Northern Ireland Assembly

5.15 pm

The last act of courage the Provos wanted to carry out before going in to ceasefire mode was to wipe out not only me but also my wife and children. They wanted to wipe the seven of us out, thinking it a heroic act. They could have slaughtered the complete family.

I want to tell the IRA that, as far as we are concerned, they may have made us bleed for 30 years, but they have never made us bow. We shall never bow the knee to Republicanism. We never did so to Adams, when he led the Provisional IRA's Belfast brigade, or to McGuinness, when he led the Londonderry brigade. These men's record and the stain of innocent blood which cries from the ground for justice today are well written. It stands not only in the history books, but on the record of God Himself for the Day of Judgement. It stands on their conscience, for they know exactly what they have done and why.

I remember looking at a photograph of a family in Castlederg. It was a wedding photograph showing a bride, bridegroom, best man and bridesmaid. The only person left alive was the bride, for the groom was slaughtered by the Provos, blown to bits like the best man and bridesmaid. What was their crime? They happened to be members of families that belonged to the security forces, and, as far as the IRA was concerned, they ought to be destroyed and slaughtered. That is the sickening reality.

What has this country, mighty Britain, done? What has David Trimble done? They have rushed to elevate them and get them into power. They have set them over the people they slaughtered, over whose graves they walk, whom they mock and sneer at when they drive down the street in their ministerial car. Do not call that democracy for it is low and sickening and, as far as the people are concerned, repugnant.

The First Minister, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, lambasted the Ulster Democratic Unionist Party for eight minutes and five seconds out of his 10 minutes. He was going so well that both his wings were flapping, and he was about to take off. He was full of energy because of the venom he spat out at the DUP. When it came to the last minute to speak against the Provos, his voice was silent. He looked over sheepishly at his friends. His feet were not jingle-jangling as they usually do, shifting from one side to the other. He looked over at them and let out a little bleat, a little baa to his friends in Sinn Féin, but his venom was clear. The general public will have heard it today, and those that watch proceedings on television will have seen exactly where his venom is directed. He even turned on the Orangemen in his own district, for Drumcree is in his constituency. The truth, when the history books are written, will remind us that David Trimble did more to stop the parade going down the road than anyone else. If it were got down the road, he had to be sure he would get the credit, the laurels or be pushed to the top of the ladder of success.

We are chided for being Unionists, but I make no apology to anyone for saying I am proud to be one. I am proud to be elected on behalf of Unionist people in the constituency of Mid Ulster. The people have provided us with a mandate to speak on this issue today. We promised the people, and where are the pledges? Of course Mr Taylor's is probably somewhere in his pocket - which is bound to be bulging now - along with a great deal of other literature on the police and other matters. There are so many papers that he is bound to have them in the dining room cabinet.

As far as the people of Ulster are concerned, these men should realise one thing: the day of accounting, when they will stand before the electorate, is coming, and the electorate will tell these people that they have no confidence whatsoever in them. Today a majority of Unionists are clearly united. We accept that we have our differences on individual policies, but one thing galvanises and brings us together. It is love, not for party, but for country. We love our country and want to see genuine peace come to Ulster, not the peace of the grave given to us over 30 years by the Provos.

Mr Trimble may have his Provo friends, but he should remember that by reaching out his hands to embrace them he is rejecting his Unionist family. It is interesting to notice in Mr Trimble's speeches that he does not talk about the Unionist or pro-Unionist family any more. The only thing he talks about is the pro-agreement family. Why? Because he has forgotten Unionism; he has turned his back on Unionism; he tramps it in the ground, and he embraces those that want to destroy everything that the tradition of Unionism stands for. On this day in July 2000 I am proud that we are able to take our stand against the murderers - Sinn Féin/IRA - and I trust that the motion will be passed with a resounding vote by this Chamber.

Mr Agnew:

Along with Colleagues here, I would like to refer to the murder of Edmund McCoy, which happened, within 24 hours of the Ulster Unionist Council's decision to allow IRA/Sinn Féin back into Government. He was murdered by two close associates of Mr Gerry Kelly, a Member of this Assembly. Mr McCoy was a drug dealer who had refused to make a payment of around £10,000 to the Provisional IRA. As a result, he was executed by two members of a hit squad who were under the control of the officer commanding the north Belfast IRA. During this period, the IRA has shot and mutilated two Roman Catholics, they have exiled another fifteen, and three of its members have also been convicted in Florida for obtaining arms. Perhaps one of those guns was the gun that killed Edmund McCoy.

