Faint hopes about Ulster talks

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33153, 17 February 1973, Page 15

Faint hopes about Ulster talks

(N.Z P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) BELFAST, February 16. rhe news that .Northern Ireland’s biggest Roman Catholic party and Protestant hardliners were prepared to hold talks with each other gave rise to the slimmest of hopes in Northern Ireland today for an end to the four years of bitter sectarian conflict.

, esterday, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (S.D.L.f J said that it has asked for meetings with the Ulster Loyalist Council, a Protestant umbrella organisation, headed by Mr William Craig.

And Mr Craig, a leading militant who has recently taken a more moderate stance, welcomed the request. The S.D.L.P. call, in which! the party claimed “areas of; agreement” are emerging in; basic analysis of our prob-j lems” came after a major! statement by Mr Craig last Monday in which he floated! the idea of an independent! Northern Ireland. But it remains to be seen! whether these latest events; can produce a possible settle-' ment to the sectarian conflict which erupted into! bloody violence nearly four! years ago. Mr Craig’s vision for the' British province was of a State created by both communities but separate from both the United Kingdom and, the Irish Republic. The S.D.L.P. has previously proposed!

that both Britain and the republic should share responsibility for the territory. A settlement agreed to by the two organisations would also have to win the backing of a majority of the province’s one million Protestants and 500,000 Roman Catholics. It would almost certainly be rejected by guerrilla forces on either side of the sectarian conflict. The Provisional wing of the outlawed Irish Republican Army has fought bitterly for the province to become part of the republic — while Protestant paramilitary units have recently been' no less violent in efforts to ensure that the province’s union w’ith Britain is maintained It was noted that none of the Protestant paramilitary groups — some of which have given backing to Mr Craig in the past — were present when he issued his independence call.

Mr Craig’s own position m the North is also in some doubt, as he was previously noted for his warning that Protestants would “shoot and kill” to maintain their British heritage, while the fortunes of the S.D.L.P. have varied considerably over the last four years. Mr Craig’s statement came at a time when relatively moderate Protestant leaders such as the former provincial Prime Miinster (Mr Brian Faulkner) were engaged in discussions with Britain’s Administrator, Mr William Whitelaw. Mr Faulkner has seen Mr Craig’s speech as a move to recoup prestige lost amid the widespread condemnation of a wave of Protestant violence which accompanied a Protes-tant-called one-day general strike last week.

The grounds for hope that the talks might help end the conflict include the recent disclosure that Mr Craig had held meetings with leading members of the S.D.L.P. before making his speech. The working - class - based S.D.L.P. is also thought by some observers to be interested in holding talks with some of the Protestant grass roots organisations belonging to Mr Craig’s loyalist council Mr Craig himself received a unanimous vote of confi dence endorsing his speech from his own hardline constituency of Lame, when he addressed a meeting in the north-eastern port last night British Government sources have declined to comment on the requests for talks — for which no time or place have been indicated — but as a general rule the Government is reported to favour talks between opposite parties. The Administration is pre sently posed with the problem caused by yesterday’s death sentence passed on a Protestant gunman for killing a policeman. The sentence imposed for the crime is mandatory in [ Northern Ireland, but as the rest of Britain has abolished the death penalty it is considered likely that 29-year-old Albert Browne will be re- [ prieved and his sentence commuted to imprisonment. In the Roman Catholic Andersonstown area of Belfast last night troops detained a 17-year-old girl student, suspected of belonging to the [I.R.A., and handed her over to the police.