It is believed that Ahern’s words were aimed at the Democratic Unionist Party. Since the DUP has become the dominant voice of Unionism after last November’s election, it has been refusing to countenance any negotiations with Sinn Fein. Sources close to the government say that the taoiseach was concerned that if the political vacuum continued, with devolved government in Belfast suspended indefinitely, there would be a progressive degeneration of the situation and a gradual return to street violence.
Earlier, the IRA warned that it was “deeply concerned” about the current situation, though there is no suggestion of a return to republican violence.
“If there is no executive, no sense of ministers working collectively, then there is no political system,” Ahern said on the BBC’s “Frost on Sunday” program. “The risk is that people will take back to the streets in one form or another and that’s a risk that is too great.
“If you were to have that kind of frustrated and rejectionist period then the future would be bleak and you would inevitably get back into some kind of conflict. Let us hope it wouldn’t be violence.”
The news came as leading anti-Agreement Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson has officially joined the Rev. Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party and committed himself to keeping Sinn Fein out of talks — and any future power-sharing government in Northern Ireland.
Donaldson and two other UUP defectors left the party last month saying they were considering whether to join the DUP. Now they have, leaving the UUP with just 24 assembly seats to the DUP’s 33.
It also leaves the UUP in second place at Westminster, depriving it of vital
parliamentary status in London, and further threatening its representation at the next British general election.
Donaldson had been a thorn in the side of the UUP leader, David Trimble, since the moment he stormed out of the talks leading up to the signing of the Good Friday agreement in 1998.
Since then, he has repeatedly defied Trimble’s leadership, no matter what moves the UUP took to satisfy his demands for further concessions from republicans, the disunity damaging it in the eyes of the unionist electorate.
Speaking at Stormont on Monday, Donaldson said he had suffered “vindictiveness and naked hatred” from members of his old party, the UUP, which he had “never experienced before”.
“It was clear Mr. Trimble and his colleagues had orchestrated a move to have me expelled from the party because of the stance I had taken during the (Nov. 26 Assembly) election campaign,” Donaldson said.
Another defector, Arlene Foster of Fermanagh-South Tyrone, said the DUP was “now the mainstream unionist party in Northern Ireland — that is why I have joined the Democratic Unionist Party today,” adding that “the fight has gone out of the UUP.” The third defector, Norah Beare (of Lagan Valley and a former party headquarters worker for 12 years), said she believed “we are seeing the demise of the Ulster Unionist Party.”
DUP leader Paisley said it was a historic day for Unionism and the three assembly members would be “perfectly at home” within the party. “This meeting indicates that the swing of Ulster people is back to a true democracy,” he said. Paisley also claimed that it was the “beginning of large numbers of people” that would be joining the DUP and said he was planning a recruitment drive across
Northern Ireland to persuade UUP members to cross over to his party. That would give unionists greater strength in the negotiations ahead, he said.
“There is one issue which we will not be renegotiating,” he said, “and that is the possibility of getting Sinn Fein/IRA back in government”.
“That is not for discussion. What is for discussion is a way forward democratically for those who have pledged themselves to a democratic way forward.” Paisley also reiterated his call for Trimble to resign.
“Trimble should be looking at the demise of many ‘official unionist’ leaders, he should get out while the going is good,” he said.
Sinn Fein assembly member Alex Maskey said the defections should not change
anything.
“We all know that Jeffrey, in particular, has been anti-agreement since
1998,” he said.
The Social Democratic and Labor Party’s Sean Farren described the move as “a consolidation of views and people who have always been anti-agreement.”
Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the review of the Good Friday agreement must be limited to one month. London and Dublin are preparing for talks with all sides in Belfast, which may start Jan. 26. Adams also said the two governments had to make it clear there could be no re-negotiation of the deal struck in April 1998. No timetable for the talks has been announced, but Adams has called for them to be limited to four weeks.
“There is an onus on both governments”, he said, “to make it clear that
anti-agreement parties will not be allowed to use the review for their own ends. The review is not a substitute for working political institutions.”