Trimble warns paramilitaries against 'hotting up' summer violence

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has warned paramilitaries that, in the wake of the first Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) Report, any plans they may have to escalate violence over the summer will only led to a harsher second report and many more sanctions in the autumn.

Mr Trimble was speaking at the House of Commons during a Committee debate on the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Modification) Order 2004, which empowered the Secretary of State to take action in respect of the financial sanctions recommended by the IMC.

In its first report, published last month, the IMC confirmed that "on the basis of reported figures - which, especially for assaults, may not reflect the full picture - the scale of paramilitary violence since 1 January 2003 has been worryingly high: approaching one murder a month; some three victims a week both from shootings and from assaults".

Following on from this, Mr Trimble today warned the Committee that paramilitary groups appeared to be preparing to escalate violence at Northern Ireland's interfaces over the coming months. "We are coming to the summer, during which time we always worry about what will happen at the interfaces," the Upper Bann MP said.

"I am sure that the Minister will have heard rumours of silly talk among various paramilitary groups. I have heard reports of people saying things like, 'Oh, well, we'll let the IMC keep the peace at the interfaces this summer.' Such rumours circulate among Republican as well as Loyalist paramilitaries."

"I mention those rumours only because I want to say to paramilitary groups that they are making a huge mistake if they think that they can respond to this Report by directly or indirectly hotting up the interfaces and letting the situation in Belfast deteriorate in the summer."

Mr Trimble said that anyone who was thinking in these terms should consider what the consequences would be when the next IMC Report comes.

"There is a simple principle in such matters: when someone is in a hole, they should stop digging. Paramilitary organisations are foolish if they think that they can continue to dig, in that respect, or that they can find some way of stirring up trouble without being detected.

"The whole point of the IMC is to ensure that the game that the paramilitaries played immediately after the ceasefires of not claiming responsibility and hoping that the authorities would turn a blind eye is over - not just because the IMC is determined to keep a spotlight on things, but because the Northern Ireland Office and various statutory agencies are determined to ensure that no one turns a blind eye," Mr Trimble concluded.

(MB)