A family reflects the division in unionism

Eric and Darin Ferguson, like most fathers and sons, don't see eye to eye on everything

Eric and Darin Ferguson, like most fathers and sons, don't see eye to eye on everything. They live two doors from each other in a housing estate in Whitehead, a seaside town between Larne and Carrickfergus.

Lately, the disagreements have reflected the debate in the wider unionist family - both are members of the Ulster Unionist Council and are entitled to vote at the meeting in Belfast's Waterfront Hall today.

Eric, a UUP councillor and chairman of the East Antrim UUP Association, is voting Yes. Darin (his mother, Linda, was a fan of American singer Bobby Darin) is voting No.

"Oh, the arguments," says Linda Ferguson, jokingly threatening to move house and not tell either her husband or her son where she has gone. "They start at it at night; I was on the phone the other night and they were shouting at each other and when I came to tell them to stop they said they were not arguing."

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"We were debating," father and son say with innocent smiles.

For Darin (31) the IRA statement is not enough and until guns are decommissioned he cannot accept the party returning to government with Sinn Fein.

Eric, a former union activist who was involved in the loyalist workers' strikes in the 1970s, says his support of the proposals will shock many people who know him in east Antrim.

"From my point of view, I don't have a problem with the guns because I never thought they would decommission anyway . . . a lot of the No people who were against the agreement from the start stated that the IRA would never decommission.

"So from the No people's point of view why should it now be an issue; we have already established democratic means for people of all sides whether there are guns are not. Why are they surprised now that guns aren't on the table? What's the point of talking about decommissioning now?"

The argument, for Darin, has its roots in the Belfast Agreement which he voted against and what he sees as David Trimble's and the British government's broken promises.

"People voted for a lie, they thought there would be decommissioning," he says. "Religion has nothing to do with it. The majority of Catholics and Protestants of Northern Ireland have nothing to do with paramilitaries and don't want to have anything to do with them. I have no problem with Catholic people; I have a problem with republican people who . . ." Eric finishes his point: "who want to enforce their wishes on us. I have the same problem," he says, agreeing with his son.

Darin wants a No vote but would prefer a broader consensus. "I hope there will be a compromise put forward which everyone can agree on, so the party can move forward as one . . . If not there will be nobody able to walk out of the Waterfront Hall with their heads held high."

He says his wife has been trying to persuade him to vote Yes because "she wants a peaceful future for the children". Darin doesn't believe that voting Yes will necessarily bring peace.

His father feels that a No vote will create a void in which paramilitaries can prosper. Does Darin share the same concerns?

"I have concerns about what would happen if there was a No vote but - and my Dad will find this hard to listen to - I would rather see civil war than see unreformed terrorists in government because then it would be finished for once and for all. That is something that I think is going to come anyway even if there is a Yes vote."

"What?" Linda says, shocked. "Darin, you don't know what a civil war is about." "It would be the end of it but," Darin insists.

"Aye, but there would be an awful lot of dead bodies," she says.

"There has already been an awful lot of dead bodies," he says quietly.

Darin says he cannot understand how "terrorists" can hold ministerial posts. "How they can have a say about how my children are looked after. I can't accept that. No way . . ."

Eric understands why Darin feels this way. "He has had to live through a situation that all he has known is war . . . he can't see the senselessness of it . . . so I know where he is coming from and I have no problem with him arguing with me.

"In my opinion, once the paramilitaries declared a ceasefire that gave them the right to go into a negotiating circumstance to determine the future of Northern Ireland," he says.

"Which ceasefire?" says Darin. "Ask the people in London what they think of the IRA ceasefire. Ask the people in Omagh . . ."

This exchange is typical, but no matter how heated their arguments the Fergusons keep cracking jokes. Offering biscuits around, they chat about who will get the Orange one.

"That's the thing," says Darin. "No matter what, people in Northern Ireland can still laugh. If you didn't you'd go insane."