Transcripts and news digests are courtesy of the Northern Ireland Information Bureau

Monday, June 13, 2005

Peter Hain has appealed for people to 'judge me on my record' after being challenged on 'anti-unionist views' before Labour came to power. He added that the political landscape had changed dramatically since he expressed the opinions on British withdrawal from Northern Ireland. Irish News (P11). See also News Letter (P9), Daily Ireland (P9), Belfast Telegraph (P8), Irish Times (P7), The Times (P2). 

The News Letter editorial (P8) states that unionists will view the Secretary of State with some suspicion as Mr Hain did not indicate on TV that he had moved on from his standpoint. Northern Ireland will be part of the British nation long after Peter Hain leaves these shores and during his tenure as Secretary of State he must accept that fundamental position. 

Chris Thornton asks can Peter Hain serve both Wales and Ulster after he refused to disclose how much time he spends working on Northern Ireland against his brief for Wales. Belfast Telegraph (P8). 

Bertie Ahern is to hold talks with Ian Paisley in London this week. Mr Ahern is also expected to meet with Tony Blair on Wednesday. Irish News (P11). See also Belfast Telegraph (P2), Irish Times (P7).
 

Program: The Politics Show
Date & Time 12.06.05 (12.13)
Subject Report on Peter Hain’s views in the past and present

JEREMY VINE

Politics in Northern Ireland is still recovering from the seismic shock of May’s General Election. David Trimble’s Ulster Unionists were all but wiped out as unionist voters turned to the more hard-line DUP, led by the Reverend Ian Paisley. The result reflected deep discontent among unionists at the state of the peace process. Tony Blair’s response has been to appoint Peter Hain as the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, but is he the right man for the job? I will ask him in a moment, first Gillian Hargreaves has been looking at a man carrying a lot of political baggage.

GILLIAN HARGREAVES

This is the man now in charge of the most troubled bit of the UK. Peter Hain seems welcome enough, chewing the fat with shoppers in Belfast just after he was made Secretary of State for Northern Ireland five weeks ago. At an impromptu kerbside news conference, he was asked how well he knew the patch.

MEDIA

How well do you know Northern Ireland? How many times have you been here?

SECRETARY OF STATE

I’ve been here I suppose, over the years a dozen times or so, but I need, I’m on a fast learning curve and with the help of people, judging by the reaction on the streets this morning, it’ll be very positive. With the help of the political representatives I think we can make progress.

GILLIAN HARGREAVES

That humble approach is not the whole picture though, because from the 1970’s through to the mid-90’s, Peter Hain held some strong anti-unionist views. He’s never supported the IRA and recently told them to give up paramilitarism, but in the past his beliefs have gone far beyond Labour Party policy. Such views may not go down well with Northern Ireland’s increasingly pessimistic Protestants.

Many people know something of Peter Hain’s radical past, as a young South African he was a fierce critic of the apartheid movement, his family had to seek safety in Britain when he was a teenager. In those days the Labour Party supported some radical liberation movements in South Africa and Latin America. When it came to the Northern Ireland conflict though, the party was much more conservative, but Peter Hain’s beliefs were more in line with those of Sinn Fein and he led some strong anti-imperialist views.

In 1988, he proposed British withdrawal from Northern Ireland, he said "any serious historical assessment of Britain’s colonial and imperial presence in Ireland must conclude that the imposition of partition was and remains unjust and undemocratic. Throughout the world, Britain’s colonial policy of divide and rule was well-known and in Ireland, faced with repeated rebellions, British policy was to promote and foster sectarian and religious division."

Paul Dixon has been examining Peter Hain’s past while writing a book on the peace process. He’s a lecturer at the University of Ulster, and specialises in Labour Party policy during the troubles. He’s uncovered evidence of Peter Hain’s past support for the Irish Republican position, right up until Labour got into government.

PAUL DIXON

Peter Hain’s probably the most partisan Secretary of State for Northern Ireland ever. Since 1972 he has been a critic of British policy towards Northern Ireland. During the 1980’s he has consistently supported a withdrawal policy, which has been against Labour’s official Irish policy, which has been for Irish unity by consent. During the 1990’s, Peter Hain’s position has continued to echo that of Irish Republicanism.