In recent days, of course, the Provo quartermaster in Ballymurphy injured himself and his own father when preparing an explosive that many believe was meant for the RUC. Those who told the world that the IRA's war was over failed to tell the world that the murder of Roman Catholics by the IRA was OK and would not be seen as a breach of the IRA ceasefire. When the RUC Chief Constable publicly stated that the IRA was responsible for the murder of Mr Charles Bennett, an alleged informer, the then Secretary of State, Dr Mowlam, jumped to defend the Provos and dishonestly declared that the IRA ceasefire was still intact. Kangaroo courts, mutilations, expulsions, intimidations, punishment beatings, drug dealing, robbery, protection rackets and even murder are all part of this 'Good Terrorist Agreement'. IRA/Sinn Féin is the greatest threat to peace in Northern Ireland, particularly as a vast number of Protestants now believe that terrorism and violence pays.

Clearly, if it had not been for the criminal activities and the physical-force mentality and tradition of Irish Republicanism, they would not be in Government today. I suggest that there is probably not a Unionist in this House today - and I am talking about all shades of Unionism - who does not find Sinn Féin objectionable. The argument that the RUC was unacceptable to Nationalists, and that that, in turn, led to Sinn Féin/IRA's being requested to take direct action against anti-social elements is, in itself, an almost acceptable one. However, how could Sinn Féin - although they are obviously not going to answer because they have all cleared off - tell us what member of the Nationalist community came to them and asked for Andrew Kearney to be shot in front of his partner and a two-week-old baby because he had been in a fight. In fact he had beaten up the IRA commander in Ardoyne a few weeks earlier.

Is the Gárda Sióchána an acceptable police service? Thirteen members of the Gárda Sióchána have been murdered by Republican terrorists over the last 30 years. In the Irish Republic the IRA has been murdering, beating and exiling people. Gárda Gerry McCabe was murdered by some of the IRA men who escaped from the Maze prison, along with who? None other than our old friend Gerry Kelly, back in 1983. Was Gárda McCabe a good police officer? Then, of course, in April this year two registered, card-carrying members of Sinn Féin were caught in Walkinstown with a loaded gun and details of a leading Dublin criminal, who was non-political. The file is now before the DPP in the Irish Republic.

If Sinn Féin/IRA is policing the Nationalist community, could its members tell us why a senior member of the Republican movement, a former IRA prisoner convicted of bombing, is now a self-confessed child molester? He was allowed to remain in Barcroft Park in Newry after he had admitted sexually abusing children in that Republican controlled estate. Was it because he had been the key player in running a smear campaign against former IRA terrorist, Eamon Collins, who was murdered by the IRA last year, after he, in turn, had fallen foul of his former colleagues? Does this inaction against a self-confessed child-molester mean that if you are a member of Sinn Féin/IRA your crimes against the community are acceptable?

Was the former Sinn Féin spokesman for drugs shot when he was caught in possession of a large quantity of drugs in Londonderry in 1995? No, he was not; he simply resigned from the party. Were the IRA joyriders who killed three young children and their mother on the Falls Road in 1976 shot by the IRA? Of course they were not. That particular incident led to the formation of the Peace People. Was Gerry Adams's bodyguard, Chico Hamilton, shot last year when he was charged with receiving £70,000 of stolen goods? Of course he was not. They get off with these crimes. It seems that Sinn Féin has been rewarded for doing wrong, and it will continue to do wrong while being rewarded. Sinn Féin is not fit for Government - its members are mafia godfathers who have feathered their nests on the backs of their victims.

Mr Weir:

In rising to support the motion, I share the disappointment at the vacant Benches before us. If the First Minister, in particular, is still in the Building he is welcome to come and listen to my speech. I am also disappointed that Irish Nationalism has reverted to its traditional role of abstentionism. It seems that on all sides there are many in the House who not only do not want to hear the truth, but cannot handle it - and that is the reason they are absent.

It is significant that we debate this on 4 July - American Independence Day - because America was expressly founded on the notion that all men were created equal. To use the words of Abraham Lincoln, their aim was to create

"government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

We meet today to determine whether our Government is one that too can meet that high democratic ideal, whether a Government that contains terrorists can truly be for all the people.

Some have said this is a form of futile debate. I agreed in part with the first 55 seconds of Seamus Close's remarks when he said that it was important to debate this matter today. If he is correct and indeed if others are correct and, as we suspect it will be, this motion is defeated, the people who have supported it will go away and use other democratic means, such as the powers of persuasion and argument, to win the day. If some of the Members opposite, in other circumstances, do not get their way, what tactics will they use?

