10/07/2002

Government urged to 'get a grip' on paramilitaries

The Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble has told the House Of Commons that the government must "get a grip" on paramilitary violence and "recreate some confidence in the community".

Mr Trimble, speaking during a Northern Ireland debate in the Commons this afternoon, said that the IRA has been responsible for the majority of the violence along flashpoint interfaces between the Protestant and Catholic communities.

"The difficulty we are in at the moment is entirely because the paramilitary organisations have not made the progress we would wish," said Mr Trimble.

The Upper Bann MP then urged the government to instigate a process that would regain credibility for the peace process, with stiff penalties for offenders and political parties linked to paramilitary organisations should violence continue. If this did not happen, Mr Trimble said that "the prospects for next year are not good at all".

He then accused the republican leadership of pursuing a strategy of "tension, demonstrated in the orchestration of the riots", adding that the IRA was angling towards a "full-scale terrorist campaign".

Sinn Fein rejected Mr Trimble's view, saying that the problem lies not in the peace process but within unionism.

(GMcG)


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