Ahern, Bruton warn loyalists

Government officials have been studying the detail of the Mitchell Principles and the legislation covering the participation of parties in the Northern talks, the Taoiseach said at the weekend.

"Regardless of the good intentions of the Ulster Democratic Party negotiators, and I tend to believe all I am told that they are trying to do their utmost to keep things right, there are people associated with them who have been engaged in a number of the murders, how many I am not sure, during the past number of weeks," Mr Ahern added.

"The other side of it is that people said to me in Belfast that if you start throwing people out of the talks will you not have more violence. Reflecting on it, I find it difficult to see a position whereby, if you are serious about the Mitchell Principles and serious about being a democrat and anti-violence, it does seem inconsistent that nothing can happen to somebody who is even admitting that people associated with them have been involved in these murders."

The Taoiseach was responding to questions from journalists while campaigning on Saturday in Dublin North, where a by-election is due.

In a statement yesterday the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, said he was very disturbed to read in a newspaper report that a Government "source", presumably close to the Taoiseach, had said that there had to be a "balance" between the integrity of the talks process and the desire to have the maximum number of parties stay on board.

"There is no balance to be struck here at all, and if that is the Taoiseach's thinking I condemn it. This is not a subject for cosy tradeoffs. The Mitchell Principles, and thus the integrity of the talks, must come first at all times. I ask the Taoiseach to take heed of this warning."

Mr Ahern said on Saturday that as he understood it Mr David Adams and Mr Gary McMichael, of the Ulster Democratic Party, were committed to the talks, but he did not know the extent of the control they had over their own people or the "freelancers" on the streets of Belfast.

"I think there is no doubt that the LVF have strengthened. They have recruited and developed their organisation and capacity. I saw during my visit to Belfast, in what would have been considered UDA and UFF territory only a year ago, that the graffiti on the walls was LVF. I think all that is very worrying."

He said the seriousness of the situation should not be underestimated to any extent. "You cannot go off and kill seven or eight people and then expect nothing to happen. It is a question of what the Mitchell Principles mean . . .

"It cannot be the position that a paramilitary group associated with the talks kill people, or is involved in a number of the murders, and there is no punishment. That would be a serious position.

"On the other hand, I think that the Irish and British governments want the talks to go on, so I think we will just have to look at the procedures very carefully and see what has to happen."

In his statement, Mr Bruton called for the setting up of a unit within the talks process to investigate and report independently on compliance with the Mitchell Principles on an ongoing basis. He said he did not doubt the ultimate commitment to peace of the Ulster Democratic Party's political leadership.

"I believe it is quite possible that the UDP can and will demonstrate that they are actively disowning and opposing UVF violence, and cutting their links with that organisation, but that should be assessed independently and professionally on the basis of evidence by the unit I am suggesting, and not become the subject of some political trade-off, as the Taoiseach's spokesman seems to envisage."

He described the Mitchell Principles as "the last line of defence of democratic politics against corruption by violence for political ends." If they were not seen to be enforced all parties would later have to be allowed to stay on at the talks, regardless of the violent activities of their associates. "That is a nightmare scenario," he said.