Northern Ireland Assembly
Tuesday 18 September 2001 (continued)
Mr Trimble:
When he moved the motion, Mr Robinson made it clear that it was directed against all paramilitaries, and I was glad to hear his condemnation of Loyalist violence. Although there are reasons to focus on the Republican movement's activities, this side of the House should make its condemnation of Loyalist violence clear.
The motion refers to a commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means, which is one of the fundamental principles of the agreement. Two words that are used in the motion are also significant: "inconsistent" and "intolerant". It is asserted that violent activity is inconsistent with a commitment to peaceful means and to holding office. The motion is absolutely right in principle.
I made it clear in my first speech to the Assembly in July 1998 that those who signed up to the agreement and its implementation would give people the opportunity to change. I shall not quote everything that I said, but I recall that I said that if people had a past it did not mean that they could not have a future. However, they were required to demonstrate change. I have returned to that point many times since, most recently in December 2000, when I said that there could not be a moral vacuum at the heart of the process.
We are engaged in a transition, and in the course of that transition we will hold people to the promises that they have made. I have held the Republican movement to its promises, and it was because Republicans failed to implement their promises that I imposed sanctions on them, first by preventing their attendance at North/South Ministerial Council meetings, and secondly by triggering the present crisis through my resignation.
The Ulster Unionist Party has been clear about the principles. We have given people opportunities, but opportunities are also a challenge. I say to the Republican movement as firmly as I can that there has been a litany of Republican activities over the past few years, as Mr Robinson laboriously set out, culminating in what did happen and what may have happened in Colombia. Those events, the Republican movement's reaction to them and its failure to deal with them have destroyed its credibility. That does not mean that the situation is irretrievable. However, for the situation to be retrieved, the Republican movement must move urgently to rebuild that credibility. It must do that now, quickly and convincingly.
It would be intolerable for the present situation to continue indefinitely - indeed, it will not. As Mr Robinson noted, this might well be the last time that we debate this issue in the Assembly. It may well be that, come this weekend, the Sinn Féin Ministers will be turned out of office. Unfortunately, others will suffer the same fate. If that happens, it will not be because of this motion, or because of any posturing - it will happen because of the actions that my Colleagues and I have taken. Also, to be fair, it will happen because Tony Blair did effect change. Reference was made to his promise to propose change. He went further; he made changes, and they will take effect this weekend unless certain things are done by Republicans.
The amendment is worthy of consideration. It challenges paramilitaries to give real effect to the decommissioning provisions of the agreement. I welcome the amendment because it is important that that challenge be put. Consequently, my Colleagues and I will support the amendment. If the amendment fails, we will support the original motion. At this stage, it is important that we concentrate on what has to be done and what people should do - even if there is not that much prospect of its happening. As a result of that, other action will be taken in the next few days and weeks.
Mr McLaughlin:
Go raibh maith agat. In the Good Friday Agreement, all parties reaffirmed their commitment to
"the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations."
They also confirmed their intention to
"continue to work constructively and in good faith with the Independent Commission on Decommissioning (IIDC) and to use any influence they might have to achieve the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms within two years following endorsement in referendums North and South of the agreement and in the context of the implementation of the overall settlement".
I repeat:
"in the context of the implementation of the overall settlement."
That is the agreement that Sinn Féin is wedded to. Sinn Féin is absolutely committed to resolving our conflict by democratic and peaceful means. There is a collective responsibility on all parties to the agreement to resolve the issues, and Sinn Féin has told the Governments and other parties to go back and read the agreement. I note the telling omission of any recognition of this salient reality from the amendment, so I remind the SDLP of that fact once again. Of course, Mr Trimble has constantly misrepresented the agreement on this matter. It is of particular regret that the SDLP, by this ill- conceived amendment, has today given credence to that - perhaps inadvertently, perhaps because it is still reacting to recent election results, or because it is preoccupied with internal party matters.
This year, Loyalists have carried out over 200 bomb attacks on Catholic homes, businesses and churches. Loyalists have shot dead two young men in recent weeks and have created a blockade to prevent Catholic primary school children from going to school in north Belfast. Last weekend, Loyalist murder gangs again attempted to kill Catholics. If the process is to succeed, the two Governments and all the parties that signed the agreement must defend the agreement. It is the template for dealing with the matters that still need to be resolved as part of the conflict resolution process, including the issue of arms.
Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement the British Government are committed to delivering on several key issues, including the creation of a representative policing service that is fully accountable for its actions and free from partisan, political control, a fair and impartial system of justice, effective structures to safeguard human rights, economic, social, cultural and political equality and the demilitarisation of our society. They have not delivered on those.
Sinn Féin has a vision for the future that goes beyond present difficulties. That means facing up to rejectionists, sceptics and cynics in the British political establishment as well as rejectionist Unionism. It means facing up to the reality that the paramilitary threat to the process comes from Loyalist, Unionist guns.
We have a significant common responsibility. We were elected to provide leadership that would represent the diversity of our society. We are leaders with a mandate to lead our community out of conflict and into a new and more democratic political dispensation. When we signed the Good Friday Agreement, we accepted that there were matters on which we could not, at that point in our history, reach agreement. We accepted pragmatically that we should either take the necessary time to develop sufficient mutual trust to move forward or that independent bodies should be set up to deal with such matters. That proposition is as valid now as it was in May 1998, when it received powerful endorsement from the people of Ireland. The motion was tabled a party that failed the test of commitment to democratic dialogue during the negotiations. It would be unfair to accuse the DUP of having lost the plot with regard to the peace process - it was clearly always out of its depth.
I see no value in following the DUP agenda. It knows that the motion cannot achieve its objectives, because it has no effect on policy and no binding authority. Its only purpose is to harden hearts that were already too hard. It is a divisive motion that reflects only the sad vision of its authors. The DUP will, no doubt, refuse to discuss the sectarian attacks on Catholic schoolchildren on the streets of Ardoyne. We can see members of the DUP standing shoulder to shoulder with the UDA in Glenbryn, as they did in Harryville, in order to promote and prolong sectarian tensions and violence.
The SDLP's amendment, much like its arguments on post-Nationalism or its decision to cave into Unionist and British demands on policing boards, demonstrates clearly why Sinn Féin is now the largest Nationalist party. The amendment abandons the collective responsibility spelt out in the Good Friday Agreement and refuses to acknowledge that, in May 2000, we agreed on the need for consistency in the agreement. We agreed a route out of our divisions. Go raibh míle maith agat.
Mr Neeson:
My party also submitted an amendment, but it will support the SDLP's amendment. Once again, the institutions are under threat, and we must ask ourselves why. The answer lies in the refusal by paramilitaries - Republican and Loyalist - to put illegal arms verifiably beyond use. I ask paramilitaries whether their armed struggles have been ended or merely suspended. Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries must answer that question.
Is the Good Friday Agreement a means to an end or is it a settlement that secured the support of the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland? Unfortunately, paramilitarism is still with us. There are those who want to control territory and achieve their own selfish ends with bullets to the arms and legs and severe beatings with pickaxes.
There are those who carry out murders and bomb attacks because of their blatant hatred of their fellow citizens. There is clear evidence that those who are officially on ceasefire have been involved in serious violence, including murder and murder attempts. They include the IRA, UDA, UFF, UVF and LVF. It now appears to be acceptable for Protestants to murder Protestants and for Catholics to murder Catholics. It seems to have become acceptable.
The reaction to last week's carnage in the United States demonstrates the democratic world's total abhorrence of international terrorism. Is it any wonder that the vast majority of Members treat with contempt the excuses for the presence of three Irish Republicans in Colombia? That cannot be dismissed as the dying embers of paramilitarism. Loyalist and Republican paramilitarism has been allowed to become institutionalised in Northern Ireland. Is it not ironic that the police have now become the targets of Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland?
4.45 pm
The DUP's motives in tabling this motion are questionable, especially as DUP members have shared platforms with Loyalist paramilitaries and have also been present at Loyalist memorials. Such scenes have been captured by cameras on many occasions. Are they democrats, or do they want to stand shoulder to shoulder with those who have been involved in some of the worst atrocities in Northern Ireland? Time is running out; it is now time for the paramilitaries on all sides to deliver their illegal arms and weapons. That was what was agreed in the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Roche:
The events of the past week have highlighted a principle that is fundamental to democracy - there must be a clear separation between democracy and terrorism. That means that no political party associated with terrorism should be permitted into any form of government that purports to be democratic. That principle must be applied equally to Sinn Féin and to parties in the Assembly that represent so-called Loyalist terrorist organisations, although my comments will be primarily directed at Sinn Féin.
