Maginnis: To challenge Sinn Fein on TV

Unionists and Republicans in TV Head-to-Head

The Unionist leader, Ken Maginnis, MP, and Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, MP, are to appear on BBC's Newsnight programme next Tuesday. The presenter, Gavin Esler, will chair the debate in a Belfast studio.

"I have always felt it is incumbent upon Ulster Unionists to ensure that the IRA message does not go unchallenged," said Mr Maginnis. "Sometimes I've felt we have been less effective than we should have been."

McGuinness: Not looking for a slanging match

The Unionist security spokesman confronted Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams on CNN in 1994 but this is the first time the Party has agreed to challenge the Republican leadership live on British television.

Last month, senior party officials agreed in principle to take on Sinn Fein in televised debate because of claims that Unionists were losing out in the propaganda war. Up until now, they have refused to sit in the same studios.

It is understood that Newsnight had been involved in negotiations for some time between the two sides.

Mr Maginnis once recorded a BBC Northern Ireland television debate with Sinn Fein's national chairman Mitchell McLaughlin. But the programme was scrapped after the Canary Wharf bombing which ended the IRA's first ceasefire in February 1996.

Sinn Fein said they did not want next Tuesday's debate to develop into a slanging match.

"We hope for positive contributions and look forward to a constructive discussion," said a spokesman. "Martin McGuinness is not going in there with acrimony and recrimination."