The DUP is not serious about talks

» Declan Kearney

‘The evidence suggests that the DUP isn’t really serious about talks on anything unless they get their own way’ – Declan Kearney

PETER ROBINSON joined calls last month for a new talks process. He tried to narrow the scope of talks on DUP terms.

Last Friday, in an absurd intervention, the DUP leader ridiculed the planned start of talks this Thursday.

During the Haass negotiations it was apparent on 20 December that the DUP were not serious about the process. By 30 December they had written off those negotiations and turned against talks chairpersons Richard Haass and Meghan O’Sullivan.

Their only objective was to get unregulated Orange parades. When that proved impossible, both the DUP and UUP vetoed the Haass/O’Sullivan compromise proposals.

Six months later, both parties walked out of follow-up party leaders’ talks after the Parades Commission issued its determination on the Orange parade at Ardoyne in July.

They only attended those talks to stage a media walkout and into a pan-unionist front. The Ardoyne parade became a precondition for participating in future talks.

The evidence suggests that the DUP isn’t really serious about talks on anything unless they get their own way. Three times in six months they have threatened to bring down the political institutions.

DUP strategy is subordinate to the dominant unionist anti-Agreement axis. Instead of appealing to the 300,000-plus unionists who no longer vote, it is now fixated with the vote of the Traditional Unionist Party and UKIP.

Some in the DUP will say it is committed to power-sharing and partnership government. However, they are not in charge.

The group which opposed power-sharing with Sinn Féin and transfer of policing and justice powers are back in the driving seat. They misrepresent compromise and change in sectarian, zero-sum terms.

That is why the DUP broke the deal to appoint Mitchel McLaughlin as the Assembly Speaker. (See video here.)

The DUP is locked into a sectarian race to the bottom with the TUV, UKIP, UUP and paramilitary and Orange extremists.

Even if some of their members are committed to genuine negotiations, the reality is that the TUV now has more influence within the DUP than they do.

Big decisions now need to be taken.

➤ The British and Irish governments should begin the talks process this week.

➤ It is time for the British to stop pandering to insatiable unionist preconditions and intransigence.

➤ The Orange Card veto over talks must not be allowed.

Positive and decisive leadership is required.

If the DUP and UUP stick with the anti-Agreement axis, then pro-Agreement parties should fulfil the democratic imperative of the Good Friday Agreement referendum.

The silent majority and democratic opinion must be enabled and empowered.

Pro-Agreement politics must be urgently asserted.