GILLIAN HARGREAVES

It’s noticeable that Peter Hain popped up at some of the worst crises in Northern Ireland’s history. From the Hunger Strikes here at the Maze Prison in the early 80’s right through until the Canary Wharf bombing in 1996, Peter Hain wasn’t shy in voicing his opinions about Northern Ireland’s problems. In fact as early as 1975, Peter Hain was protesting against British policy in Northern Ireland. Here he’s seen supporting 14 people who were put on trial for trying to deter British soldiers from serving in the Province. 

Six years later one of the worst crises of the troubles erupted, Bobby Sands, the leader of the IRA in the Maze Prison, went on hunger strike. He wanted to be treated as a political prisoner rather than a common criminal. There were wide-spread protests when he and 9 others starved to death. It marked a poisonous episode in Northern Ireland’s history. The Tory Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher refused to give in to the IRA’s demands. 

The Labour Party, then in opposition, supported her stand. Peter Hain slated his own party leadership, during the Labour Party conference that year he called for military withdrawal from Northern Ireland in the lifetime of the next Labour Government.

PETER HAIN

What I think above all though, is that that (unclear) withdrawal has to be credible and really you see comrades there are no easy solutions in this situation, there are no best solutions, they’re only least worse solutions.

GILLIAN HARGREAVES

In 1985, Mrs Thatcher signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement. For the first time both the British and Irish Governments would hold talks about the future of the province. Like Sinn Fein, Peter Hain was set against the Agreement.

PETER HAIN

Everything has been tried. We’ve had power-sharing, we’ve had cooption of certain moderate Protestants, we’ve had Direct Rule, now we’ve had the Anglo-Irish Agreement. None of them have worked because none of them provide a long-term solution to the Irish crisis. And we say that a radical change of policy is needed. 

It’s got to be a policy that recognises that the historic partition of Ireland is the root of the problem, that Britain’s presence in Ireland, in the North continues to be the main obstacle to the solution to the problem.

GILLIAN HARGREAVES

While Peter Hain opposed the Ango-Irish Agreement because it wouldn’t lead to Irish unity, he hoped it would put unionists on the back foot. "I think it’s helpful from the point of view of people who wish to seek a united Ireland, to have the loyalist community in open revolt against the Thatcher government. That is one of the preconditions for making advances."

By the late 1980s, British troops had been stationed in Northern Ireland for 20 years, after a number of controversial shootings there was a new campaign to get the Army to quit the province. At this time, Peter Hain was becoming prominent as vice-chair of the Time to Go Campaign, which was chaired by Claire Short. It called for British troop withdrawal from Northern Ireland. In 1988, he proposed "a commitment to British withdrawal from Ireland within the lifetime of the next Labour Government, the dissolution of the union and its replacement by a freely negotiated structure for the whole of Ireland in which the rights of each section of the community will be guaranteed." These were not Labour Party or even moderate Irish nationalist views.

PAUL DIXON

In 1979 and 1989, mainstream nationalist and British Labour Party views were not in favour of British withdrawal from Northern Ireland without the consent of a majority of the people.

GILLIAN HARGREAVES

In 1994 Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party. He decided the party needed to move away from its commitment to a united Ireland, the policy Peter Hain supported. Blair wanted to take a more even-handed approach. Two years later the IRA blew up Canary Wharf in London, the bomb marked the dramatic end to the IRA’s first ceasefire and two men were killed. 

Yet according to a report at the time, Peter Hain was one of a number of Labour MP’s who sent greetings to Sinn Fein at their Party Conference in Dublin, only six weeks after the bombing. The newspaper reports that Tony Blair disassociated himself from a greetings message from five Labour MP’s including Peter Hain, who by then was an Opposition Whip in The Commons. This incident was only a year before Labour came to power and Tony Blair’s big push to resurrect the peace process.

PAUL DIXON

The IRA were not on ceasefire and this was completely out of kilter with Labour Party policy, and a remarkable gesture for him to make at a time when the IRA were back at war.

GILLIAN HARGREAVES

If his past record on Northern Ireland isn’t enough to make unionists jittery, then his actions over the future sovereignty of Gibraltar might give them concern. Back in 2002, when he was a Foreign Office Minister, Mr Hain discussed detailed proposals with the Spanish to introduce joint sovereignty to the British colony. It was emphatically rejected by Gibraltar’s population in a referendum. 