They will use the threat of violence. Power for them comes from the barrel of a gun. It is the ability of democrats to restrict themselves to exclusively peaceful means that makes them democrats, and that is why this debate today is so important. This is not just a matter of the future threat that terrorists can pose to society, it is also a matter of the present activities of the IRA and other paramilitary organisations.

5.30 pm

The one thing people did not vote for in the referendum, whether they voted "Yes" or "No", was an armed peace. The majority of people want to see real peace in this society. I have grown up as part of a generation which has known nothing but the troubles. I yearn for peace, but it will not be peace at any price. It will not be peace achieved by putting terrorists into government.

How then has the IRA, in particular, repaid the people who took a chance on it two years ago? Rather than cementing peace since the agreement has been signed, the IRA and other paramilitary organisations have been involved in recruitment and targeting. We have seen them maintain a private army. There has not been any form of disbandment of the IRA. We have seen them maintain a private mafia which has carried out criminal activity, extortion and bank robbery. We have seen them with vigilantes on the streets, intimidating people out of their homes, telling people to leave the country, breaking limbs and committing murder. However, we have not seen them undertake a single act of decommissioning. Indeed, thanks to the information we have of the guns that were smuggled in from Florida and goodness knows where else, the IRA - rather than decommissioning - sits with more weapons today than it did on the day the agreement was reached. However, we are told to keep our fingers crossed, that perhaps things have changed, that since the IRA has been allowed into government it has turned over a new leaf, in spite of the many opportunities that it has scorned in the past.

Significantly, since it has been let into government three things have happened. First; and I am sure we are all very grateful for this, it has again appointed someone to talk to the de Chastelain Commission in the same manner as last December and in the same manner as discussed endlessly for over a year during the talks process. The UVF has also had an interlocutor during most of that period, yet in spite of all the talk not a single weapon has been produced. I share Derek Hussey's view that this device was merely a blocking mechanism to deal with decommissioning by discussing it rather than delivering on it.

Secondly, the major development, trumpeted by many in the media, was the inspection of the arms dumps. That well-known opponent of the agreement, Mr Andy Wood, a former press officer of the Northern Ireland Office - we all know about Mr Ramaphosa and his sympathies with the IRA - said

"I have to say that Martti looked as if he'd have trouble getting down to inspect his shoelaces, never mind an arms bunker. If Saddam Hussein could run rings round a United Nations weapons inspection team with real experts in it, you have to ask what chance do the Finn and the South African have?"

We are told that this arms inspection has happened. We are not told when it happened, where it happened, how many weapons were in this bunker, or how many dumps were inspected. We are not told the nature of these weapons, or even when the dumps are going to be inspected again. What we have been told, in terms of decommissioning, gives vagueness a bad name. It is clearly insufficient. To use the words of Mr Wood again:

"puts me uncomfortably in mind of the old crack about Christopher Columbus, when he left he did not know where he was going, when he got there he did not know where he was, and when he got back he did not know where he had been or what he'd seen."

This is what we have gained out of the arms dumps, and it has been a remarkable revelation to us all in the House. We have gained the very important information that the IRA has lots of guns. Forgive me, but I had always assumed that, as it has committed mass murder in Northern Ireland for the last 30 years, it had lots of guns. This to me does not build a great deal of confidence, certainly not confidence in the current process. It is clearly an attempt to create a smokescreen to avoid the real issue of decommissioning. In none of its statements does the IRA indicate if or when it is going to decommission.

Remember that in the run up to the suspension of the Assembly in February those were the two questions that Seamus Mallon posed to us. Yet we do not have satisfactory answers to the test that he put, let alone the test that any self-respecting Unionist should put.

The third crucial thing which has happened since the Ulster Unionist Council vote on 27 May was the murder of Edmund McCoy. Not only do we have Sinn Féin in Government without a single bullet having been handed in, without a single effort having been made permanently to commit themselves to exclusively peaceful means, but we have a party in the Government which is not even on ceasefire. That, to me, is totally unacceptable.

The choice that faces us today is one that should draw support from every self-respecting democrat here and not just from those who have been against the agreement, or simply from Unionists, whether they support the agreement or not. Every self-respecting democrat should know that Government based on having terrorism within it is a Government which is ultimately doomed to failure and corruption. I urge, albeit to empty Benches, the SDLP Members, even at this late moment, to have a Damascus Road conversion and to support this motion so that we too can have a Government of the people, by the people and for the people, a Government on the basis of democrats alone with terrorists expelled.

I urge everyone to support the motion.

