Voluntary coalition possible, republicans warned
The British government is considering a voluntary coalition in Northern Ireland which would freeze Sinn Féin out of office, republicans were warned tonight.
With talks to restore power sharing at Stormont in disarray, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy rejected criticism from MPs that the British government had responded weakly to the IRA’s involvement in the £26.5m (€38m) Northern Bank raid.
And, in a clear warning to republicans, he insisted the British government had neither ruled out nor in the idea of a voluntary coalition of unionists and nationalists at Stormont.
“A lot will depend on the discussions that I have with political parties over the next couple of weeks,” he told Opposition Northern Ireland spokesman David Liddington.
“Whatever happens, we cannot establish an executive which does not have either unionist or nationalist representation on it.”
The Reverend Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists have been pressing for a voluntary coalition ever since Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde blamed the IRA for the December 20 raid on the vaults of the Northern Bank in Belfast.
Mr Orde’s revelation has torpedoed any hopes British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern might have had of achieving a settlement before the British general election.
The DUP, who met Mr Blair in Downing Street tonight, believe a voluntary coalition could be formed with the cross-community Alliance Party and the nationalist SDLP.
However, SDLP leader Mark Durkan would have to be convinced that nationalist voters would not penalise his party for freezing Sinn Féin out of government.
In elections since 2001, Sinn Féin has overtaken the SDLP as Northern Ireland’s largest nationalist party.
Mr Murphy could not determine when it might be possible to have power sharing back at Stormont.
But he stressed: “This government will not promote a political settlement in which a party inextricably linked to an organisation which has carried out major criminal acts can assume responsibilities again in a devolved administration.
“Nor could it take on the further responsibilities implied by the devolution of justice and policing while criminal activity of the kind we have just seen, and the capacity to plan and undertake such activity, continues in existence.”
He said he would discuss with the Irish government whether a report by the Independent Monitoring Commission on paramilitary activity should be brought forward following the Northern Bank raid.
With the Northern Ireland Secretary also due to meet parties soon, Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin warned during a visit to Westminster that his party would oppose any move to set aside its mandate.
“Now is not the time for the governments to throw in the towel on the talks and set to one side all that has been achieved in recent months,” the Foyle Assembly member said.
“Instead of responding to an agenda being set by those who oppose the peace process, and who use every opportunity to undermine it, political leaders need to examine the facts, defend the Good Friday Agreement and move on.”
Unionists were dissatisfied with the Northern Ireland Secretary’s statement.
DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson asked: “Why is democracy in Northern Ireland to be held back because of gunmen and gangsters?
“Surely the time has come to make it very clear that politics moves on and it moves on without them?”
Ulster Unionist MP David Burnside described the statement as “vacuous and empty, with no sanctions and no threat".
Northern Ireland-born Labour MP Kate Hoey also called for the return of devolution to Stormont which excluded parties linked to paramilitaries.
