W2E-002 Ulster editorials 2-1.txt
Now is the moment to press ahead

JIM Molyneaux is set to give the Prime Minister a piece of his mind when the pair meet this week.

The Unionist leader is fed up to the teeth with the Government's kid glove handling of the IRA and Sinn Fein.

And his Democtratic Unionist colleague, Dr Ian Paisley - who is also demanding talks with the PM - feels likewise.

Mr Major has no one but himself to blame if he is sent reeling from a Unionist backlash against the "special understanding" they have with his Government.

He promised before Christmas that if the Provos kept shooting he would crack down hard on them.

Well, we 're half way through March, the guns are still blazing away and the security situation still leaves a lot to be desired.

Much plain speaking will be done at Downing Street in the coming days.

Messrs Molyneaux and Paisley, will demand to know just what the British and Irish governments are playing at.

They will rightly argue that, as London and Dublin dither, decent people on both sides of the religious divide are suffering at the hands of so-called loyalist and IRA paramilitaries.

Even the double mortar attack on Heathrow airport failed to bring the security response necessary to stop it happening again.

By all accounts the Provos and Sinn Fein have rejected the peace accord.

So now is the time to press ahead - on the security and political front.

Jim Molyneaux, Ian Paisley, John Hume and John Alderdice are not accountable to any armed factions.

The politicians who are have no one to blame but themselves if a settlement is reached over their heads.

And the sooner that comes about the better.