Unionists are bound to be suspicious that history might repeat itself in Northern Ireland. For neigh on 30 years, Peter Hain has been expressing trenchant views on Northern Ireland and yet none of the politicians here in Belfast seem to have realised it. Sinn Fein’s own newspaper Republican News claims he’s hardly ever spoken out about the situation here, and Ian Paisley’s democratic Unionist Party actually welcomed his appointment as Secretary of State.

On his first day in the job Peter Hain was making all the right noises.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Can I say how privileged and delighted I am to be doing this absolutely crucial Cabinet job. The Prime Minister explained to me last night that securing permanent peace in Northern Ireland and getting an Agreement, and getting the Assembly up and running again is an absolute priority for him. It will be my main priority in this post, of course.

GILLIAN HARGREAVES

The new Secretary of State with his Ministerial team has to find a way to restore devolution. He must be seen to be impartial and even-handed, so is he the right person to break the impasse between Republicans and Unionists, and can he inspire confidence in both communities in Northern Ireland?

*******

Program: The Politics Show – Secretary of State
Date & Time 12.06.05 (12.25)
Subject Secretary of State’s views on the peace process in the past and for the future

JEREMY VINE

We’re joined by Peter Hain himself, the new Northern Ireland Secretary from Belfast. So there we are, you have this history of anti-unionist views going back more than 30 years.

SECRETARY OF STATE

It’s fascinating watching all those pictures of me with a lot more hair, Jeremy, and looking very young, and we’ve all got things we said 20/30 years ago, indeed the whole world has changed since then. We now have a political process, we’ve had a period of parties that have been fighting each other, quite literally, with bombs and bullets talking to each other and having sat together in the Assembly and sharing government with each other. 

The process which culminated in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, seven years ago, has completely transformed Northern Irish politics. And indeed, the whole world has been transformed, so although it’s fascinating that you delve into all these events decades ago and things that were said decades ago, and the whole situation was completely different when bombs and bullets were being fired in all directions and going off all the time. 

What my job is, is to get on with the getting the process of democratic politics back on the road, entrenching the peace settlement and I ask you to judge me on my record.

JEREMY VINE

Right, but you say that we have all got these views that we’ve expressed. Plainly, we haven’t. And not only that, we can’t find anywhere where you’ve renounced these views.

SECRETARY OF STATE

As I say the whole world has changed. You know when some of those quotes you’ve got back 20/30 years ago, Nelson Mandella was in prison in South Africa, the Berlin Wall was still up, there was no prospect at all of the kind of completely different life that I now see around me just today in Belfast, or across Northern Ireland.

JEREMY VINE

But you keep saying these quotes are 20 or 30 years ago, some are more recent than that. In 1988 you said "the imposition of partition was and remains unjust and undemocratic," now is that still your view?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Jeremy, you can quiz me as long as you like on the history of Northern Ireland. What I find interesting is people here, in Northern Ireland as I am at the moment, are looking forward not backwards. The BBC can continue to go into the entrails and ups and downs of history, partition, what happened, you know the whole of politics in Northern Ireland was frozen in the past and that has been the problem and until we got the Good Friday Agreement, which opened up a whole new world for Northern Ireland and indeed elsewhere, that has changed everything. My job now as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is to take this process forward, and that I’m determined to do, whatever old clippings you dig out and whatever old questions you put before me.

JEREMY VINE

I will ask you, I will ask you where the talks are going, but I just want to get back to this very simple thing, you say it’s changed everything, and I’m asking has it changed your views, do you renounce those views?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Jeremy, you can keep quizzing me about the past, about things that were said 30 years ago when bombs were going off, when there was an impasse and all sorts of different avenues were being explored, and I’m happy to have an academic discussion about that. My job as Secretary of State, and I ask to be judged on this record and my appointment has been widely welcomed, as you to be fair, you pointed out in your programme, my job is to work with the people of Northern Ireland and with the Irish Government to take this process forward. 

I’m going to be looking forward, ask to be judged on my record not taken back as is been the, in a sense the tendency throughout politics in Northern Ireland is to always look back, always look at what was said a long time ago, instead of looking forward.

JEREMY VINE

Well we’re going through your views because what you said was important and you’re in an important position now. We have a situation where we have British troops in Northern Ireland, you were Vice-chair of the Troops Out Movement, now do you …

SECRETARY OF STATE

I wasn’t actually. I was never Vice-Chair of the Troops …

JEREMY VINE

Do you think those troops should go?