Mr Campbell:

I rise to support the motion, and I do so with mixed feelings. Since the signing of the Belfast Agreement we have heard much from those who are very voluble when they are here, but are absent today, about the need for inclusivity in this process. They constantly lecture us and tell us that our contribution is essential. They tell us that they spent the better part of two years formulating structures to allow us to make our contribution. Then, when we get a valid motion with 30 signatures on the Order Paper, those who demand and trumpet the inclusivity of this approach all depart. It is inclusive, but they do not want to be part of it when Unionists are speaking, particularly when it is the majority of the Unionists who are speaking.

I want to take a little time to dwell on the background of the scenario which brought us here today. Many years ago the SDLP was trying to persuade Sinn Féin to adopt a particular analysis of the Northern Ireland situation - long before ceasefires, long before the Belfast Agreement. We often hear it said that when the Unionists contest, oppose or draw attention to the deficiencies of the Belfast Agreement, what we are doing is jeopardising the peace process. It is almost as if the peace process is predicated upon the Belfast Agreement.

In 1988, six years before what passes for the ceasefire that was called by the IRA, the SDLP conceded that there were difficulties in persuading the Unionists to move towards the concept of a new, agreed Ireland. They claimed that an end to the IRA campaign and the subsequent demilitarisation of the North would introduce Unionists to the idea of a new Ireland. That, according to one Gerard Murray was what John Hume said.

Even in 1988 the SDLP, through its leadership, was trying to introduce Unionists to the concept of a new, agreed Ireland. Before that, in 1985, lest anyone should think that this process is only five or six years old, the person who is the Minister of Education, Martin McGuinness, was quoted in a film called 'Real Lives: At the Edge of the Union' which received considerable notoriety at that time. It was not featured to any considerable degree at the time, but it is significant that he was quoted as saying

"If someone can show me another way to achieve a united Ireland, I will support it."

The interviewer had asked him why he supported the campaign to achieve a united Ireland by murder. His answer was

"If someone can show me another way to achieve a united Ireland, I will support it."

It is precisely because the British and Irish Governments, the SDLP and the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party have shown them that there is another way to a united Ireland that the guns are comparatively silent - compared to the 1980s. That is why we have the Belfast Agreement. That is why Republican paramilitaries say "We will wait in abeyance to see what the agreement can deliver. If the agreement delivers the end objective, we will put our guns beyond use." That was the genesis of the IRA statement that allowed Mr Trimble to go to the Ulster Unionist Council. Provided it has the capability of delivering the end objective, they will put their guns beyond use.

Now we come to today's position. We have a system of government designed to deliver, in the long term, the united - or agreed, or new - Ireland that they so avidly seek. It is set up today, two years and a couple of months after the Belfast Agreement.

There have been a considerable number of references to participation, by myself and some of our Unionist Colleagues, in the various workings of the House, and in other places. There was an attempt by David Trimble, the First Minister, by Pat Doherty, and previously by Michael McGimpsey, to say that and to imply that there is full-blooded participation, discussion, debate, dialogue and all sorts of political inter-relationships between the Unionist family and the IRA. I want to be absolutely clear on this. It was significant that Mr Doherty made the comments. Many Members of the House have been approached by Sinn Féin Members attempting to have informal discussions and dialogue.

Some of us have been approached in the Chamber, in the committee rooms, on the stairs, and in the lift. I had the unfortunate experience of being approached in the lift by one of these individuals. I have been approached in the car park and in the restaurant. We have heard references to participation in the Committees, in the House and in councils and council committees, in the Assembly Commission and the now-infamous Committee of the Centre. All of those approaches we treat with utter and total contempt.

Bring me, or anyone here, a Sinn Féiner who has had correspondence, communication, debate, dialogue, dispute or anything with me or any member of my party anywhere, and I will present you with a liar - an unmitigated liar. These people attempt to engage in discussion. Mr Speaker, you will be aware that there have been many Commission meetings. I have never had any dialogue, discussion or debate with the Sinn Féin member. In my capacity as Chairman of the Committee of the Centre, I was taken before the Committee of Privileges for precisely that reason: because I treat these people with contempt. We will not recognise them. We will not do it.

5.45 pm

There are times, of course, when we must sit in Committees, and they must sit in Committees - they are legally entitled to do so by the electorate. I often liken it to going to a café or restaurant. If I go there because I must go there, and Sinn Féin comes in, does anyone think that I am going to leave the restaurant, because a murderer has come into that restaurant? If they do think that, they are very badly mistaken. I will not be leaving because Sinn Féin has come in. However, if the manager of the restaurant were to come to me and say "Mr Campbell, I would like you to sit down and discuss the menu with Mr McGuinness", then the manager would get very short shrift. I hope that clarifies the position about the contempt that we have for murdering gangsters, and how we will continue to treat them.

