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UUP leader offers accommodation but reject's SF denials

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt delivers his speech during the annual party conference at the Ramada Hotel in Belfast. Picturey by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press
UUP leader Mike Nesbitt delivers his speech during the annual party conference at the Ramada Hotel in Belfast. Picturey by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press UUP leader Mike Nesbitt delivers his speech during the annual party conference at the Ramada Hotel in Belfast. Picturey by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Press

Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt has said the current Stormont talks offer an opportunity to rid Ireland of paramilitarism “once and for all”.

But the former broadcaster insisted that he will not accept Sinn Féin claims that the IRA no longer exists when evidence suggests otherwise.

Speaking at his party’s annual conference in Belfast on Saturday, Mr Nesbitt claimed the decision to withdraw the UUP’s sole minister from the Stormont executive had been vindicated by last week’s report into paramilitary activity.

“We refused to turn a blind eye to what even the Taoiseach Enda Kenny called Sinn Féin’s ‘incredible’ denial of the IRA,” he said.

“We refused to accept the fig leaf of Sinn Féin’s single transferable speech of denial – that denial is threadbare, and has worn a hole in the fabric of devolution.”

The Strangford MLA accused the DUP of returning its ministers to the executive despite evidence of the IRA’s continued existence and the report’s suggestion that its army council oversees Sinn Féin.

He said the Stormont House negotiations, which are expected to intensify over the coming days, represented an opportunity “to rid Northern Ireland, and the island of Ireland of paramilitarism and the associated criminality, once and for all”.

“But we will not be standing shoulder to shoulder against paramilitarism with a political party that insists the IRA no longer exists,” he said.

“It looks like the DUP will – what a pity they won’t stand strong with us.”

The UUP leader claimed his party’s stance had also brought a public focus on the “utter dysfunctionality” at the heart of the executive.

He highlighted underspending by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, its failure to deliver an anti-poverty strategy and £45,000 pay-offs for special advisers recently revealed by The Irish News.

Mr Nesbitt characterised his party as one which “understood the concept of the greater good” and said he wanted Northern Ireland to become the “most attractive small country in the world”.

He said the UUP’s alternative programme for government would “shred the old binary approach” that labelled people either orange or green.

“I want unionism to find a way to work with nationalism,” he said.

“I am disappointed when I hear people say they think unionists do not really want to share power.”

Referencing recent remarks by DUP representatives, Mr Nesbitt said he did not have to “hold my nose” to work with nationalists and did not endorse the idea of ‘rogue’ and ‘renegade’ nationalist ministers.

“We cannot build a better future on those sorts of sentiments,” he said.

“Our children and our grandchildren do not want that as their inheritance.”

He said he wanted to respect Sinn Féin’s mandate but said the party needed to “get on the same page as the rest of the world – or accept the consequences of the stance you have chosen to adopt”.

The UUP leader told the 400 party delegates that the UUP needed to be “accommodating”.

“We need to identify the cold spots in society and warm them up,” he said.

“For example, we need to address the fact that some people who cherish the Irish language feel we do not respect them and their love of the language.”

The party also needed to consider how it was perceived by members of the LGBT community, Mr Nesbitt said, adding that those who did not support same sex marriage were “on the wrong side of history”.

On returning to government, he said the party would assess the executive’s programme for government after the next assembly election and decide then whether to join the coalition.

“If we believe that programme is progressive and positive, and we believe there is a collective will to deliver it, we will consider taking our entitlement at the executive table,” he said.

“If not, we will remain in opposition.”