SECRETARY OF STATE

No, no, no, that’s actually wrong Jeremy I was never Vice-chair of the Troops Out Movement, and I don’t think that your programme said that by the way.

JEREMY VINE

Sorry, you were at the head of the Time to Go Movement. Do you still think they should go?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Of course I don’t. Actually the number of troops that have come down, there has been a significant reduction in the number of British troops, thousands fewer than there were years ago, and if we can continue to get the peace process cemented in, and I noticed for example that Martin McGuinness on behalf of Sinn Fein, only the other day said in a BBC interview that he was committed to pursuing Sinn Fein’s objective by exclusively peaceful and democratic means. 

Now that wasn’t what was happening, the IRA were letting off bombs 10, 20, 30 years ago, so I think what’s crucial is we all move forward together, and I am confident now with an imminent IRA statement expected which needs to be credible and has been promised after a very important speech by Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein leader in which he committed Sinn Fein to exclusively political and democratic and peaceful means and he called on the IRA to do the same. 

I think we now look forward to an IRA statement which I hope will be credible and will open up a new chapter in Northern Ireland politics.

JEREMY VINE

But how do you act as an honest broker in this when unionists can see you’ve got these anti-unionist views?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well, ask the unionists. I’ve had very good meetings with unionist leaders, Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, and his team. I’ve had good meetings with the Ulster Unionists and I continue to intend to have those, and indeed what I find interesting is they are concerned, as I am, is how we for example make sure that the parades in the next few weeks are peaceful, that there’s not the kind of community turmoil and danger of violence that we’ve seen in the past. 

We’re all working together to achieve that, we’re all working together then to look forward beyond and IRA statement, if it is the credible one we’re hoping for and expecting, that we can really entrench the democratic process, end paramilitary and criminality activity and banish it from Northern Ireland politics forever, and get people sharing government and taking Northern Ireland forward. We’re all joined together at the hip in making sure that this happens.

JEREMY VINE

But as has been pointed out, not everybody has said these things, you’re out of line with your own party on some of them and we had Paul Dixon, the distinguished Politics Lecturer, in the film there saying you’re the most partisan Secretary of State for Northern Ireland ever.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Academics and BBC journalists, even distinguished ones like you Jeremy, can say what they like. In real life politics I have not had a single member of the public in Northern Ireland and not a single politician, Unionist or Nationalist or Republican, talk to me about any of this past history because they’re all concerned, you may not be, and various academics writing interesting books and thesis may not be, who want some air time may not be, they can get on with their job, you can get on with your job, I’m going to get on with mine, and mine is to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland, that’s what they expect from me and I’m not going to be deflected by interesting academic or media speculation or attempts to take the whole debate back, I’ve got to move forward.

JEREMY VINE

Did the Prime Minister know about your views when he appointed you?

SECRETARY OF STATE

The Prime Minister knows about everything when he appoints Cabinet Ministers. I’ve been in the Cabinet for three years now, I think the role that the Prime Minister played is an absolutely historic one in achieving what no previous Prime Minister has achieved, although John Major did take this whole process forward for the Conservatives, has achieved is a period of unparallel peace and stability and prosperity and the achievements of much greater democracy. We’ll be launching the new Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland tomorrow, I’ll be doing it in Belfast tomorrow. 

This is an entirely new era with Criminal Justice now exercised on an equal basis, not the old basis in which community division was a feature. What we now see is a new Independent Judicial Commission being announced next week, a whole process moving forward. The big missing part of the jigsaw is to get the Assembly back up and running here in Northern Ireland, to get shared government back in business, that is my objective, and we await the IRA statement to see if it will trigger a new dawn.

JEREMY VINE

Well tell us then finally what you think Sinn Fein must do to get the peace process moving forward again?

SECRETARY OF STATE

What’s crucial is that the IRA produce a credible statement that paramilitary and criminality activity is a thing of the past, that they are committed to a future which is exclusively peaceful and democratic, that Sinn Fein have already indicated, their leaders have already indicated that that’s what they want to achieve. Once we get that credible statement, then we can get around the table and start to move forward and I’m confident we can do so.

