Paisley won't walk away from power-sharing - Adams
The Rev Ian Paisley is not going to walk away from power-sharing with Sinn Féin, the party’s president Gerry Adams claimed today.
Mr Adams said the only way the Democratic Unionist Party leader can become First Minister in Northern Ireland is in a devolved government with Sinn Féin.
Speaking in Dublin today, Mr Adams also refused to speculate on a forthcoming IRA statement signalling an end to its armed struggle.
Mr Paisley said after talks with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Wednesday that it would take months to prove whether the IRA peace pledge was genuine and permanent.
Mr Adams said of Mr Paisley today: “I don’t think he’s going to walk away from an arrangement [with Sinn Féin] he wants to be First Minister.
“The only way he can be First Minister is with a Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister.”
The West Belfast MP refused to be drawn by reporters on the expected IRA declaration.
“I just refuse to speculate and it’s the only safe thing for me to do. I refuse to speculate about the timing or nature or content of the IRA debate.”
Mr Ahern has said this week that he doesn’t expect the statement to come before the end of this month.
Speaking in London this week, Mr Paisley ruled out hopes of a swift return to power-sharing involving Sinn Féin.
He declared: “Everybody has their tongue out waiting for a statement from the IRA. We haven’t got our tongues out.
“What the IRA says is totally meaningless, except we have action.”
Mr Adams was speaking today at a Sinn Féin protest outside the Dáil over the killing of the party’s Donegal councillor Eddie Fullerton in 1991.
Sinn Féin, which has called for a independent inquiry in the death, claims garda officers implicated in the Morris Tribunal into garda corruption were also involved in the investigation of Cllr Fullerton’s murder.
The protest took place as an all-party debate on the Tribunal was taking place in the Dáil.
