Kilclooney casts doubt on devolution hopes

Ahead of tomorrow's inter-governmental talks at Hillsborough, Unionist peer Lord Kilclooney has thrown severe doubt on the prospects of any breakthrough being made, saying there was "no chance of devolution being restored simply by an act of decommissioning".

Speaking in the House of Lords yesterday, Lord Kilclooney said: “To win the confidence of the people of Northern Ireland, which has now been lost, and to regain support for the Agreement, which has declined, it is necessary to have not only decommissioning but real sanctions if those who decommission break the peace.

"By that, I do not mean simply the Prime Minister writing a few words in chalk on a blackboard and then undermining those words before the chalk has even dried.”

But he added that decommissioning of itself was “not the final solution to the problem of paramilitaries in Northern Ireland”, as there remained no clear method of verifying total decommissioning had taken place, or preventing further illegal arms to be imported.

He went on to describe loyalist paramilitaries as an "embarrassment to the Unionist community" as they weakened the Union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

"Anyone who believes that further decommissioning by the IRA will bring about a restoration of devolution in Northern Ireland is ill advised,” he added.

The political leaders of republicanism have said that the time was not right for the IRA to make, what US special adviser Richard Haass referred to as, "bold steps". Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has said that the talks will not be solely about issues relating to the IRA.

Speaking today, Mr Adams said: "Everybody knows it is not a single item agenda. Have we seen the programme that is required to commit that agenda to become a reality? I have to say we have not and I'm sure no one else has."

In today's London Times, a number of former members and supporters of militant republicanism stated that they could not conceive of situation whereby the IRA ceased to exist. One interviewee said that whilst republicanism continued on, there would always be an IRA.

(GMcG)