Allister exposes Sinn Fein ploy
14 March 2006
DUP MEP Jim Allister has come into possession of a letter written by the two Sinn Fein MEPs to the President of the European Parliament calling for his support for a Green Paper on Irish Unity. The text of the letter is attached.
Commenting, Jim Allister said:-
"Two key facts clearly emerge from this letter.
1 - Sinn Fein are in no doubt that the Belfast Agreement, as the DUP has long maintained, is a vehicle to produce the unification of Ireland. In Sinn Fein's terms this is seen as "its full implementation".
2 - Sinn Fein's supposed acceptance of the principle of "consent" is utterly phoney. They know there is no consent to unification, yet, here they are regardless pushing ahead with the process of unification. Hence, the audacious declaration: "...the time has come for the practical preparation for reunification to be put in place. All signatories of the GFA (UUP please note) have a responsibility in this matter." Where now "consent", if the time has come to make ready to put in place unification?
Naturally, I have countered this Sinn Fein venture with a pointed letter to President Borrell, as attached.
The political consequence of this episode is that it further underscores how unfit Sinn Fein is for government in Northern Ireland. How could you ever take to the bosom of government of our part of the UK a Party whose raison d'etre and overriding commitment is to destroy our UK citizenship and membership. Being incapable of even accepting and abiding by the consent principle, which supposedly lies at the heart of the Belfast Agreement, they certainly would be incapable of governing Northern Ireland in a manner compatible with its constitutional integrity. Government is for those who want to sustain a country, not destroy it!"
Letter from Sinn Fein to President Borrell
http://www.jimallister.org/uploads/Sinn_Fein_letter_to_President_Borrell_130.pdf
Dear President Borrell Fontelles
Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast in 1998, Sinn Fein has been pressing the Irish and British Governments for its full implementation.
You may know that this agreement provides for a Referendum on Irish Reunification.
We believe that the time has come for the practical preparations for reunification to be put in place. All signatories to the GFA have a responsibility in this matter. With this in mind Sinn Fein has produced a discussion document, a copy of which accompanies this letter.
‘A Green Paper on Irish Unity’ calls on the Irish Government to produce its green paper on how the transition to a new reunited Ireland that everyone can subscribe to, is to be managed.
This transitional period will need the support of the International community also and we ask you to read our document and support our call on the Irish Government to facilitate the debate by commissioning its own Green Paper, as a matter of urgency.
Yours faithfully,
Mary Lou McDonald MEP
Chairperson Sinn Fein
Bairbre de Brun
Sinn Fein
Letter from Jim Allister MEP to President Borrell
Dear President,
I understand that at the end of January 2006, you received an opportunistic letter from the two Sinn Fein MEPs inviting your support for a Green Paper on Irish Unity, which of course seeks the political transfer of my constituency, Northern Ireland, from the United Kingdom to the Republic of Ireland, contrary to the declared wishes of the majority of Northern Ireland's residents.
I would be pleased to know what steps you took in respect of this letter and whether any of the Committees or other structures of the Parliament have been invited to involve themselves in this matter. I trust that this is not so and that the correspondence has merely been marked "read".
Thanking you.
Yours sincerely,
Jim Allister QC MEP
