Ken Maginnis: suspicious

Unionists Doubt Ceasefire Will Last

There has been a sceptical reaction from Northern Ireland's Unionist politicians to the IRA's

Ken Maginnis of the Ulster Unionist Party stressed that the IRA statement did not declare a permanent ceasefire. He said he could not see "anything that indicates this is long term, something based on a new strategy. It is the old strategy to make use of the democratic process." He claimed the IRA had managed "to infiltrate politics at the highest level".

Mr Maginnis said his party would have to study the statement but he doubted it meant what people hoped. "We can all engage in wishful thinking but we have got to come back to reality," he said.

Mr Maginnis said he could not forget 1994 "when what we got was basically a three-month ceasefire extended month by month as the IRA threatened and made demands".

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is to meet Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble on Monday to try to persuade the Ulster Unionists to support the Government on Wednesday, when the House of Commons will vote on the Anglo-Irish disarmament agreement. Unionists have criticised the disarmament proposals as being too vague.

Democratic Unionists Call It a "Phoney" Peace

Other Unionist parties have been even more critical. The deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Peter Robinson, dismissed the IRA statement as "a restoration of a phoney ceasefire that is totally unsatisfactory".

Peter Robinson: not satisfied

"A change of government does not change the nature of an IRA ceasefire"

He said the 1994 ceasefire had been "used by the IRA to equip and prepare bombs in London. Both bombing and killing continued." Mr Robinson doubted the sincerity of the new IRA ceasefire.

Unionists, he said, would not accept the ceasefire announcement as a basis for Sinn Fein's entry into political talks. Sinn Fein might be there but Unionists would not be. "There is no way any Unionist is going to accept this," he explained. "Without Unionists you can't have talks, and under the rules that is the end of the process."

Irvine: "practical politics"

David Ervine of the Progressive Unionists, a party close to some of the loyalist paramilitaries, welcomed the IRA's move but stressed that his party could enter negotiations with Sinn Fein only if the rest of the unionist movement was represented, too.

"We couldn't sit alone with all of nationalism," he said. "That would have nothing to do with personalities, with hate or like, it would have to do with the practical politics of it. What we require are the greater number in each tradition to pass copper-fastened agreements that hopefully we can put in the bank and build for the future."

SDLP Asks Unionists to Judge IRA By Its Actions

The SDLP leader, John Hume, described the IRA ceasefire as very good news and urged all sides to look at it positively and move on. "The violence has stopped, there will be an end to killings on our streets so let's get on," he said.

His views were echoed by Dr Joe Hendron of the SDLP, who lost his West Belfast seat to Gerry Adams at the General Election. He said he looked forward to Sinn Fein joining the Stormont peace talks.

He said he knew people would be sceptical about the IRA's intentions, and commented: "The only way we will know it is permanent is by the words and actions of the republican movement over the next while."

The SDLP's Joe Hendron expresses the hope that Ulster Unionists will remain at the negotiating table

Northern Ireland's tourist chiefs and businessmen will be thrilled. The last ceasefire heralded a new age of investment and tourism. They tailed off after the breaking of the ceasefire, and this year people involved in the tourist industry, especially those who invested heavily in hotels and other facilities in the expectation of peace, have had a rough time.