What is the true political character of Sinn Féin? That question can be easily answered using the party's publications and statements. Sinn Féin is committed to the Armalite and the ballot box. There are three fundamental features of the Armalite-and-ballot-box strategy. The first is that the political activity of Sinn Féin in the context of that strategy can never be construed as a renunciation of violence. In fact, it is a form of political activity that is meant to support and legitimise violence. The second point is that this Armalite-and-ballot-box strategy is not a localised strategy; it is a strategy that links into a global network of international terrorism. It is beyond dispute that the IRA has long established links and connections with Basque terrorists in Spain, the Palestine Liberation Organisation in the Middle East and the FARC terrorists in Colombia. The international network of terror to which the IRA is connected is supported by a number of rogue states, particularly - in the case of the IRA - by Libya, which supplied it with a huge arsenal of arms in the 1980s. Those arms have been kept secure by the IRA in the Republic of Ireland, where the authorities have never been able to find them.
The political activity of Sinn Féin, the political wing of this so-called Republican movement, is again linked into that network of international terrorism. For example, Amyee Hernandez, the spokesperson for Fidel Castro, said on 17 August that Niall Connolly, now in a Colombian jail, was the official representative of Sinn Féin in Cuba.
The question that we must ask in assessing the true character of this party, and therefore its suitability for involvement in any democratic institution, is what is it that cements its connection with international terrorism? The answer is anti-capitalism, fanaticism and a hatred of the United States, which was manifest in a 'Republican News' on 12 September, the day after the appalling acts of terrorism in the United States. An article in 'Republican News' actually asserted that the United States was itself responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people in the Middle East and Colombia. It was precisely that hatred that motivated those who drove the planes into the two towers and the Pentagon.
That strategy is absolutely incompatible with democracy. The relationship between democracy and terror is a one-way relationship. Terrorism corrupts democracy. The whole so-called peace process and the institutions are based on the opposite assumption that, somehow or other, the democratic process could democratise terrorism. That was the assumption, and the best possible reading that can be given of the UUP leader's concessions to Nationalism. However, Mr Trimble now knows that he was wrong and that there is no integrity despite what he has just said, in this movement, which is inextricably wedded to violence. The refusal to decommission arms is the litmus test of that.
It was not only Mr Trimble who operated under the false apprehension that, somehow or other, democracy could democratise terrorism. The whole process was sustained by the soon-to-be ex-leader of the SDLP. Anyone who has a heart for democracy in Northern Ireland will be delighted that this man is, I hope beginning his exit from the political stage.
Mr Deputy Speaker:
The Member's time is up.
Ms Morrice:
I support the amendment. There is no question but that we must address the unacceptable level of paramilitary activity, be it Republican or Loyalist. At the same time, we must encourage people to remain committed to exclusively peaceful and democratic means. As David Trimble has said, we must encourage people to adopt those means.
In Northern Ireland we have a special understanding of what has happened in the United States. We must use that understanding as an opportunity to move our own peace process forward. Every one of us has a responsibility to do that, and that includes using our influence to urge the decommissioning of all paramilitary weapons. We should use our influence to combat sectarianism and bigotry at all levels of society. For example, we should get a police force that is representative of our communities. I urge all the relevant parties to respond positively to the Secretary of State's call to nominate to the Policing Board. We need a well-resourced, highly motivated police service to tackle lawlessness.
We must also confront the problems of sectarianism and sectarian violence. We are still living with them. We have not tackled them, and it is our responsibility to do so. Political leadership is essential. We must never forget that the politics of division at leadership level leads to division at street level, so it is important that we, as politicians, act responsibly in word and deed. There is nothing to be gained by using this Chamber for political point scoring. We need to be involved now in collective, inclusive negotiations.
The South Africans suggested that if the chemistry does not work between parties or personalities, we should find personalities between whom the chemistry will work, personalities who will find understanding, so that there will be a new dynamic in the process. Above all, we want to continue to encourage people to remain committed to the peace process. That is essential. In his opening remarks, Mr Peter Robinson said that we were settling for a lower level of terrorism. That is not the case. We are moving out of conflict. That is what the peace process is about. We have come far, but what we need now is political stability. We cannot afford instability. We cannot afford a political vacuum. Not so long ago, we were held up as an example of how mediation can help to resolve conflict. We must continue to show the world that it can be done. We can work problems out through meaningful engagement and dialogue. We were getting there; we are getting there.