Mr Speaker:

Order. I must draw to the Member's attention a matter of parliamentary discourse. When he speaks in general terms of contempt, that comes close to the wire. If he refers to contempt for another Member, that is unparliamentary. There can be no doubt about that. So this is not a question of parliamentary privilege, but of unparliamentary language. I draw the Member's attention to that.

Mr Campbell:

Mr Speaker, you will be aware that I did use the plural when I said "murdering gangsters". However, I will not persist. Violence is sometimes used to justify and condone the IRA's campaign; it is very often done in the media. My hon Colleague Mr Watson made reference to what has gone on in the Province in the past few nights. I would join in his condemnation of all those attacks. Nonetheless, we have to say that it is entirely understandable. It is regrettable; I condemn it, and it should stop. Nonetheless, we have to say that it is perfectly understandable because Loyalists see that violence pays and violence gets results. However, they ought to stop.

Ms Armitage:

I stand here today as an Ulster Unionist - a very lonely one, but that is nothing new for me. I am also a committed Ulster Unionist. Thirty years ago I was one of those dreadful young Unionists. Today I am just a moderate, modest old Unionist. No doubt there are men in grey suits who would like to see me pack my briefcase and leave the politics to them. Perhaps in this House a more appropriate description for them would be "the men with grey hair. Unfortunately they have already left. However, I remain and intend to do so.

It has been suggested that I was forced and put under pressure to sign this motion to exclude Sinn Féin Members from holding office as Ministers. This is totally untrue. I offered to sign the motion. The only pressure applied to me was from my own conscience. I fought the Assembly election on a manifesto of "No guns, no Government". I canvassed for MEP Jim Nicholson on a manifesto of "No guns, no Government". Today we sit in Government with Sinn Féin, yet not one gun, one bullet or one ounce of semtex has been destroyed, nor is there any commitment that the IRA's massive armoury will ever be destroyed.

In April 1998 Prime Minister Blair told us that decommissioning schemes would come into effect in June 1998 and that the process of decommissioning should begin straight away. If Mr Blair had kept his word, decommissioning would have been well under way by now, and we would have had weapons credibly and verifiably destroyed - put out of use for ever. Unfortunately, our ever-smiling, reassuring Prime Minister has broken his word to the decent law-abiding citizens of Northern Ireland. That is why we are debating this motion today. If he had kept his word, and if Sinn Féin had kept its commitment to the Belfast Agreement, there would have been no need for this debate.

Two years after the signing of the Belfast Agreement we have learned that there are a couple of arms dumps somewhere in a foreign country. The 30-year war was fought in this part of the United Kingdom; why then is it so acceptable to have dumps in the Republic of Ireland? I do not know how many dumps there are; I do not know what is in these dumps; I do not know who controls these dumps; and I do not even know how many people have access to these dumps. According to a newspaper report, Republican sources say that Martin Ferris, a convicted gunrunner, organised last month's inspection of these dumps. Gunrunner - is that part of the confidence-building process? Can someone tell this House where are the thousands of guns and tonnes of Semtex that are not in these supposedly safe dumps?

I would not have thought that the Republic of Ireland was the safest place for these guns. We all know how things go missing south of the border. Prisoners disappear, extradition forms are mislaid and the IRA cannot even tell the families of the disappeared people where they have buried them.

We have also been told that this debate is a waste of time and that it will not succeed. Many debates in the House have not succeeded, and many promises have not been kept. Why all the fuss about this one? I understand that the other constitutional parties cannot support this motion. I regret that decision, but I suppose, to be fair to them, that they did not fight on a "No guns, no Government" manifesto.

Sinn Féin has said many times that it wants to see the Patten Report implemented in full. I would say to Sinn Féin Members, if they were here - they are not, but I will say it anyway - that I want to see the decommissioning section of the Belfast Agreement implemented in full. The people I represent want to see the guns and the explosives completely destroyed - and not just put into safe keeping until someone, somewhere, decides that he just might want to use them again.

I was at a meeting in East Londonderry recently, and an Assembly Member was very excited because the Minister of Education had apparently removed his Sinn Féin green ribbon before entering a building. I am beginning to wonder if some Unionists are now settling for the decommissioning of the green ribbon. [Laughter] I sincerely hope not, and I live in hope. Democracy cannot co-exist with private armies.

Finally, I quote from a statement of the Ulster Unionist Assembly group at Stormont:

"No Shadow Executive or Executive which would include Sinn Féin can be formed until actual and meaningful decommissioning has commenced. Without actual decommissioning no party associated with a paramilitary organisation will have honoured its obligations under the Agreement and will therefore be ineligible to hold office."

