UUP warns Unionist trust must be rebuilt
UUP chief negotiator Alan McFarland MLA has said rebuilding trust and confidence within the Unionist community is essential for political progress in Northern Ireland.
Mr McFarland was speaking at the Macgill Summer School in Donegal.
“Whatever moves are planned by Republicans, and the Government, they must by word and deed prove to the Unionist community that the deal endorsed in 1998 is finally being honoured,” said Mr McFarland.
He also accused the DUP of running away from negotiations in 1997 and spending “six years carping from the sidelines”.
“They stood in the 2003 Assembly elections on a cunning plan about which they were unable to give any detail,” Mr McFarland said, branding the failure of the DUP and Sinn Féin to reach agreement last December as the “fastest political U - Turn in history”.
“There is no doubt that the Republican Movement is trying to send out a message. But how can the Unionist community or the British and Irish Governments take them seriously while the IRA continues to recruit, target and train?” he said.