We have the means, in the Good Friday Agreement, to live peacefully together. We must fully implement that agreement. If we let it go, we let hope go. We must never do that. That is why I look forward to seeing every Member back in the Chamber, if not next week, then sometime very soon.
Mr McCartney:
The hypocrisy of David Trimble is truly mind-boggling. He condemns the UVF and the UDA - they do need some condemning - but he used them to get the capacity to sign the Belfast Agreement. He was photographed flanked by them, among his supporters. He also used their votes to be elected to the office of First Minister. They were useful then.
From the beginning, my part has said that there must be no truck of any kind and no political intercourse with the representatives of terror, whether they be Sinn Féin, the UDA, the UVF or others. The purpose of the Belfast Agreement was never the creation of a democratic political settlement. It was about resolving the conflict between the British state and violent Republican terrorism, in order to protect the British mainland from a bombing campaign. It was cynical, but that was the purpose. That is why all Members of the Assembly must know that breaches of the ceasefires by Sinn Féin/IRA, the UDA or the UVF, no matter how blatant they are, will never be determined as such by the Secretary of State. The ceasefires are necessary to keep Sinn Féin/IRA in the process. Without ceasefires the process is not worth a penny candle, from the British political point of view.
It is necessary for Sinn Féin/IRA to retain its weaponry, because that is the accelerant that ensures that the British Government, fearful of attacks on the mainland, adhere to a policy of movement to a united Ireland. The British Government will never find that any of those terrorist groups is in breach of its ceasefire. In fact, they are so cynical that they dismiss murders such as that of Charles Bennett by the IRA as matters, as one NIO civil servant put it, of internal housekeeping.
The Assembly must face the fact that these terrorist groups have no place in any assembly or institution of democratic government. Sinn Féin/IRA never signed up to the decommissioning of weaponry. Sinn Féin made it plain in the 24 hours before the agreement was signed that it would walk if that requirement were made. Mr Trimble knew that, but he went on and signed a meaningless agreement, an agreement that he knew would enable Sinn Féin/IRA to remain within this allegedly democratic process.
5.00 pm
The time has now come for everyone to face up to its failure.
A lot of sentimental expressions and the voicing of almost totally meaningless, lofty sentiments, such as those repeatedly expressed by Jane Morrice, will take us nowhere. The harsh reality of what happened in New York was a lesson learnt from the IRA. The IRA was capable of bringing a world democracy, with the fourth largest economy, to a policy of abject appeasement to protect itself. Why should Osama bin Laden and others not follow its example? Such people have no place in any form of democratic institution. That also applies to those murderous people, whose political representatives are not here today, from the Loyalist section of terrorism, who are persecuting the Catholic community - their representatives should not be in any form of democratic institution.
I support the motion.
Mr Hilditch:
I too support the motion, and I thank the proposer for bringing the matter to the Floor. It is unacceptable that any party associated with active terrorism should continue to hold Executive positions. It might be helpful if some Members from the Ulster Unionist Party who have still to speak could enlighten us and elaborate on the comments of Mr Trimble with regard to what exactly the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, has done to bring this matter to a conclusion.
I quote from page 3 of the Policing Plan for Northern Ireland 1999-2000:
"While most paramilitary organisations are on ceasefire, they retain a capacity for sustained violence" -
and -
"Racketeering and paramilitary assaults remain a scourge in a civilised society, while the increasing fear of the influence of drugs, particularly in the youth culture, is a growing cause of anxiety."
That is evidence that while the Secretary of State chooses to ignore blatant breaches of the so-called ceasefire, the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, in his policing priorities, quite clearly sees the activities of paramilitary groups allegedly on ceasefire as a major threat to public order and a source of public concern. Indeed, the plan, under the heading of "Protecting the Community from Terrorism and Alleged Criminal Activity", lists one of its main objectives as being:
"to counter the terrorist threat on behalf of the community and bring to justice those responsible for terrorist crime."
The Chief Constable's report for 2000-01 states that
"Paramilitary activity persists, even by mainstream terrorist organisations. These organisations, although they continue to adhere to their definition of a cessation of military operations, have continued to engage in a whole range of criminality. They still retain their weapons and thus the capacity to kill, injure and terrorise. The people of Northern Ireland have endured enough of this malevolence over the past 30 years and it serves no cause whatsoever except the evil purposes that these individuals and groups seek to pursue for their own wicked and selfish reasons."