I say to my fellow Ulster Unionists that that statement was issued in their names and in mine, and with our approval. Search your conscience today, fellow Unionists, and make sure you can live with it tomorrow.

I support the motion.

Mr S Wilson:

I wish to make a few general remarks about some of the allegations which have been made about today's debate. We have been told that it is a stunt. Everyone is talking about this motion being a stunt. We have had it from the First Minister; we have had it from his colleagues in the SDLP; we have had it from his allies in Sinn Féin; we have had it from the PUP and we have had it from the Alliance Party. The fact is that none of them wanted this debate to take place. They have run away from the debate because they know that it is not a stunt. The vote at the end of today's sitting will show that David Trimble no longer has the authority, about which he has lectured us time and time again. He will no longer be able to claim to have a democratic mandate for what he is doing. That is why they wish to pour derision on this debate. They cannot face up to the impact which this is going to have - that they no longer speak for the majority of Unionists. David Trimble leads a minority Unionist Administration. When they refer to the referendum and say that the authority of this Assembly is the referendum vote, the vote which we will be taking here today will remind them that they are bereft of that argument.

We have been lectured about the need for accountable democracy and accountable Government, yet today, here is the evidence of how accountable the people who supported the Belfast Agreement want to be. They do not want to give an account of themselves. They want to run away from having to answer the arguments.

My Colleague who winds up will, I am sure, pick up on the points which I have missed and he may, perhaps, reinforce some of the points I am going to make. The First Minister made a brief appearance here today, and it has already been pointed out that he spent 80% of his time attacking fellow Unionists. In fact, if you had looked at his speech you would have said that he could be rightly dubbed "the Rice Crispie man". During the first part of his speech he snapped and crackled against other Unionists, but when it came to the part where he had to point the finger at Sinn Féin, he popped and we heard nothing.

Let us just look at some of the arguments he made. He considered that today's debate was inappropriate, that we ought to have been considering the threat to the security of the Province, that we ought to have been looking at the riots in our streets, that we ought to be asking what to do, those were his words. Let me tell Members that in the face of violence on the streets, the one signal you do not give out is that that violence will be rewarded, yet the First Minister came in here today and defended rewarding violence. He then accused the DUP, as did others, and said that if we had really been serious about bringing this Government down, we could have done so in the Appropriation debate. David Trimble might want us to hurt the people of Northern Ireland, but we have no intention of voting down money for services for our constituents and for people who do not vote for us. We are intent on hurting him and his gang. We are intent on hurting this Administration but not the people out in the streets, therefore, he is not going to get us to walk into that kind of thing. That is exactly what the anti-agreement Unionists want us to do. When it came to the IRA, what did we get? We got a little admonishment - the pop. He said that he would hold them to their promises. I noticed they all smiled at him when he said that, and not a bit of wonder, because he threatens the stranglehold and he gives them a political cuddle. He did the same here again today. He gave them comfort. He was suggesting that even in the face of the majority of the Unionist community opposing what he was going to do, he would stand by them.

6.00 pm

Even though you have abused your Ministries, I will stand by you." We did not hear any of his "They are not house-trained" remarks today - he saves those for the run-up to a crucial vote in the Ulster Unionist Council. His Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure did not come to the House to defend himself; he was as bereft of arguments today as he is of hair every other day - and last week he had the audacity to talk about this being fraudulent. What could be more fraudulent than to rail about Sinn Féin's not being "house-trained" and then to come to this place and defend not just letting them into the House, but letting them run the House.

When one looks at the arguments that have been advanced in defence of including Sinn Féin in Government it is quite clear that the Ulster Unionist Party and its party leader have lost their way. While he talks about being hard on Sinn Féin and putting it in a stranglehold, the sad fact is that he has elevated it. Sinn Féin has been seeking to re-brand itself and has done so, but not by its efforts - the SDLP gave it a hand after its bloody murders in Enniskillen. John Hume picked it up out of the gutter, and now David Trimble has set it up on a pedestal.

The man who was accused in the Saville Inquiry of firing the first shot in Londonderry has now been made the big shot in education by David Trimble and the people who are now defending this Administration.

