The Five Demands

McGuinness should ‘admit Troubles role’ (UTV)
UUP leader Tom Elliott has said Irish presidential candidate Martin McGuinness would be “more acceptable” to people in Northern Ireland if he admitted his role in the Troubles.
Speaking to UTV, Mr Elliott said the issue of Mr McGuinness’s involvement in the Irish Presidential election was a matter “for the people of the Republic of Ireland”.
On Sunday, the former IRA commander formally announced his intention to join the race.
He is being temporarily replaced as Deputy First Minister by Sinn Féin colleague John O’Dowd.
“I have every confidence that the (Northern Ireland) institutions will not be destabilised, that the work will continue, that the peace process will remain secure,” Mr McGuinness said.
“In fact I think it will be strengthened by the fact that I am now participating in this very important election.”
But Mr Elliott said Mr McGuinness should admit his role in the Troubles.
“I do think it would help a lot of the people who are still very much hurting from the Troubles if Martin McGuinness were to accept his involvement in those Troubles, and the hurt that he and the organisation of the IRA caused,” said the Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA.
“That would go some way to alleviate the hurt of some of those victims.”
Mr Elliott says, at present, the Irish presidential candidate is “not acceptable to great sections of people in Northern Ireland”.
“As time moves on, I would have thought that Martin McGuinness and the IRA must be getting to a stage now of them actually accepting that the Troubles were wrong and accepting their role in it, so hopefully time can bring that forward and if it were to happen the sooner the better,” he added.
Mr McGuinness said he received expressions of support from people whose loved ones were killed by the IRA, while at least three unionist politicians have wished him well.
At a press conference in central Dublin after his formal endorsement by the party, Mr McGuinness was asked to condemn the IRA murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe in Limerick in 1996.
He described the killing as a terrible tragedy and said the gardaí would have his 100% support if elected, but he did not overtly condemn the killing.
He later clarified his position to say he “unreservedly condemned” it.