Members will no doubt have picked up on the reference to mainstream terrorist organisations and the cessation of military operations, which points clearly to IRA/Sinn Féin - Members of this House by day and also members of a terrorist organisation continuing to engage in a whole range of criminality.
Punishment attacks have continued to increase, and the intensity of the attacks continues to shock and leave the community feeling violated. The number of so-called paramilitary-style punishment attacks has increased by 145 in 2000-01 when compared to the previous year. These range from kneecappings to elbows, wrists and ankles being shot to a bloody pulp. People are beaten with hurley sticks and baseball bats studded with nails, and with iron bars and bricks. This is the kind of justice that Sinn Féin/IRA offers the people of Northern Ireland. It speaks of human rights, equality and justice and offers kangaroo courts as an alternative.
The Belfast Agreement has become no more than a political cover for terrorist godfathers carrying out their dastardly deeds on a daily basis. But is it really good enough to expect law-abiding citizens to suffer the indignity of having to endure a terrorist in the Executive of the Assembly and his cohorts on the Floor of the House as part of the Government here at Stormont? They orchestrate a policy of ethnic cleansing in north Belfast, similar to the one that we have endured in the border counties over the last 30 years. This is the democracy that Sinn Féin/IRA has to offer the Protestant people of Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin/IRA is here under false pretences. It believes that it has an entitlement to places in the Government of Northern Ireland and at the same time an entitlement to wage war upon its citizens and to terrorise, racketeer, carry out punishment beatings, control drug lords and pollute our young people.
How can any right-thinking person believe that the presence of such a group in the Assembly can be an asset to the community? It is to the Assembly's shame that it has remained for so long, but it has been tried and found wanting. It has been exposed by the gunrunning incident in Florida, by the Colombian escapade and by its connections with Middle East and north African terrorists.
A journalist for the 'Belfast Telegraph' wrote
"when the men who had done terrible things to their fellow citizens were streaming through the rusty turnstiles outside the Maze Prison the Secretary of State, then Peter Mandelson, said it was a bitter pill for people to swallow".
Today the pill has generated bitterness; that is proof of the pudding. The Chief Constable has voiced his concerns. The increased number of attacks by paramilitary groups on cessation speaks for itself as does the determination of IRA/Sinn Féin to hold on to its weapons.
The ethnic cleansing of areas such as Whitewell, West Circular, Ainsworth Avenue, Glenbryn, Twaddell Avenue, Oldpark, the lower Shankill, the Newtownards Road and the Albertbridge Road were all orchestrated by Sinn Féin/IRA in an attempt to force further concessions on decommissioning. That shows that street agitation is more important to Sinn Féin/IRA than anything the Assembly will ever decide.
The facts speak for themselves. Sinn Féin/IRA is here under false pretences and has not been committed to exclusively peaceful means.
Dr Farren:
At the Lammas Fair in Ballycastle a few weeks ago a crude but massive car bomb was diffused. Had it not been diffused it is likely that a tremendous fire would have swept through the crowded, narrow streets of the town and that Ballycastle would have experienced a tragedy proportionate to the horrific events witnessed in New York last week. Ballycastle was spared that prospect, but those who planned, constructed and placed that car bomb were as contemptuous of human life as those who planned and executed the horrific events in the United States.
The Ballycastle bomb was claimed by a group calling itself the Red Hand Defenders. This bomb was another in a long list of incidents that have taken place across north and south Antrim, east Derry and elsewhere over the past year. In north Antrim the targets have mainly been premises associated with the Catholic Church, the GAA and the Nationalist community. In south Antrim two young men were brutally murdered; one was on his way to work, and one was walking the street with his friends. In east Antrim my party Colleagues, among many others, have come under frequent attack in their homes. North Belfast has witnessed violence and tension leading to the obscenity of a picket attempting to deny young children access to their school.
To that list can be added the many so-called punishment beatings meted out by people with no mandate and in total disregard for any norms of justice. Some of those incidents are motivated by nothing more sophisticated than sectarian hatred. The planning and execution of many other incidents suggest that those involved are politically motivated to undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
While much of the violence that I have mentioned is perpetrated by Loyalists, so-called Republicans have also been responsible for violence, including murder, and they cannot hide from their responsibility for that. If the Assembly's claims to uphold democratic values are to be meaningful - and a majority here also claim to uphold the principles of the Good Friday Agreement - Members have no option but to condemn all such violence and oppose, without equivocation, those responsible for it.
