DUP says no to NI power transfer
DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson has said there can be no transfer of policing and justice powers to the Northern Assembly while the IRA Army Council continues to exist.
He was responding to a call from Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for Northern Ireland's politicians to move on the devolution of policing and justice powers.
In a statement, Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley also said he would not be proposing the transfer of policing and justice powers to Stormont because the necessary conditions do not exist.
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Earlier Bertie Ahern and Gordon Brown said they believe the time is right for political parties in Northern Ireland to take the final steps towards complete devolution and normality.
At a meeting near Manchester this morning, Mr Ahern and Mr Brown also confirmed they intended to participate in the International Investment Conference in Belfast in May.
The meeting took place in an unusual setting, a conference room on the edge of Manchester airport.
Mr Ahern and Mr Brown reviewed progress in the Northern Ireland since the establishment of a power sharing administration last year.
They said in a statement afterwards they were convinced the time was right for the political parties to take the final steps towards full devolution and normality.
This is a reference to devolving the powers of justice and policing, over which Westminster still has control.
Northern Ireland's security minister Paul Goggins, who is a Manchester MP, also attended the meeting.
The time scale for this process is, however, still being debated by the parties.
Both leaders also confirmed they would be attending the International Investment Conference in Belfast in May.
They called the conference 'an opportunity for Northern Ireland to demonstrate to the world that the peace and stability it now enjoys is here to stay'.
Mr Ahern afterwards described his third bilateral meeting with Mr Brown as 'very positive'.
whats your opinions on this?
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Ni heolas go haontios - There is no knowledge without unity
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The DUP has elected Peter Robinson to succeed Ian Paisley as its new
leader and First Minister in the northern Executive.
The East Belfast MP was the choice of the DUP's Assembly Group to take
over from Paisley, with North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds as the new deputy
leader.
Assembly members unanimously agreed a joint nomination of Mr Robinson
-- currently the Six-County Finance Minister -- and Mr Dodds, who is
Economy Minister.
The party's 120-member Executive Committee is due to ratify the
nominations on Thursday, a process understood to be a formality.
Robinson has been the deputy leader of the party since 1980 and the MP
for East Belfast since 1979. He has long garned a reputation as a
unionist hardliner.
In defiance of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, Robinson marched a group
of 500 loyalists across the border into the village of Clontibret,
County Monaghan, in the 26 Counties.
Led by Robinson, the loyalist mob entered the Garda police station in
the village and physically assaulted two police officers, before
holding a military drill in the square. Robinson was later arrested.
He pleaded guilty to unlawful assembly and was fined 17,500 in a
Drogheda court because of the incident.
Due to this, Robinson briefly resigned from the DUP deputy leadership.
In a subsequent court appearance in Dundalk Peter, Robinson again led a
large loyalist mob into the town which led to a riot. At his trial the
judge described Peter Robinson as "a senior extremist politician."
In November 1986 Peter Robinson spoke at the Ulster Hall rally which
launched the paramilitary Ulster Resistance group, which collaborated
with other loyalist death squads to to procure arms.
Peter Robinson was photographed wearing the paramilitary regalia of
beret and military fatigues at an Ulster Resistance rally.
In recent years, Robinson came to be seen as a more practical
individual than "firebrand" Paisley and was considered a politician
nationalists "could do business with".
Following the St Andrew's Agreement, Robinson became the natural
successor to Paisley and allied with extremist elements within the
DUP to push for his early departure.
Nigel Dodds is expected to take over as Finance Minister when Mr
Robinson becomes First Minister after Paisley steps down. This is due
to take place shortly after an investment conference in Belfast
scheduled to take place from May 7th to May 9th. (IRN)
Now I know I'm not as "assertive" as I was in the '80s so lets hope Mr. Robinson is indeed "a politician nationalists 'could do business with'."
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You can kill the revolutionary but you can not kill the revolution