South Antrim MP William McCrea has claimed that Sinn Fein has failed to force its agenda onto the Unionist population. The MP was commenting on Sinn Fein’s behaviour over the course of the last week leading up to the nomination of a First Minister and asserted that Sinn Fein’s attempts at brinkmanship had comprehensively failed.
Speaking today, William McCrea said:
“Last weekend Sinn Fein embarked on a transparent attempt to foist their agenda upon the Unionist population. They cynically and selfishly sought to destabilise the political institutions in order to push their plans in relation to the devolution of Policing and Justice and the Irish language. Yesterday’s nomination of a First Minister shows that the Sinn Fein bluff has been well and truly called by the DUP.
“Last weekend Sinn Fein embarked on a transparent attempt to foist their agenda upon the Unionist population. They cynically and selfishly sought to destabilise the political institutions in order to push their plans in relation to the devolution of Policing and Justice and the Irish language. Yesterday’s nomination of a First Minister shows that the Sinn Fein bluff has been well and truly called by the DUP.
Seven days ago the position of the DUP was that the devolution of Policing and Justice Powers could not take place until there was sufficient public confidence to allow it to happen. That remains the case today. One way in which public confidence could be increased would be for the illegal IRA Army Council to be disbanded. The DUP opposes any new Irish Language legislation, indeed it was a DUP Minister who binned this key Republican demand at Stormont. We have not moved one inch from that position.
The truth of the matter is that Gerry Adams was desperately seeking to re-establish some credibility following the string of defeats that have been inflicted on Sinn Fein in the Assembly by Unionists. The DUP is pleased to have binned an Irish Language Act: we have negotiated a veto on devolution of Policing and Justice and we will use it on behalf our community until they are confident enough to allow devolution of these powers to take place. The last seven days have changed nothing. The DUP is inside the devolved institutions pushing a strong Unionist agenda and preventing the imposition of a nationalist one via Direct Rule. I believe that is what the Unionist community want to see.”