The Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr John Reid, has dismissed comments made by the former Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, to the effect that Britain does not have the stomach to continue fighting the IRA.
Asked yesterday to react to Mr Mandelson’s comments, Dr Reid told reporters that there was nothing inevitable about a change in the constitutional status of Northern Ireland.
Mr Mandelson's comments appeared in an interview published in GQ Magazinelast week, in which he also said he believed Mr Gerry Adams would probably live to see a United Ireland.
"There is nothing inevitable about the change in status of Northern Ireland just as there is nothing inevitable about the change of status for Wales of Scotland," Dr Reid said.
Dr Reid was on a tour of Ballymena town which has applied for city status next year
