Hain upbeat on IRA peace plans
The IRA is expected to deliver a statement imminently committing itself to “peaceful means”, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said yesterday.
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland said he was confident the paramilitary group would give up the gun for the ballot box after Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams urged the terrorists to embrace democratic means.
In an interview on the BBC’s Politics Show, Mr Hain said: “I’m confident now with an imminent IRA statement expected which needs to be credible and has been promised after a very important speech by Gerry Adams – the Sinn Fein leader – in which he committed Sinn Fein to exclusively political and democratic and peaceful means and he called on the IRA to do the same.
“I think we now look forward to an IRA statement which I hope will be credible and I hope will open up a new chapter in Northern Ireland politics.”
Mr Hain said the IRA could transform the political mood in the province and “open up the possibility of new negotiations in the autumn”.
Mr Hain also defended his past views on the withdrawal of troops in the province, saying they in no way conflicted with his present stance on the Good Friday Agreement.
“Some of those quotes are going back 20 to 30 years,” he said.
“Nelson Mandela was in prison in South Africa, the Berlin Wall was still up.
“There was no prospect at all of the completely different life that I now see around me just today in Belfast.”
But there were unbelievers.
Ulster Unionist leadership candidate Sir Reg Empey said Mr Hain must reassure sceptics.
Separately, Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, is to hold talks with the Democratic Unionist leadership next week at the Irish Embassy in London.
And Mr Ahern is expected to meet with Tony Blair at Downing Street next Wednesday.
