Presbyterian General Assembly: The Presbyterian Church in Ireland encouraged former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble down a route which had "massively backfired", the church's general assembly was told yesterday.
Rev Dr Alastair Dunlop, of the Presbyterian church and society committee, paid tribute to Mr Trimble who, he said, had "fallen out of favour with the electorate, including, I suspect, most of this house".
The former first minister was "not a perfect man, nor is he a perfect politician ... but for all that, he is a man of courage who took risks for the sake of this community in which we live," he said.
"More than that, he is a man whom we as a church encouraged to take the road he did. We encouraged him to take the risk of signing up to an agreement with Sinn Féin before decommissioning. We encouraged him to take the risk of signing up to the early release of prisoners ... even though we were aware of the moral fudge involved," he continued.
The church did so "believing it was the right thing to do in the interests of a better society for all," and that "it would build confidence and trust"
It believed all parties to the Belfast Agreement would honour the commitments made. It was "a risk that seemed enormously worthwhile".
History would judge Mr Trimble "in a kinder light than recent events might indicate", he said, noting that Mr Trimble was also a Presbyterian "entitled to our pastoral care and support, even from those among us who disagree profoundly with him".
He blamed "the failure of Sinn Féin to deliver verifiable thoroughgoing decommissioning, and an end to criminality" the impasse in the North. They should now "stop taking the community for fools" and "do what it said it would do".
Similarly with the loyalist paramilitaries. "A plague on both your houses!" he said, noting that a crucial difference between paramilitaries on both sides was that Sinn Féin wanted to be in government.
Rev David Knox, minister at Mr Trimble's congregation, described the former First Minister and his family as deeply committed Sunday worshippers. He [Mr Knox] felt "profoundly let down" after all the risks taken and accused Sinn Féin of having "milked the process for their own benefit".
He wondered now whether IRA decommissioning was enough any more and asked of Sinn Féin "where is the true peace, the mutual respect, the tolerance, this church was prepared to give to you?"
Yesterday the General Assembly agreed to sell its Church House headquarters in Belfast to the Thornton Trust, a Co Armagh based charity, for £5.18 million sterling (€7.7 million).
Under agreed terms the Assembly Hall will continue to be available to the church, should it be required.
