THE US Vice-President, Mr Al Gore, told the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, that the objective of the US administration was to see the IRA out of business". Speaking at the end of his visit to the White House last night, Mr Trimble said it had not proved possible for President Clinton to "drop in" on his meeting with the National Security Adviser, Mr Anthony Lake, because of his commitments in selecting a new Cabinet. Mr Gore had come instead.
They discussed the content of the statement last week on the conditions for Sinn Fein's entry into talks by Mr John Major. Asked if Mr Gore agreed with the British position, Mr Trimble said "there was certainly no criticism and we discussed the details of that statement".
Mr Trimble, who was accompanied by former UUP leader, Sir James Molyneaux, and Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, said they had expressed "scepticism" about the likelihood of an IRA ceasefire and the entry of Sinn Fein into the all-party talks. They had outlined their ideas for dealing with the decommissioning of paramilitary arms and for moving the talks forward as soon as possible to substantive issues.
Asked what he expected from the White House and the US administration, Mr Trimble said that they would like them to "encourage the democratic process" in Northern Ireland. He said the White House was "working on those elements" among Irish-Americans who might support terrorism, but he refused to elaborate on what this meant. He added that during his Washington visit he had met senior officials in the State Department and had brief meetings on Capitol Hill with the Republican leadership including Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority leader, Trent Loll.