SF Slammed Over Call for IRA 'Clean Slate'

(This commentary was provided by the Ulster Unionist Party)

Sinn Fein was branded the ''Oliver Twist of Northern Ireland politics'' today  on UTV after it emerged the party has pressed for the criminal records of thousands of IRA members to be cleared.

Unionist and nationalist politicians were outraged at the party,s latest bid to persuade the British and Irish governments to wipe the slate clean for former prisoners.

Republicans have insisted the demand is nothing new, dating back to negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

But the demand was branded “vile and ludicrous” by former Ulster Unionist Assembly member Esmond Birnie and “hypocritical” by the SDLP’s Alban Maginness.

Birnie argued: “Sinn Fein is the Oliver Twist of Northern Ireland politics.

”Sinn Fein’s negotiating stance is always one of: ‘Please sir, I want some more’.

”That is why it is a mistake for the two governments to publish their Joint Declaration ahead of any definitive acts of completion.

”The UUP warned Sinn Fein and the IRA were likely to try to pocket any concessions whilst haggling for more.

”This has now happened.” In May, London and Dublin released the Joint Declaration which set out how the Good Friday Agreement would be fully implemented in the event of paramilitary “acts of completion”.

By publishing the plan, they hoped it would eventually pave the way for an historic IRA announcement that it is abandoning all paramilitary activity.

However at the same time British Prime Minister Tony Blair cancelled Assembly elections scheduled for May 29 because the IRA would not state clearly it was ending all recruiting, training, targeting, weapons importation and violence.

Blair argued unionists would not go back into power sharing with Sinn Fein without an IRA move.

Republicans insisted they had answered a series of questions put to them by the Prime Minister on IRA activity and were furious at the cancellation of the elections. They pointed to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams’ public declaration that the Provisionals would not do anything inconsistent with the Good Friday Agreement.

Politicians have become increasingly pessimistic in Northern Ireland since May about the prospects of restoring the Assembly and power sharing executive. Devolution has been suspended in the province since last October following a succession of IRA spying allegations.

With rival wings of the Ulster Unionist Party feuding over the joint declaration, some parties believe direct rule from Westminster could remain for some time.

Birnie, a former MLA for South Belfast, warned today efforts to reinvigorate the Agreement could be further undermined by demands for the criminal records of IRA members to be expunged.

”This is a ludicrous and vile suggestion,” he said.

”It is entirely outside anything contained in the 1998 Agreement. If Sinn Fein and the IRA wants to destroy the delicate balance in that agreement then they are going the right way about it.”

Former nationalist SDLP Assembly member Alban Maginness accused Sinn Fein of double standards.

”Sinn Fein is trying to create a hierarchy whereby those in the IRA are treated more favourably than others involved in human rights abuses,” the north Belfast councillor observed.

”On the one hand they want the state to be exposed for human rights abuses. On the other, they want their own people to be applauded.

”Sinn Fein needs to get real. Pushing this issue only highlights their hypocrisy, and people out there realise that.

”We can not turn a blind eye to any of those people who have committed human rights abuses.”

Sinn Fein’s Cathy Staunton brushed off criticism of her party, claiming the demand for prisoners’ records to be expunged was not new.

The North Belfast representative responded: “Sinn Fein has raised this issue consistently as part of the conflict resolution process.  If there had not been a political conflict, there would not have been political prisoners. Sinn Fein has always demanded that barriers to ex-POWs’ integration back into their communities are removed.

”These records have been used to discriminate against former political prisoners across a range of areas and they should be removed.  This issue was raised by Sinn Fein during the negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement and since and as such remains an issue to be resolved.

”If Alban Maginness believes otherwise, then he was either sleeping through the negotiations or was not part of the SDLP negotiation team.”