An Phoblacht/Republican News   ·   Thursday October 26 1995

Trimble raises profile, lowers expectations

BY HILDA MAC THOMAS

THERE IS NO DOUBT that something has changed in unionism since the election of David Trimble as UUP leader. Trimble has adopted a much higher profile, in stark contrast to the media-shy James Molyneaux. The unionist viewpoint is being well aired. But in spite of hopeful, expectant comments by political observers - in what is known as the honeymoon period - little has changed.

By their own admission both David Trimble and Dick Spring, who met in Glengall Street unionist headquarters on 23 October, failed to agree on very much, except to say that they had a "frank" and "useful" meeting and would meet again. It was hardly surprising given the tone of the previous Saturday's UUP conference.

Trimble devoted half of his address to the conference to spelling out his party's views on decommissioning. He called on the British government to stand firm, warned Patrick Mayhew to "stick to his guns". The bottom line: "We are not going to be part of any negotiations unless other parties are committed to exclusively peaceful methods and have establishd this commitment."

He quoted once again from the Downing Street Declaration, a document which he admitted his party had never fully endorsed, and recalled Dick Spring's own words in Leinster House in December 1993: "Questions were raised on how to determine a permanent cessation of violence. We are talking about a handing up of arms."

There is no doubt that much was said in the run-up to the cessations of 1994. Many in the political establishment, in Britain and in Ireland, did not expect the cessations to happen, let alone last for over a year. That it took several months for it to dawn on some people that the IRA cessation was a genuine move to open up the political arena and create a peace process, is not surprising. Obviously it has not yet dawned on unionists that they too have to respond positively to this genuine move. Last Saturday, Trimble was not for moving. The precondition of IRA arms decommissioning remained as part of the unionist position.

At this stage, 14 months into the cessation, such a precondition, whether it comes from unionists or from the British government, is merely a device for avoiding negotiations. Nationalists have a right to be cynical when they hear the unionists or the British government preaching to the IRA about exclusive commitment to democratic and peaceful methods.

The Six-County state was designed to ensure a permanent unionist majority. The very formation of the state was steeped in violence as unionist militia terrorised, attacked and evicted thousands of northern nationalists trapped north of the new border. The state's existence has rested on the use of repression and discrimination aimed at the nationalist minority. When the civil rights demands were met with violence, the British government intervened by sending thousands of troops, which became the armed guarantor of continued British rule in Ireland. The "exclusive commitment to democratic and peaceful methods" of unionists and of the British government are questionable, to say the least.

ENGRAINED SECTARIANISM

During his party conference, Trimble also proposed the ending of the formal link between his party and the Orange Order. This is part of the unionist attempt to attract the unionist-minded among Catholic middle class, by removing the "chill factor" Catholics might feel by joining a party tied to an exclusively anti-Catholic organisation such as the Orange Order. Whether this move, which incidentally was rejected by 50% of delegates in a Sunday Times opinion poll carried out at the conference, would actually end the sectarianism of members of the UUP is another story.

The UUP has just been served with a religious dicrimination suit by a Catholic woman who worked for year's as a researcher to James Molyneaux, and who objects that she was not shortlisted for a PR job at party headquarters. The woman, who is employed by a PR firm in London, said: "For years, I have been urging the party to positively recruit Catholics and I have been trying to get pro-Union Catholics that I know to join. Now it has all blown up. "So much for the claim that there is no ban to Catholic advancement in the UUP."

Another indication that sectarianism is deeply engrained in the UUP was the reaction of UUP councilor Jim Rodgers to Sinn Féin's booking of the Ulster Hall for a meeting next month. He referred to republicans as "this rabble" and said he would object to the booking.

Incidentally, an amusing fact elicited by the Sunday Times poll of UUP conference delegates was the response to the question "Which politician do you trust most?" Ahead of Ian Paisley and John Major, who polled 41% and 39% respectively, was none other that Proinsias de Rossa - the very same person whose former organisation attempted to kill John Taylor 23 years ago. He polled a record 61%! Dick Spring and John Hume trailed pitifully with 8% and 2%.