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DUP Ministers snub all-Ireland council meeting
From BELFAST TELEGRAPH December 13th, 1999
By Noel McAdam, Political Correspondent
DUP Ministers Peter Robinson and Nigel Dodds today boycotted the first meeting
of the North-South Ministerial Council - and instead held their own talks
with terrorist victims . The two anti-Agreement Executive Ministers met
the new umbrella group Northern Ireland Terrorist Victims Together, in Markethill
Orange hall, about ten miles from the historic inaugural proceedings in
Armagh. The Regional and Social Development Ministers were then expected
to go to Forkhill RUC station to present police and army personnel with
a Christmas hamper, before visiting the Newtownhamilton area "if time permitted".
Their itinerary was revealed as DUP leader Ian Paisley disclosed he had
turned down an invitation to attend today's historic ceremony as MEP. In
a letter refusing the invite, he said: "I was elected to Europe to oppose the sellout to Sinn Fein/IRA and the Irish Republic. Needless to say, I will not, like Mr Trimble and his party, break my manifesto commitments and align with the enemies of our province. My party will not at any time
be participating in the North South Ministerial Council with its Republican agenda and its wretched personnel of betrayers." But Ulster Unionist Assembly
member Esmond Birnie said the DUP were "past masters of inconsistency". "Like the French Revolution Bourbons, they have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. They attack the institutions of the Agreement, yet they seek to enjoy the fruits of the offices provided in the Agreement, and are certainly now part of regional government including Sinn Fein," the South Belfast member added. Meanwhile, DUP justice spokesman Ian Paisley jnr claimed IRA
prisoners at the Maze have been divided into pro and anti-agreement compounds
and urged an immediate Government review. "The fact that the Real IRA is openly opposed to the Belfast Agreement means the Government must prevent the release of IRA prisoners in this category," he said. The party's justice spokesman also criticised Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's call for politicians to leave the decommissioning issue to General John de Chastelain's Commission.
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