous way.”
He admitted there were concerns the situation could worsen if there was no early response and things were left to drift through the tensions of the summer Loyalist marching season.
Mr Reiss said: “Everyone I have spoken with so far recognises the need for the IRA to respond positively and every has said sooner is better than later and I think there is some concern if it does continue to delay much longer that the situation isn’t going to remain the same.
“You are either going forward or you are not.”
He said he very much hoped for an early IRA response but added: “I can be patient as long as they give the right response. It is much more important that they give the right response than we get one in the next few days.”
Mr Reiss said in his discussions with Mr Paisley’s Democratic Union Party he did not detect a hardening of attitudes following their General Election successes. Equally he didn’t detect a softening.
He declined to say whether he thought the electoral successes of the DUP and Sinn Fein made a political breakthrough more or less likely.
“You have to play the cards you are dealt and if it has made it harder, it doesn’t matter, you still have to get the deal done.”
Mr Reiss visited a number of cross community projects and went on a walkabout in rain-swept North Belfast.
He said he thought that at the moment the politicians were lagging behind the people and needed to catch up.
He said once the response from the IRA comes: “We will be in a better position to evaluate whether we can reach a deal or not.”
Mr Reiss had a meeting with the McCartney sisters about the murder of their brother Robert by an IRA member in January and the wall of silence which has prevented the killer being brought to justice.
Ambassador Reiss said he was heartened to hear the sisters were confident they would get what they wanted and he had heard from others that the investigation was moving forward.
He said he had not discussed the McCartney killing when he saw Gerry Adams today but had done so previously with him and with Martin McGuinness when he was in Washington last month.
He said they were: “Under no illusion as to where the United States stands and what we want to achieve in this case.”
