Restored NI Executive welcomed

The Presbyterian General Assembly in Belfast has welcomed by a large majority the reinstatement of devolved powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

It also called on paramilitary groups to disarm and on members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and its Executive "to promote the well-being of all the people and, by word and action, help to heal the deep divisions in this society".

On RUC reform, the former Moderator, Dr John Dunlop, said yesterday that "though regrettable" it was a fact that retention of the RUC name was not acceptable to 40 per cent of the population in the North.

He recalled a Catholic friend telling him he felt he was "being policed by someone else's police force". He looked forward to it being different and, said Dr Dunlop, if that was to happen, the name must change. "Given that so many RUC officers and their families have gone through so much, that point of view may be regrettable, but it is a fact."

The Rev William Bingham said it was difficult to accept into the North's government members of a party which still had close relations with a paramilitary group. For him it was a moral question.

He said he had taught children whose fathers were killed by the IRA and wondered how they would feel about having a Minister of Education who was allegedly a former IRA chief of staff.

"I know we must move forward but it is very difficult to do with Sinn Fein, when it has behind it an armed terrorist organisation," he said.

The Rev Stephen Dickinson said he failed to understand how the Presbyterian Assembly could welcome something that was " a perversion of government . . . something that is seen by many as immoral and corrupt".

"IRA/Sinn Fein have not apologised for the murders they have been responsible for over the years, they have not shown any remorse or expressed any regret," he said.

The Rev Ken Newell said there had never been an IRA statement like that of May 6th. "This house would be daft not to give that a welcome," he said.

The Rev Bill Moore asked whether representatives wanted the Troubles to go on for a further 30 years. He dismissed opposing comments as "self-righteous rubbish".

The Rev David Knox, minister to the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, recalled the words of a woman outside the Waterfront Hall in Belfast following the Ulster Unionist Council vote last Saturday week.

"John Taylor; I wish that bullet had finished him off," she said. The evil was not just on one side, he said. The North's collective guilt needed to be addressed by all.