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
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.
The decision to give an indicative date for a return is a mistake. It degrades the process. It degrades human life.
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 one thing I can assure you is that I'm not going to do a Prescott.
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.
There are still substantial areas of disagreement, .. you simply have to look at the public statements to see there is a significant gap.
until such time as the IRA has been disbanded.
You cannot say that there is a peace agreement if some party has a private army armed to the teeth ready for action.
We're glad to see that the IRA has taken a significant step towards decommissioning but it hasn't actually begun decommissioning. And of course we want to see that happen.
We now have a chance to create a genuine partnership between unionists and nationalists in a novel form of government.
The people of Northern Ireland will now judge Sinn Fein on their actions over the coming days, ... An end to the war means the weapons of terrorism must be destroyed and all forms of paramilitary violence must cease for good.
The people that we really need the answers from are the Republican movement and what they've got to do is they have got to tell us what they are going to do.
Whatever decisions are taken, there is no place for violence and riot and the incidents that we have seen over the last few days,
The process is moving forward and the process is moving forward towards a particular result and towards completion. and the sooner we get there the happier everyone in Northern Ireland will be,