Commons gives cautious welcome to arms move

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The Democratic Unionist Party is to meet with General John de Chastelain on Thursday to ask for details of the IRA weapons decommissioning. On the same day, it was confirmed that the party will return to Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive.

The announcement comes a day after its leader, the Reverend Ian Paisley, called for the Ulster public to be shown any weapons handed over by the IRA and warned against any lowering of security in the province.

Dr Paisley broke the mood of consensus in the House of Commons on Wednesday during a debate on a statement by Dr John Reid, the Northern Ireland Secretary, on the recent peace moves.

The DUP leader came under attack from MPs of all parties as he expressed his scepticism of the claims by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.

"Dr Reid doesn't know what happened yesterday, he can't tell this House the number of weapons that were dealt with, the pounds of explosives that were dealt with," he said.

"The General [John de Chastelain] told us last time that we met him that the Prime Minister would not know. That there would be no inventory given to the Government about how many arms would be destroyed."

Mr Paisley criticised dismantling of security installations. "Will you explain to me and my constituents why they have been visited by the security forces in these areas where all this dismantling is going to take place and been warned that there is a threat from the Real IRA?"

In reply, Dr Reid said the commission regarded it as a "significant event" and the arms had been put "completely beyond use" under the terms of the decommissioning scheme. "It would be better for this whole House to be paying tribute to John de Chastelain and the work he has done rather than casting aspersions on the manner in which he has conducted his work," he said.

Labour's David Winnick, MP for Walsall North, said it would be "one of the greatest blessings" for Ulster if Mr Paisley could turn his attention to making the Good Friday Agreement work.

He called on Mr Paisley to "spend the rest of his political life in trying to make the Good Friday Agreement work and thus help to undermine and destroy the forces of violence".

Dr Reid agreed: "Yes, I do wish that the leader of the DUP would throw his considerable political weight behind the process."

Another former Northern Ireland minister, George Howarth (Labour, Knowsley N and Sefton E) called on members of the DUP to review their "one foot in, one foot out" approach to the institutions.

Dr Reid said he wished the DUP was part of the agreement and fully within the process. "I do think they represent a very, very important electorate in Northern Ireland and very important strands of thinking," he said.

Eddie McGrady, the SDLP MP for Down South, said that everyone in the Commons and Northern Ireland needed to encourage the Loyalist paramilitaries to see that they had no cause to retain their weapons.

Responding, Dr Reid paid tribute to his predecessors in the Northern Ireland Office, pointing out that one of the first phone calls he had received was from the former Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam.

Dr Reid paid tribute to the SDLP's John Hume, MP for Foyle, and all others who had made "outstanding contributions" to the process.

"It takes two to tango and in a complicated dance like Northern Ireland it takes a lot more than two to get through it," Dr Reid added.

Tory spokesman Quentin Davies said the IRA's decision to decommission was "unambiguously good news for the people of Northern Ireland", while Lembit Opik, for the Liberal Democrats, said dialogue and good faith had "unlocked the path to peace".