Minister for Social Development Margaret Ritchie should reconsider her decision to cancel £1.2 million stg (€1.7 million) in funding for loyalist communities if the UDA does not begin decommissioning by October 8th, Methodist minister the Rev Harold Good has urged.
This followed a pipe-bomb attack at the weekend. Mr Good, who with the Rev Alec Reid oversaw IRA decommissioning, confirmed yesterday that he has held talks with the UDA's south Belfast "brigadier" Jackie McDonald about how the UDA should move away from criminality and violence.
"I was told that the UDA is planning something significant for Remembrance Day on November 11th, which could be put on hold if the Minister pulls the funding," Mr Good told The Irish Times yesterday.
Word of this development comes after the pipe-bomb attack in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, on Saturday night, which according to security and political sources, was part of an attempt by the "mainstream" UDA to bring a rival loyalist paramilitary faction to heel.
The attack happened with just weeks to go to Ms Ritchie's deadline for the UDA to begin decommissioning or lose the funding.
Mr Good said he could understand ministerial scepticism about the UDA's integrity, but on the strength of his talks with Mr McDonald and other UDA figures, he believed it would be worthwhile for Ms Ritchie to at least test whether the UDA was genuine. While the UDA had promised something "significant" by November 11th, he was unable to say whether this included a start to decommissioning as well as assurances that the organisation was eschewing criminality.
