David Trimble
David Trimble
William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, PC, is a British politician who was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and the leader of the Ulster Unionist Partyfrom 1995 to 2005. He was also the Member of Parliament for Upper Bann from 1990 to 2005 and the Member of the Legislative Assemblyfor Upper Bann from 1998 to 2007. In 2006, he was made a life peer in the House of Lords and a year later left the...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth15 October 1944
CityBangor, Northern Ireland
CountryIreland
until such time as the IRA has been disbanded.
There are still substantial areas of disagreement, .. you simply have to look at the public statements to see there is a significant gap.
In the future there cannot be room for ambiguity. They have to make their position absolutely clear before they can expect anyone to respond to it.
The one thing I can assure you is that I'm not going to do a Prescott.
The Republican movement have not behaved properly over the years. They have not themselves implemented the Agreement. If they had implemented the Agreement then they would have disarmed completely in May 2000, that is what they undertook to do, that is what they failed to do.
The decision to give an indicative date for a return is a mistake. It degrades the process. It degrades human life.
Politics can be likened to driving at night over unfamiliar hills and mountains. Close attention must be paid to what the beam can reach and the next bend.
As we take stock of this century of achievement, Ulster Unionists have every reason to feel proud.
The dark shadow we seem to see in the distance is not really a mountain ahead, but the shadow of the mountain behind - a shadow from the past thrown forward into our future. It is a dark sludge of historical sectarianism. We can leave it behind us if we wish.
There are two traditions in Northern Ireland. There are two main religious denominations. But there is only one true moral denomination. And it wants peace.
There are parts of this agreement that we are not happy with. But we have judged that we have enough here to build on.
We are just on the edge of implementing it, but of course all of it has to be implemented, and that means that the one issue that has not moved has to move as well, because if we move without that being in position, then there is a very serious danger of things collapsing.
We are dealing here with a conflict of rights; there's right on both sides.
The debate revealed that the differences between us were tactical. They made clear that they are committed to an assembly on a cross community basis.