As Members know, we are once more at the brink with crucial decisions being made that could affect the future of the institutions and the agreement. Underlying the decisions that need to be made is the choice between a peaceful and democratic way forward and the instability that feeds and makes room for paramilitary violence. The obligation on Members is to ensure that democracy and the will of the people prevail. That does not require, as some suggest, miracles.
Instead it requires a persistent and determined commitment to achieve the objectives of the Good Friday Agreement and to use, where necessary, all our influence to convince others to do likewise. To do otherwise is to betray the democratically expressed will of the Irish people, North and South, who voted in favour of the agreement. In the achievement of those objectives it cannot be accepted that decommissioning should await the implementation of everything else in the agreement.
It was intended that, through the commitments to exclusively democratic and peaceful political means contained in the Good Friday Agreement, decommissioning would be achieved within two years. Further commitments and developments made since then restored hope that decommissioning would be achieved this year.
Paramilitaries, notably the IRA, pledged to work positively and progressively with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning. However, their continued failure to progress decommissioning is eroding the mutual confidence that is essential to the full implementation of the agreement.
Now that the world is coming together to defend the principles of our democratic way of life, it is beyond time that we in Ireland, North and South, made it clear that all traces of paramilitary terror must be removed, not just elsewhere, but in our own country. This would allow our people to enjoy the peace and political stability promised in the agreement. I support the amendment.
Mr Foster:
The motion should not have come before the House. It is born out of the failure by Loyalist and Republican paramilitary groups to fulfil the promises they made to the people of Northern Ireland when their representatives signed the Belfast Agreement. They have failed miserably.
The agreement committed those groups holding illegal arms to decommission them by May 2000. When the deadline passed, further talks were held and the groups were given an extension until June 2001. Those were not Unionist deadlines; they were commitments entered into by the political representatives of terrorism in this country. As a result of that failure, parties that are committed to exclusively peaceful and democratic means have found themselves at a great political disadvantage.
The political representatives of the IRA have sought to remain in the Executive, and to govern the people of Northern Ireland while retaining the means to coerce those people with the force of arms and the threat of injury or death. Sinn Féin/IRA has continued to use the threat of Republicanism based on physical force to squeeze further concessions from the Government on issues such as policing. Meanwhile, the other democratic parties have had to rely solely on the democratic mandate that they achieved at the ballot box. The situation is inconsistent with democratic principles and is unsustainable.
The IRA claims that its guns have been silent - tell that to the families of the young people who have been abducted and shot by the punishment squads, and the families of those who have been murdered. If it is not the Provisional IRA, who else is abducting and attacking young people in Republican areas? I doubt that the SDLP has acquired a military wing. I have no doubt that if it were the work of Loyalists or the security forces, the Sinn Féin leadership would be the first to run to the media and call for an inquiry into human rights abuses.
The Sinn Féin leadership has been quick to apportion blame to the UDA after the recent spate of pipe bombings in north Belfast. However, it has been less vocal in its assessment of the perpetrators of the numerous kneecappings that have been carried out in west Belfast. The silence of leading Sinn Féin figures, including, ironically, the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety and the Minister of Education, and their failure to unequivocally condemn these attacks on young people has been as deafening as it has been telling. Actions speak louder than words.
Let no one doubt my stance on Loyalist violence: whether it be by pipe bombs, blast bombs, sectarian shootings or punishment shootings, I condemn it wholeheartedly. These attacks, like their perpetrators, have no place in a civilised society and should cease immediately.
The Unionist community wants no part of Loyalist violence and, time after time, it has demonstrated that by rejecting at the ballot box those Loyalist parties linked to terrorist groups. Sadly, this has not been the case with regard to Sinn Féin/IRA. Anyone has the right to sit in an Assembly, provided they have been properly elected, but their inclusion in Government is a different matter.
Governments require a higher standard of probity from their Ministers. Ministers must govern in the interests of all the people. An Executive therefore should not include Ministers who support terror in any way, or who give encouragement to those who seek to retain the capacity to inflict terror.
5.15 pm
We have suffered from terrorism for a long time. The United States has suffered in the last week. Terror at any level is terror - it is destructive. I say again that no party should remain in Government while retaining the means to coerce its people by force of arms and threat of injury or death. That is totally incompatible with democratic principles - it is fascism.
