The police in Northern Ireland or MI5 should publicly reveal what they say they know about the retention of weapons by the IRA, the Rev Ian Paisley said today.
The Democratic Unionist Party leader said after a meeting with General John de Chastelain's Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) that it was clear that they would not publish any details about all the arms the IRA had put beyond use up to last September until all paramilitary groups had carried out disarmament.
In the absence of that, the North Antrim MP said the security services of Northern Ireland should reveal what they told the IICD and the ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) about the IRA holding on to some weapons after the final act of disarmament last September.
Earlier this month, "security sources" told the IICD and IMC that the IRA may have held on to some weapons. However, the IICD said there was no evidence any weapons had been retained. It said the IRA had put beyond use all the weapons under its control after consulting the paramilitary group twice and also members of the Garda.
But Mr Paisley said after today's meeting with the IICD chief: "They should tell the people what they know.
"They should tell the people what they know so that the people can be forearmed to meet what is going to happen because those arms are going to be used against the Protestant population of Northern Ireland."
Mr Paisley said it was pure hypocrisy for the IICD and the governments to say that they were prepared to accept the estimates from the security services of what the IRA's arsenal contained and then dispute information from them which indicated the Provisionals had retained weapons.
"I am sick hearing ministers saying in a throwaway line here or there when they are questioned, all the arms have been done away with," the North Antrim MP said. "It's a lie. It's an absolute lie and it has to be branded as a lie."
Sinn Fein's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said the DUP's comments were a mere smokescreen and were an excuse not to engage with his party.
"It is time that the DUP began to live up to their political responsibilities and began showing the sort of political leadership they promised to deliver. The time for excuses is over and the two governments need to make this clear to the DUP."
SDLP leader Mark Durkan accused Mr Paisley of making inflammatory comments. "On the one hand, Paisley says that he raised loyalist decommissioning with the IICD," the Foyle MP said. "Then in the next breath he predicts sectarian warfare and gives them the excuse they need to hold on to their weapons."
PA