We watch Sinn Féin trying to re-brand itself, and I watch it in the Assembly on a week-to-week basis. The Minister of Education sits and smiles, and sometimes even laughs at the jokes made about him - the "happy-clappy" wing of the Sinn Féin Assembly group. We are all reasonable people and we can have a little laugh, but every now and again - and Dr Ian Paisley made reference to this today - the "louty-shouty" wing of Sinn Féin makes its appearance. When Barry McElduff goes to Europe he shows that he is a "happy-clappy" kind of chap; when Francie Molloy stands up and has a row in the Chamber with the SDLP, we see the "happy-clappy" face disappearing; and when it gets out on to the streets of Northern Ireland and starts kneecapping and shooting people, we see the "happy-clappy" face disappearing even more, and the "louty-shouty" element coming to the fore again. And yet we have people who call themselves Unionists but who have elevated Sinn Fein to this position.

Alban Maginness talked about us piggybacking into Government on the back of the UUP. He knows all about piggybacking - the SDLP has piggybacked all around the country on the back of Sinn Féin; in fact it is so used to piggybacking that it would not agree to come to my dinner the other night until it found out whether Sinn Féin was coming. And he talks about others piggybacking.

If his Colleague, the Deputy First Minister, had been prepared to be honest with this House and admit that he had resigned, he would have seen whether or not the DUP was interested in piggybacking into Government on the back of the Ulster Unionist Party. There would be no Administration because, at that stage, the DUP would have been able to ensure that no Administration was set up. He never rose to that challenge; he never gave us the opportunity.

In closing, I say to those members of the Ulster Unionist Party who are not here - perhaps they are watching on the monitors - that they cannot abstain; they cannot be neutral on the question of terrorists in Government; and they should be here in this Chamber to vote to undermine this Administration.

Mr Boyd:

I support this exclusion motion. This is a sombre occasion because we must never forget the innocent victims of IRA terrorism. The pro-Union community is totally opposed to an Executive which includes the architects of the terrorism that has been directed against us for 30 years while the IRA retains its arsenal and its structures for use at its discretion. Such a situation is totally unacceptable.

The representatives of Sinn Féin/IRA do not share the common desire of ordinary people for stability. They are committed to a revolutionary principle. For them the Assembly is merely a transitional stage in the revolution, and whether that struggle is defined as armed or unarmed really depends on the degree of violence that the Government are prepared to tolerate in the name of a so-called peace process.

We have the worst of all possible worlds, with terrorists outside the Assembly and their representatives inside it. Today, we have the opportunity to declare in favour of a civil society in which ordinary people are free from gangsterism, intimidation, extortion and terror. Those in the Unionist community who voted in favour of the Belfast Agreement because of the false promises and pledges of Tony Blair and the Government that decommissioning would take place, have since openly admitted their errors and now reject the Belfast Agreement and its appeasement process.

The SDLP, the Women's Coalition and the Alliance Party are all in the pocket of IRA/Sinn Féin - the pan-Nationalist front. We can see what they think of the Unionist community today and the majority of Unionists that we represent by their total absence from the Chamber.

Let us examine the attitude of SDLP Members. The SDLP is a party, which throughout 30 years of terror has constantly condemned violence but has not hesitated to politically profit from that violence. This motion presents SDLP Members with a clear choice between supporting the democratic process and the integrity of the rule of law, or Sinn Féin/IRA's participation in the Executive while retaining its terrorist arsenal and structures.

If SDLP Members support Sinn Féin's refusal to decommission its terrorist arsenal and dismantle its terrorist structures it means that they have rendered themselves indistinguishable from Sinn Féin/IRA. The alternative is for the SDLP to align itself with the fundamental democratic demand that Sinn Féin/IRA must decommission its terrorist arsenal and dismantle its terrorist structures.

Sinn Féin/IRA tell us that they are interested in human rights, yet the instruments of torture in the IRA's armoury are many and varied. They include baseball bats, golf clubs, nail studded clubs, pick-axe handles, hammers, sledge hammers, hurling sticks, axes, hatchets, drills and many others.

There is no peace. The pro-Union community rejects an Executive which includes the architects of the terrorism directed against them for 30 years while the IRA retains its terrorist arsenal and its structures for use at its discretion. Such a situation is totally unacceptable.

I quote from 'The Informer' by Sean O'Callaghan, one of Sinn Féin/IRA's and Martin McGuinness's previous cohorts:

"The so-called Education Minister, Martin McGuinness, has been an active Republican since 1970. He was Chief of Staff of the IRA from 1977 to 1982. He has been a member of the IRA Army Council since 1976. He has held the position of OC Northern command."

In August 1993 Central Television's 'The Cook Report' named him as Britain's number one terrorist. That is the man who now holds the position of Education Minister in our Executive. The IRA army council chooses the chief of staff. It has two primary responsibilities: to ensure that the IRA has the equipment to wage war and that the organisation operates at maximum efficiency.

