IRA must disarm, says Donaldson BreakingNews.ie_8131

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A senior Ulster Unionist Party MP today said he would have the courage to reject any unsatisfactory deal offered on Northern Ireland.
Jeffrey Donaldson said that if next week’s deal was  “half-baked” and did not offer what unionists were looking for he would be prepared to say it was not enough.
“Sometimes in life when something is not right and you can see it’s not right then the honourable thing to do is to say no,” Mr Donaldson said in an interview on Irish radio.
“I will look at it, I will weigh it up and I will judge it against what we said we would require when we met last September and agreed a unanimous policy decision.
“And on that basis I will give advice to the Ulster Unionist Council as to what I believe is the best response to this, whatever proposals emerge.”
Mr Donaldson, whose comments come ahead of tomorrow’s crucial meeting in Belfast between Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the Pro-Agreement parties, said it was now time for the IRA to disarm and disband.
“Next week really is the day of reckoning and it is the day of reckoning particularly for the IRA and to a certain extent for the loyalist paramilitary groups,” he said.
“I think what we need to see next week, what we need to hear next week, is that the IRA are now going to move on the arms issue,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, that they are going to disarm properly in a verifiable manner, and that they are going to disband their illegal organisation.”
This was the bottom line that was set by unionism last September and it remained the bottom line, he said.
“The Stormont principles that I launched about a week and a half ago made it clear that unionists are willing to share power at a full and equal level with their political opponents but only on the basis that there is a clear and unequivocal commitment to exclusively peaceful and democratic means,” he went on.
“That has always been our position throughout this entire process. Since it began we have made that clear.”
The necessary move from the IRA had not yet come and it remained to be seen whether what it offered next week would come up to the mark.
“The challenge is now up to them,” he said.
Mr Donaldson said he was totally disillusioned with the way republicans had played “fast and loose” with the peace process.
“Time and time again they have issued statements, fancy words,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, offering much but in the end delivering little,” he said.
“It is time for delivery. It is time for the IRA to put up or shut up. That is where they have to be next week.
“That is what the unionist community that I represent requires from them.”
“The IRA must disband and disarm,” Mr Donaldson added. “No equivocation,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, no fudging,You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login, no halfway house, not one foot on one side of the fence of democracy, the other on the side of
terrorism.”
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