ONLY victory over the IRA can produce peace and preserve liberty, the DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, told the party conference in Broughshane Co Antrim, on Saturday. It was a theme taken up by a number of the delegates.
People eventually must face the reality that these years of British government dialogue "with the IRA" will never bring a solution.
People must realise that it is not always possible to have peace and, freedom, said Mr Robinson.
"It may not be the message that everyone wants to hear, but if I have to choose between peace and liberty I choose liberty, no matter what the consequences may be" he added.
"The IRA has not changed one bit. It is still the same bloody, unrelenting terror machine it always was. These years of government dialogue with the IRA have not and will not produce a solution.
The elevation of Adams has and will not resolve any issue.
"The battle to defeat terrorism has still to be won. The IRA will not be talked out of existence. It will not be appeased ... Only victory over the IRA can produce peace and preserve our liberty."
He said the British government wanted to bring the IRA complete with its weapons to the talks table, and this was evident by Mr John Major's response to Hume Adams. This was within "an inch" of meeting the republican movement's four demands for a new IRA ceasefire: speedy entry for Sinn Fein to inclusive talks; a time frame for talks; no decommissioning until a settlement; and confidence building measures.
"The meeting with Mr Bruton in a week's time is designed to bring the government to within a hair's breadth of the Provo position, with the remaining punctuation changes coming later," he said.
"Once more the murder gangs are to be accommodated while legitimate, constitutional, democratically mandated parties with greater support are disregarded."
Mr Robinson said the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble - whom he called Boy David - was wrong to believe Mr Major's response to the Hume Adams proposals was a strong statement.
"It is the oldest trick in the political book. The government caves in and, as arranged, is praised by its friends for standing firm," he said.
The DUP security spokesman, the Rev William McCrea, said it was time the British government stopped pussy footing and put its heel on the neck of "these republican vipers". "What is needed is the defeat of the IRA killing machine," he added.
"They have behaved like fascists for the past 30 years and the leopard never changes its spots. While the IRA remains in existence, and while they retain one bullet or one ounce of Semtex, unionists could never trust their commitment to the democratic process.
Mr McCrea warned the British government that Orangemen must be allowed parade down Garvaghy Road, and other disputed thoroughfares. He added: "Give us back our liberties, our civil rights talk the roads and streets of Ulster without hindrance or will have to claim them as we did at Drumcree.
Mr Gregory Campbell said that "the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume's analysis that an inclusive deal must be done because 20,000 British troops over 25 years had failed to defeat the IRA was wrong. "The problem was that the 20,000 troops were not allowed bring peace to Ulster," he added.
Mr Ian Paisley Jnr said that the message from the conference was that "Ulster was staying" under the British flag. He criticised the loyalist paramilitaries and said they had done the Union more harm than, good.
Mr John Finlay, a member of the Dunloy branch of the Orange Order, said it was an absolute disgrace the way the parades issue was being handled. "And I say today to the Chief Constable of the RUC, if he is not prepared to let Orangemen parade peaceably, through Dunloy then Orangemen will have to parade without the RUC," he said.
