A DEATH threat against a leading loyalist has serious implications for fringe loyalist party participation in the Northern talks process, according to the main unionist parties.
Mr Billy Wright is openly defying an order made by the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) to leave the North or be killed. He in turn has warned fringe loyalist politicians not to set foot in his home town of Portadown, Co Armagh.
The Progressive Unionist Party, which has close links with the UVF, has refused to condemn the CLMC threat. Another loyalist, Mr Alexander Kerr, has received a similar ultimatum.
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, yesterday joined in the political criticism of the threats. This type of "exclusion" had no part in politics and people "must be allowed to express their views", Mr Bruton said.
"Threats of any kind have no place in the political process," he added.
Mainstream unionists maintain fringe loyalists are in breach of the Mitchell principle which prohibits support for violence, unless they disown the threats. The action is by the CLMC, a paramilitary umbrella group which in the UVF and the UDA.
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, has written to the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, urging him to suspend the PUP and UDP from political negotiations until the threats are lifted.
The Ulster Unionist deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, challenged the fringe parties to condemn the threats and to reaffirm support for the Mitchell principle of non-violence.
Speaking from his heavily fortified home yesterday, Mr Wright said he was treating the threat seriously. The CLMC has given him until midnight on Saturday to get out or "face summary justice".
However, he added: "If I have go to my grave, so be it. I am not afraid. You live and die."
Mr Wright (36), who has often been questioned by detectives about serious crime, said he supported the UVF's founding principles. But he believed that its leadership and its political wing the PUP, no longer represented loyalists. He would understand if the loyalist ceasefire broke down as a result of "anger and frustration" among loyalist grassroots.
He did not know if there would be an internal UVF feud but loyalist leaders could not continue "oppressing people" without a backlash from the young. He said that the PUP was "finished" and that its leaders would be lynched if they set foot in Portadown.
The Presbyterian minister, the Rev Roy Magee, has offered to mediate between both sides.
The North's Security Minister, Sir John Wheeler, and Alliance's deputy leader, Mr Seamus Close, said the threats were totally unacceptable in a democratic society.
The PUP leader, Mr David Ervine, refused to condemn the threats, saying the politics of condemnation were worthless. The CLMC's activities were beyond his party's remit but it had no desire to see people expelled from the North or killed.
It was up to the British government to decide if his party would be included in future talks, he said, but he stressed its electoral mandate. The PUP supported the Mitchell principles and was committed to peace, he added.
Mr David Adams of the UDP said that his party condemned all violence.
An "informal" meeting between the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, and the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, is due to take place in Dublin on Thursday next to review the situation in advance of the resumption of the multiparty talks.