DUP urged to apologise for secret talks with Sinn Féin
Pacemaker
Lord Empey served as First Minister in 2011, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2005 to 2010
It comes as the Rev Harold Good, an ex-Methodist Church president, recalled the secret talks took place in his home in a new book, In Good Time.
Rev Good said that the meetings were attended by Martin McGuinness and Jeffrey Donaldson. On Tuesday it emerged that East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson was also in attendance.
Wilson admitted he attended secret meetings with Sinn Féin, but said they were not negotiations.
‘Effectively deceived the electorate’
Pacemaker
Reg Empey, then Unionist leader David Trimble, Ken McGuinness and Jeffrey Donaldson during talks in the 1990s
Lord Empey led the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) for five years, but stood down as party leader in 2010.
His party was publicly in talks with Sinn Féin in the 1990s, a move that was criticised by the DUP.
He described the abuse that he, David Trimble, and members of his party faced as a result was “significant”.
Speaking to the Nolan Show on Tuesday, Empey said: “I have no issue with Sammy Wilson meeting Sinn Féin.
“The issue I have is with the fact that he is trying to make a distinction between talking and scoping issues with Sinn Féin, and negotiating with Sinn Féin.
“It’s the fact that his party lied.”
Wilson has insisted his party does not need to apologise and has denied the party was dishonest.
However Empey claimed that the DUP had “effectively deceived the electorate” by “saying one thing and doing another”.
The DUP “put out statements and they had an election manifesto which they all stood on which said that they wouldn’t be meeting with members of terror organisations,” he said.
“I hope we can get this all out in the open,” he added.
PA Media
DUP leader The Reverend Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams speak to the media during a press conference in 2007
‘Doesn’t make your unionism weaker’
It comes after the son of a former member of the UUP, Roy Garland also criticised the party.
Richard Garland’s columnist father Roy engaged with and met Republicans around 1995 after the IRA ceasefire.
When a photo later appeared in the paper showing him shaking hands with then Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams a sign was placed at the end of his street calling him a traitor.
Richard Garland told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme threats were made to his fathers life from members of proscribed organisations.
“There’s no threat from talking to anybody in the name of trying to make peace and that’s what ultimately the DUP should have been prepared to be honest about,” he said.
“There’s nothing shameful, it doesn’t make your unionism any weaker,” he added.
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