According to the informer, Sean O'Callaghan, no chief of staff in recent years has carried anything like the internal influence of Gerry Adams or Martin McGuinness. The IRA Army Council sanctioned the Canary Wharf bomb. Right up to the present day Adams and Martin McGuinness have been firmly in charge of the Republican movement. They could not possibly have remained if the army council of the IRA had approved the ending of the ceasefire and sanctioned the Canary Wharf bombing without the knowledge and agreement of the IRA members Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams. That is according to the informer, Sean O'Callaghan.

The IRA has murdered over 2,000 people in the last 30 years. It is their lethal murder machine that has got them into the Executive - not the ballot box, as they would try to dupe many people into believing.

Since January this year, the IRA has carried out 23 shootings, 32 beatings and mutilations and three murders. The clear message today is that the innocent victims of terrorism still suffer. Their agony and suffering is compounded by the presence of unrepentant terrorists and their supporters being placed in the Government of Northern Ireland.

The Education Minister, Martin McGuinness who is a former chief of staff of the Provisional IRA, has been part of an organisation that has presided over the murders of over 2,000 citizens in Northern Ireland and for which no apology has ever been forthcoming.

This is not peace, justice or democracy, it is appeasement to terrorism. The Provisional IRA has murdered school teachers, school children, principals, students, school workers and school bus drivers. Many of these innocent victims were murdered in the presence of young children and students. Millions of pounds have been wasted through damage to schools and universities by IRA bombs, and many thousands of young people continue to have their education affected because of bomb scares.

The crisis in education funding is a direct result of the 30-year terrorist campaign of the Provisional IRA. That organisation will continue to murder, maim and carry out its criminal activities while it remains fully armed and intact. On behalf of the citizens of Northern Ireland, we call on Prime Minister Tony Blair to fulfil his pledges and take the necessary steps to remove Martin McGuinness from the Executive, with immediate effect.

I call on the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly Members to join with many of their party's Members of Parliament and grass-roots members to reject having Sinn Féin/IRA representatives in the Government. Listen to the young people in the Ulster Unionist Party. I call on every Ulster Unionist to reject the SDLP and Sinn Féin, whose common goal is Irish unity. They should join their Unionist colleagues in excluding Sinn Féin/IRA. My message to Prime Minister Tony Blair and to the pro-Agreement parties is that, although they may choose to ignore the majority of Unionists in the Chamber, they will not ignore the majority of the Unionist people when they speak - and speak they will.

We have endured 30 years of violence and terror. If the House sends the message that violence pays, we shall be heading for the abyss. Members may laugh and mock, but this is a serious matter. I am not advocating violence, but if the motion fails, the message from the Assembly will be that democracy has died in Northern Ireland.

As democrats, we stand for democracy and the rule of law, but we have been ignored and laughed at. My message to the Prime Minister is that Unionists have had enough. I support the motion.

Mr Speaker:

Having listened to the speeches so far, I believe that the arguments have been thoroughly rehearsed. I therefore propose to move to the winding-up speeches and then to the vote. I have had no indication that Sinn Féin wishes to make a winding-up speech. I therefore call Mr P Robinson.

Mr P Robinson:

I am sure that Members are grateful for your remarks that they have done such a thorough job in speaking to the motion. The job of someone who winds up at the end of a debate is to deal with the arguments that had been postulated against the motion systematically and thoroughly. I do not have a difficult task this evening, although before they all hit and ran, some Members made comments which were not very relevant to the purpose and intention of the debate, but which are on the record and should therefore be dealt with. I can, of course, understand why there are empty Benches around us today, and why Sinn Féin's Benches are empty. Sinn Féin knows it is guilty. It knows that there is no defence. The SDLP will do whatever Sinn Féin requires of it, and has gone lamb-like behind Sinn Féin. The sheer embarrassment to the Ulster Unionist Party has caused it to hide in its rooms, lock the doors, pull the curtains across and turn the lights out. If any Ulster Unionist has the courage to turn on the monitor, the Member will hear some of my remarks about the UUP.

During his brief stay in the Chamber, the First Minister spoke for 8 minutes and 10 seconds against the Democratic Unionist Party, and spoke quietly to Sinn Féin for some of the remaining period out of his 10 allotted minutes. He then made some comments that must be dealt with. He said that the DUP and other anti-Agreement Unionists were "fully involved". Hansard will bear out those two words. That was strange coming from a First Minister who called a press conference, along with the Deputy First Minister, to deal with the Minister for Social Development and myself precisely because we would not become fully involved in the process.

If he is to provide an argument for his supporters - should he have any left in the country - it should be a consistent argument, not one which jumps from one position to the contrary almost as the moment requires.

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