THE Tanaiste's assertion in Derry yesterday that he believed last week's record vote for Sinn Fein in the North's local government elections was a vote for peace has been described as outrageous by Mr Gregory Campbell of the Democratic Unionist Party.
Mr Spring made the comment at an impromptu press conference after briefly meeting the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, at Derry Airport.
Mr Spring was asked what his message would be to Sinn Fein on the day the party launched its manifesto in Dublin. "There is an opportunity there, an opportunity that John Hume has been working on and building on for many years, to end the cycle of violence, to accept that there are democratic possibilities and to have a ceasefire as quickly as possible and to come into democratic talks," he said.
He was then asked how quickly Sinn Fein could get into talks with the Irish Government after a ceasefire. "The opportunity is there now, they have a mandate, they have strengthened their mandate from the most recent elections, they should use that mandate because I know myself that Sinn Fein candidates in the South are being asked, `Why don't you declare a ceasefire, why don't you have a ceasefire and give the people of Ireland what, everybody wants, that is peace?
Asked how he interpreted Sinn Fein's success in the Northern local elections, Mr Spring said: "They have increased their vote. The SDLP vote has held very solid. What I am reading into it is that people want peace on this island and I would hope that those who have to make decisions would accept that and then get into democratic talks," he replied.
Asked if he believed the vote for Sinn Fein was a vote for peace, he added: "I would believe that it is a vote for peace, it's a vote for the direction that the majority of people on this island want to go in.
Mr Hume, who stood beside Mr Spring during the press conference, was asked for his reaction to the Tanaiste's remark. The SDLP leader said Mr Spring was making it clear that the vast majority of people in Ireland wanted peace.
"The Tanaiste and myself met here since the Tanaiste is coming through Derry. We updated one another on the situation as we see it because as you know we have kept one another fully informed throughout the peace process. I have told him there is this historic opportunity which I hope will now be seized and that we will achieve lasting peace," he said.
Asked if he agreed with Mr Spring's comment on the Sinn Fein vote, just weeks after the SDLP leader had described such a vote as a vote for violence, Mr Home said: "Well, in the election the IRA campaign was still under way and as I made it clear, Sinn Fein and the IRA belong to the republican movement and that has been the case since their very foundation. Therefore, I was making it clear during the election campaign that people should show that they were very much against violence," he said.
Mr Campbell, the DUP's security spokesman, said "this is the most outrageous comment to come from Dick Spring in many weeks and months.
"It is quite clear that even his Prime Minister said a vote for Sinn Fein was a vote for violence. Now in the aftermath of the local elections and in the run up to his election in the South, Dick Spring is trying to do a complete and utter somersault and tell us that it is a vote for peace," he said.
He added: "I think unionists will be completely and utterly appal led. They know and everybody knows, the world and its dog knows, that a vote for Sinn Fein is a vote for violence rather than a vote away from violence."