The only people in Northern Ireland who should hold weapons are the forces of the state and those properly licensed by the state within a legal framework of due process. Only then can the safety of the citizen be secured.
How long can some alleged politicians continue to remain politically dishonest, circumventing the whole democratic system? There is an enlightening saying 'Tell me whom you associate with, and I will tell you who you are'. Does it ring true? Are we being told something? I am convinced that we are. I support the amended motion.
Mrs Nelis:
Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle. How could any decent person take the motion seriously, given the track record of the party proposing it? That party talks the most about democracy and peace, but it practices them least. That party's very origins are steeped in bigotry, sectarianism and anti- Catholic fundamentalism. That party's members have literally got away with murder. That party, over the years, has nodded and winked its way to power on the back of Loyalist paramilitary activity. That party said no to the Good Friday Agreement.
It is well known in political life in the Six Counties that violence channelled through Loyalist paramilitary activity has been used by Unionist politicians to bolster their position and pressurise their opponents. They have not had to accept the practical and moral responsibility for, or the consequences of, the actions of their paramilitary comrades.
Since the inception of this state, when moves were made to undermine the Unionist ascendancy, or when there was any hint that Protestant and Catholic people might come together as human beings, the heavy hand and the big mouths of the party that proposed the motion were there to ensure that it did not happen.
Unionists in or out of Government have used state forces - the RUC and the UDR - and Loyalist mobs to terrorise, bully and intimidate their way to power. The Nationalist community paid the price for this co-operative arrangement.
The righteous brothers on the opposite benches who proposed the motion have no problems with cosying up to their paramilitary friends when it suits them. We saw it in Glenbryn recently, and we saw it in Harryville. The DUP were cosying up to the UDA. The common theme of this cosy relationship is to stir up sectarian hatred and violence against Catholics. What do we see while they are cosying up to the UDA? The hearts of Protestant communities are being ripped apart by drugs.
We have all seen members of the DUP marching on many occasions with the UDA and UVF. This was not only to demonstrate unity of purpose, but also to signal to the British Government that unofficial armies have always supported their position as politicians. Loyalist paramilitaries are the muscle behind Unionist rhetoric. Yet the Member who proposed the motion can prattle on about exclusively peaceful and democratic means. He can produce all the statistics he wants, while his party members stand on platforms with the LVF. They elect deputy mayors who share platforms with masked gunmen showing off their firing skills. The Nationalist community sees these people for what they are - the Afrikaners of the Six Counties.
The blatant hypocrisy of the DUP is matched only by their ineptitude as politicians who cannot detach from their paramilitary allies because they might blow the whistle on their extra-political-curriculum activities. [Interruption].
Mr Deputy Speaker:
Order. The Member has a right to be heard.
Mrs Nelis:
It would be more fitting if the DUP demonstrated to the Chamber its commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means. The difficulty is that the DUP is not, and never has been, a democratic constitutional party. In 1966, the then Ulster Unionist Prime Minister, Terence O'Neill, told the House of Commons that the UVF had been involved in the Malvern Street murder of a young Catholic - [Interruption].
Mr Deputy Speaker:
Order.
Mrs Nelis:
They were also important officials in the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee, chaired by Dr Paisley. The proposer of the motion began his political career and commitment to constitutional politics by joining the Lagan Valley unit of the Ulster Protestant Volunteers. Members who are old enough may recall that both groups were involved in the explosions in 1969 that precipitated Terence O'Neill's downfall. [Interruption].
Mr Deputy Speaker:
Order.
Mrs Nelis:
They joined with Ulster Vanguard to form the United Ulster Unionist Council to destroy the Sunningdale Agreement.
And who can forget Ulster Resistance? While the leadership of the DUP was drilling on the top of mountains, waving firearms certificates, militant members of the organisation were importing guns into the North from South Africa. When they were caught in Paris, the leader of the party went to bail them out. [Interruption].
Mr Deputy Speaker:
Order. Mrs Nelis, your time is up.
Mrs Nelis:
Perhaps John Reid will not only examine the status of Loyalist ceasefires -
Mr Deputy Speaker:
Mrs Nelis, your time is up.
Mrs Nelis:
Go raibh míle maith agat.
Mr Shannon:
I support the motion and oppose the amendment. [Interruption].
Mr Deputy Speaker:
Order. Members on both sides have a right to be heard.