President, Spring are criticised for too many North visits

THE President, Mrs Robinson, the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, and other Government Ministers were criticised at the Ulster Unionist Party…

THE President, Mrs Robinson, the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, and other Government Ministers were criticised at the Ulster Unionist Party conference for being too frequent visitors to Northern Ireland.

The visits of the President and the Ministers reflected the "continuing interference of the 26 counties in the affairs of this part of the United Kingdom", the conference was told when debating and endorsing a motion condemning the 11 year old Angloirish Agreement.

Mr William Thompson from West Tyrone said that while President Robinson had opposed the Anglo Irish Agreement, he suspected her frequent visits to the North were a declaration that she believed she was President of all Ireland.

He accused Mr Spring of also believing that he governed Northern Ireland. "He shows it by his arrogance when arriving here. Well, he will never be part of this part of the United Kingdom," added Mr Thompson.

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Ms Jean Coulter said that if the Northern Secretary. Sir Patrick Mayhew, would not provide a posse to lead such visitors "south of the Border", then the UUP would take such action. She said Mr Spring must have an "elephant hide", adding: "We don't want you, we don't need you here.

Ms Coulter also objected to some unionists using the phrase "the two governments". "For God's sake stop using that phrase - we have one government," she said to huge applause.

The conference also adopted a motion from the party's south Lurgan branch demanding that the "present boycotts and blockades should cease immediately".

Mr Don Mackay said that several Protestant businesses were being badly affected by the boycotting. It was a blunt instrument of protest which affected everyone, but Protestants must not fall into the "carefully planned Sinn Fein/IRA trap" by engaging in retaliatory boycotts against Catholics, he added.

The delegates called on the British government to extend the powers of the Forum. It should have a "meaningful consultative role, so that through it the people of Northern Ireland will have some influence on the policies of the Northern Ireland Office", they urged.

However, Mr John Bell opposed the Forum and claimed it was a deliberate "distraction" to focus unionist attentions away from more urgent constitutional matters, such as the threat to the Union. The Forum was a "total waste of time", he said.