24 September 1998 Edition
Sinn Féin can go no further
It is time for David Trimble to make a choice between defending the Good Friday Agreement or placating those unionist backwoodsmen who want to bring it down.
The reactionary gallery to which he is playing by filibustering over the issue of decommissioning is the same audience which will unceremoniously dump him as the leader of unionism as soon as they get the opportunity.
Trimble should leave these critics behind and take an important step into the future. This he can do by beginning to defend the Good Friday Agreement by speedily implementing its provisions, in particular the formation of the Executive and the all-Ireland Ministerial Council.
Firstly Trimble needs to drop the notion that he can exclude Sinn Féin from office by using IRA decommisioning as a precondition to inclusion.
Sinn Féin is honouring the commitments it made in endorsing the Agreement. The party is also providing the forward looking leadership that is required in this new situation on all issues. In recent weeks Sinn Féin took specific initiatives aimed at making it easier for everyone to engage with each other.
As Gerry Kelly said this Tuesday: ``We have gone as far as we can go. It is now up to Mr Trimble to respond in kind by keeping his word.''
The reactionary gallery to which he is playing by filibustering over the issue of decommissioning is the same audience which will unceremoniously dump him as the leader of unionism as soon as they get the opportunity.
Trimble should leave these critics behind and take an important step into the future. This he can do by beginning to defend the Good Friday Agreement by speedily implementing its provisions, in particular the formation of the Executive and the all-Ireland Ministerial Council.
Firstly Trimble needs to drop the notion that he can exclude Sinn Féin from office by using IRA decommisioning as a precondition to inclusion.
Sinn Féin is honouring the commitments it made in endorsing the Agreement. The party is also providing the forward looking leadership that is required in this new situation on all issues. In recent weeks Sinn Féin took specific initiatives aimed at making it easier for everyone to engage with each other.
As Gerry Kelly said this Tuesday: ``We have gone as far as we can go. It is now up to Mr Trimble to respond in kind by keeping his word.''