******

Program: Radio Ulster
Date & Time 12.06.05 (11.00)
Subject Today’s Politics Show Report

ERIN ALEXANDER

Secretary of State, Peter Hain, has defended his ability to act as an honest broker in the peace process. A report on the BBC’s Politics Show today looks back on Mr Hain’s former involvement with the Time to Go Movement and previously stated view that partition is at the heart of the problem here. Interviewed afterwards, Mr Hain said the Good Friday Agreement had changed everything.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Some of those quotes you got back 20/30 years ago. Nelson Mandela was in prison in South Africa, the Berlin Wall was still up, there was no prospect at all of the kind of completely different life that I now see around me just today in Belfast.

*****
 

Program: GMU
Date & Time 20.6.05 (6.34)
Subject Parades

WENDY AUSTIN

Violence during the Tour of the North parade at Ardoyne has soured what relations there are between negotiators on both sides trying to ensure peaceful parading in the city. And then there is the returning to prison of IRA bomber Sean Kelly, that has angered Sinn Fein. So just how damaging have the weekend’s events been? The Secretary of State, Peter Hain, joins us now. What is your reaction now first of all to what happened at Ardoyne at the weekend?

SECRETARY OF STATE

I was very disappointed by the violence on Friday night’s parade and like the Chief Constable I hope that doesn’t set the tone for the rest of the summer because we really do need the two communities speaking to one another and trying to come to an accommodation which is based on respect for each other’s position. I notice as the Chief Constable said that nationalist representatives did make every effort to try and control the situation including Sinn Fein representatives and he, Hugh Orde that is, praised the activity. But I hope that that kind of effort can continue and that this proves to be an isolated incident, a series of incidents, rather than set a general tone.

WENDY AUSTIN

And yet trust is vital in all of this and there would be many watching what happened at the weekend who will say to you, we are waiting for an IRA statement which is supposed to be seminal in this whole peace process yet the IRA seem still to be able and prepared to turn the violence on and off in areas where they have influence.

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well the Chief Constable didn’t indicate that in his initial assessment and I obviously await a report. Indeed there were prominent republicans, I think, including Gerry Kelly who were trying to do their best to control the situation and calm it down. It is in everybody’s interest that the summer is peaceful and I am asking everybody, politicians, community leaders and march organisers to redouble their efforts to ensure that we have a peaceful summer because this is a critical moment with an expected IRA statement, with the negotiations which I want to follow that statement in due course and it is important that people do their best to calm the situation, respect each other’s positions but don’t resort to intimidation and certainly don’t resort to violence.

WENDY AUSTIN

I don’t know if you have heard what has been said over the weekend but it would seem not only has there been the violence that we have seen but that there has been intimidation there as well from the other side and that whole trust that is required for the kind of discussions that you are keen to foster that the trust has broken down. Is there a role here maybe for the Government with the new Ministers that are here to play some kind of part in trying to get people back together and to keep them talking?

SECRETARY OF STATE

We are doing that. The discussions that I am having are continuing all the time, so are important meetings with Shaun Woodward, my Security Minister and David Hanson who covers the politics side for me and they are engaged with meetings all the time, with different representatives and as I am today and in the coming few days. And we are determined to drive this process forward and play what part we can in calming it. 

But in the end it is up to the different communities and their representatives to realise that it is in nobody’s interests for this to flare up, to have a fraught summer. On the contrary, there is a crucial moment and an opportunity now to take the process forward and although Friday’s activity and violence was very regrettable and unfortunate, taken in perspective and in proportion by comparison with what went on in years gone by, that is the yardstick by which we must judge it and it is not a situation which is comparable with the awful scenes we used to have. 

Let’s hope that nevertheless this proves an isolated series of activities and we can get a position where the communities are talking to each other and seeking to find an accommodation based on respect for each other’s position and as I said earlier on the activity of nationalist representatives and stewards and leading republican figures on Friday night did, I think, auger well for attempts to try and do that.

WENDY AUSTIN

Have you any worries that this process, as you called it there, is moving forward at the level at which you and your Ministers operate perhaps, but that on the ground it is bogged down and trailing far behind? There is this business of perception and reality and for many people the reality is that actually things are not better and that they are still facing these kind of difficulties that we saw on Friday night in various ways in their daily lives?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well again let’s just stand back a bit and get this in proportion. Friday night’s activity compared with what used to happen in the bad old days was not a situation which we wanted, on the contrary, we tried to avoid, but compared I think relatively favourably with what used to happen and when I go about Northern Ireland as I have done over the recent weeks to Tullyally in Derry or to Creggan, equally in Derry or down to near Enniskillen where I attended a police family day last Sunday which could not have happened 5-10 years ago. 

