Elections (Hansard, 13 June 1996)

§ 4. Mr. Robathan
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the motivation of Sinn Fein in taking part in the Northern Ireland elections. [30925]

§ The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Sir Patrick Mayhew)
None, Madam Speaker. It may be supposed that Sinn Fein wished to qualify itself to participate in all-party negotiations. But it is excluding 410 itself from these, because both Governments have stipulated that there must first be an unequivocal restoration by the IRA of the 1994 ceasefire.

§ Mr. Robathan
Further to the answer by the Minister of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Westminster, North (Sir J. Wheeler), does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that the IRA and Sinn Fein are playing cynical games with the peace process and with the lives of people in Northern Ireland? Are they not using a ceasefire as a bargaining counter, dangling it as a lure in front of the noses of the Government and both communities in Northern Ireland? Will my right hon. and learned Friend ensure that Sinn Fein is not allowed near peace negotiations unless a total, genuine and permanent commitment to peace is made?

§ Sir Patrick Mayhew
That is certainly required by the people of Northern Ireland, and far more widely. The Irish and British Governments are at one in stipulating that, before Sinn Fein can enter the negotiations, the IRA must restore unequivocally the 1994 ceasefire. It is wholly incompatible with a professed commitment to peaceful and democratic methods to be associated inextricably with an organisation that has used arms for nationalist purposes in the past and refuses to restore the 1994 ceasefire.

§ Mr. Trimble
In those elections, the people of Northern Ireland elected delegates to a forum, which will have its first meeting tomorrow. I am sure that the Secretary of State will want to join me in wishing it well, because it can and will make a significant contribution to dialogue and understanding in Northern Ireland. Does he agree that Sinn Fein can tomorrow have its mandate recognised by taking its places in the forum and that, if it fails to do so, we can conclude only that its commitment to democracy is as hypocritical as its commitment to peace?

§ Sir Patrick Mayhew
I very much agree with the hon. Gentleman. The purpose of the forum, as declared in the Northern Ireland (Entry to Negotiations, etc) Act 1996, is to promote dialogue and understanding in Northern Ireland. If Sinn Fein is not prepared to take its place in a body with such objectives, what conclusion should be drawn? The hon. Gentleman correctly reminds the House that Sinn Fein is entitled by virtue of its election successes alone to take its places in the forum. I believe that people in Northern Ireland, and much more widely, will look to see whether Sinn Fein is there and will draw their own conclusions if it is not.

§ Mr. Nigel Evans
Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that part of the problem with the public having confidence in Sinn Fein-IRA saying that it has a total and permanent commitment to peaceful settlement of the problem is the fact that it retains its arms? If it retains its arms during negotiations, it could at any stage resort again to violence. For the public to have any confidence in its word, it needs to give up those arms.

§ Sir Patrick Mayhew
Of course my hon. Friend is right in associating the issue of arms and their decommissioning with confidence by everybody else that Sinn Fein is wholly committed to peaceful means, as both Governments have insisted all parties must be if they are 411 to participate in all-party negotiations. It is a question of confidence, and there can be no compatibility in a democracy with the retention of arms for the purpose of holding them illegally to secure political advantage.
The arms must begin to be decommissioned alongside the negotiations to which Sinn Fein has secured a mandate by way of the elective process on 30 May, but from which it is excluding itself because there is no restoration of the ceasefire. Once that happens, as my right hon. Friend the Minister has said, it must make the declaration which everyone else has made of commitment to the Mitchell principles and then it must, at the same stage, address decommissioning in the way that Mitchell's report, by way of a compromise, has recommended; that is, decommissioning begins alongside the negotiations—not at the end, not at the beginning, but during the negotiations.

§ Dr. Hendron
I know that the Secretary of State will agree that the vast majority of the people of Northern Ireland of both traditions want the IRA to call a ceasefire forthwith. They want an end to punishment beatings and to the daily intimidation in my constituency.
On Sinn Fein's motivation for fighting the recent election, hon. Members know that most parties in Northern Ireland participated in the election because it was imposed. It was an unnecessary election. Does the Secretary of State agree that it is important for all parties, including Sinn Fein, to participate right away? I appreciate his points on the ceasefire.

§ Sir Patrick Mayhew
Of course that is right. There would not have been all-party negotiations, as a matter of reality and practice, had there not been an elective process first. That was recognised several months ago and the process has now taken place. It is very necessary that those who have been elected should take their place at every stage of the negotiations if the full purpose that the House—among other bodies—required is to be achieved. Of course that is the case. That extends right across the board and it includes Sinn Fein, which received an elective mandate, principally, I believe, from people who wanted to see it demonstrating its commitment to peaceful methods. Let it end its self-imposed exclusion now.

§ Mr. Clifton-Brown
Further to what my right hon. and learned Friend said, does he believe that it ill behoved certain sections of the British press to show a photograph of Messrs. Adams and McGuinness that portrayed them as having been locked out of the talks, when they had locked themselves out? Is it not the height of cynicism for Sinn Fein to take part in democratic elections and then not fully uphold the principles of democracy?

§ Sir Patrick Mayhew
I agree warmly with both parts of my hon. Friend's question. I have made my views known about the second part, but let me say a few words about what he said at the beginning. Those photographs dutifully and predictably appearing in the newspapers of Mr. Adams and Mr. McGuinness peering through the bars were deeply misleading. Why was the reality not shown of a gateway open to them, through which they passed in order to have explained to them within the talks building why they were not entitled to take part in the negotiations? 412 Newspaper after newspaper played straight into their hands by showing misleading pictures which suggested quite the opposite of the reality.

§ Ms Mowlam
Does the Secretary of State accept our acknowledgement and welcome of the progress that has been made this week while at the same time we add our condolences to those of the Minister of State to the family of Garda McCabe? Does he agree that, whatever the individual motivations may be, the persistence of a culture of blaming and finger pointing will be inimical to the talks process? Does he agree that the talks process will be greatly helped by the presence of Senator Mitchell and his team? It is unfortunate that the failure of the constitutional parties to reach agreement has turned attention away from the crucial fact that the absence of a ceasefire is keeping Sinn Fein away from the talks and that we would like that ceasefire to occur as soon as possible.

§ Sir Patrick Mayhew
I am grateful for that assurance, which comes as no surprise, and also for what the hon. Lady said at the beginning.
As for the central part of the hon. Lady's question, it is perhaps best to concentrate on the outcome of the first two days of difficult discussions. It was inevitable that they would be difficult, but leadership and courage have been shown and an outcome has been reached, which resulted yesterday in the process beginning, with Senator Mitchell in the chair and the other two chairmen appointed. Progress was made and I believe that we shall move on constructively from that beneficial process.