Ordinary life is actually going on in Northern Ireland in a much better way and I think that is down to the political leadership shown by the different parties from Sinn Fein right across to the Ulster Unionist Party and the DUP and that kind of leadership, along with the crucial and courageous role played by the SDLP over the years that we have to now engage in and make sure we can drive forward because although we can provide a security response to incidents on the parade there is never a security solution to the parades issue, it is ultimately a matter of community speaking to each other and finding a political basis upon which to respect each other and move forward.

WENDY AUSTIN

On a slightly different tack why did you send Sean Kelly back to jail?

SECRETARY OF STATE

This is not a decision I took lightly and it has been said that it is very unfortunate timing because of the marching season and the very important discussions that are now going on in the IRA. It is a decision that I took simply because I had to take it. Unfortunately he had breached the terms of his licence and like 11 others who had similarly done so he had to be taken back inside. Now the Sentence Review Commissioners will consider the evidence before them about his case. I hope they will do that sooner rather than later. 

I am making efforts already to get that underway. But let’s keep this in proportion. There have been 11 cases of persons whose licences have been suspended when they have been given early release out of 447 prisoners released under the early release scheme, out of those 11, 9 are loyalists, 2 republican. I am sorry that Sean Kelly’s name has been added to that list but I had no alternative in view of the evidence before me.

WENDY AUSTIN

You mentioned there that normal life is important here and that you are pleased to see that it is coming about and I hope you don’t mind me then asking you about a normal issue. We are going to hear later about a drug which has been tested here, but which is now not available because it is too expensive, it is available in your own constituency and I know that it is maybe not an issue which you are totally on top of because I have sprung it on you rather, but in principle are you in favour of that kind of difference between different parts of the UK and availability of life saving drugs?

SECRETARY OF STATE

Well, I discussed this with the Health Minister Shaun Woodward last night. We are looking into the situation. One of the consequences of devolution and doing things in the different parts of the United Kingdom, in this case Northern Ireland, from Wales or Scotland or England itself is that you learn from each other, other’s experience, you learn best practices and you learn lessons about worst practices. We will look into the situation and see what we can do about it and Shaun Woodward, the Health Minister, is going to do precisely that.

******

HAIN HAS FAILED THE TEST, SAYS ADAMS
06/28/05 13:15 EST

By the Irish-American Information Service

Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Hain has 'failed the test' in his opening weeks in the job, according to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. 

As Mr Hain prepared to brief key opinion formers in the United States on the state of the Northern Ireland peace process, Mr Adams also said the Northern Ireland Secretary was not in any position to imposes a testing period for republicans in the event of a groundbreaking IRA statement in the coming weeks. 

"Peter Hain has only been here for a very short time and he has failed the test," the West Belfast MP said. 

"His stupid decision over Sean Kelly is evidence of that and I don`t think he is in any position to be putting tests on people here who have a mandate. The people who voted for Sinn Fein certainly have no tests to pass. Peter Hain`s decision to incarcerate Sean Kelly was one of the stupidest decisions that has been taken in some long time here." 

Ten days ago, the British Government ordered the re-arrest of Mr Kelly for alleged involvement in "paramilitary activities." 

The Northern Ireland Secretary did not clarify what exactly Mr Kelly had done. 

Irish Premier Bertie Ahern raised concerns about the lack of information following the re-arrest of Mr Kelly who originally qualified for early release under the Good Friday Agreement. 

The decision whether Mr Kelly should remain behind bars will rest with the Sentence Review Commission in Northern Ireland. 

As politicians in Belfast, London and Dublin waited for the IRA`s response to Mr Adams` call in April for the organisation to consider abandoning armed struggle to pursue their goals peacefully and democratically, Mr Hain last week appealed for any positive move by the IRA to be treated in the spirit that it was intended. 

With the Reverend Ian Paisley`s Democratic Unionists insisting that it will be IRA actions, and not words, that count, Mr Hain also acknowledged in a speech to trade unionists in Belfast that a testing period might be needed to convince others in the process that the republican moves were for real. 

Adams, who was attending the launch of the programme for the West Belfast Festival along with Oscar-nominated actor Stephen Rea and Tyrone Gaelic football medal winner Peter Canavan, said he was looking for immediate moves by the Government to honor pledges in the peace process. 

"I am looking for action from the British Government now," he said. 

"Why should any of us hang around if these issues are issues of rights and entitlements? We are looking for a peaceful marching season and we are looking for both governments to deliver on their obligations and commitments in the Good Friday Agreement. Both governments are putting up this case that unionists must do such and such a thing but the only thing that the unionists can refuse to do at this time is to be part of the power-sharing institutions with the rest of us." 

"They have no veto over anything else. All of the other issues of equality, demilitarisation, justice and policing, the two governments should be dealing with forthwith." 

The Sinn Fein leader would not be drawn on new Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey`s pledge to refuse to go into government with republicans in the lifetime of this Assembly when he was elected to the post last Friday in Belfast. 

Adams said his party was focused on achieving a peaceful marching season and added that unionist leaders had a role to play in that. 
The West Belfast MP said his party was eager to sort out at any time the obstacles to devolution returning. He accused the British Government of caving in to the unionists` refusal to share power with republicans. 

"We are up to sorting it out at any time and it isn`t just over issues like (funding for) the feile (the West Belfast Festival)," he said. 

"It`s over our health service. It is over the effort to introduce water charges on people here. It is over the failure to put together a suicide prevention strategy. All of these issues, which are really hurting people in this part of the world, are being directed by fly-in, fly-out, day-release British ministers who are not acting, even if they are decent people and are competent, they are not acting in our interests or the interests of people living here." 

"They are acting in the interests of the British Government," Adams said. 

****

HAIN ARRIVES IN UNITED STATES FOR BRIEFINGS
06/28/05 05:44 EST

By the Irish-American Information Service

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has traveled to the United States to begin a four-day briefing tour. 

Hain will give an update on the political situation in Northern Ireland to US politicians and influential figures in the Irish-American community. 

He is due to spend today in New York and will go to Washington tomorrow. Mr Hain will return to the UK on Thursday. His visit follows a meeting between the British and Irish premiers in London on Monday. 

Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern both stressed that republicans had to commit to peace and democracy before power-sharing could be restored to Northern Ireland. Blair said both governments "wanted to get the peace process moving forward again." 

"That depends on a complete and total end to violence in all forms," he said. 

Ahern said they were "rock solid" in their determination to implement the Agreement." 

"The key issue is that we can get full implementation of the Agreement," he said. "Hopefully, sooner rather than later, we get to a position where all of the aspects we have pointed out, that we require to see from the republican movement ,are delivered so that allows us to build the trust and confidence that has suffered so much over the last six months and allows us to move forward," Ahern said. 

But the Belfast priest who was instrumental in the genesis of the peace process has warned that political rivalry in the Republic of Ireland could be an even greater threat to peace than the IRA. 

Speaking in Galway, Fr Alex Reid, said that fierce rivalry between the southern parties in the lead up to the next general election could have a detrimental impact on the Good Friday Agreement. 

He also warned that both the Irish and British governments needed to show leadership and renewed commitment if the prospect of fresh IRA violence was to be avoided. 

"If the British government does not reaffirm its commitment to equality through the Belfast agreement, and if the Irish government does not play its part by keeping a focus on the peace process, rather than on the perceived threat posed by Sinn Féin, we are facing a very risky situation. Language used by political representatives is very important and thats why an insistence on IRA disbandment is non-productive. If the IRA disbands you run the risk of creating splits, many more Real IRAs. If its members are asked to stand down, thats a different, more positive approach," said Fr. Reid. 

He accused Taoiseach Bertie Ahern of playing into the DUPs hands by criticising the Sinn Féin for party political reasons. 

"Both governments have to be more authoritative, because if a situation develops where there is still a refusal by unionists to agree to anything, and the IRA returns to the streets, you will will have a far more violent situation than before. This will illicit a violent loyalist response, which in turn will produce national defence committees and then the situation is out of control." 

Fr. Reid also pointed out the uncertainty within unionism: "Unionists are one of the this islands greatest assets and I firmly believe that future economic success on this island depends on their expertise and commitment. However, currently they are like a frightened people, emerging from the barricades and facing a forest full of uncertain noise and not knowing which way to turn."