A SENIOR member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has claimed that "republican sympathisers" have gained access to at least two British army bases in Northern Ireland.
Mr Jeffrey Donaldson warned at yesterday's meeting of the Northern Forum of another possible IRA bomb attack at an army base.
Mr Donaldson, an honorary secretary of the party, said the relaxation of the criteria by which civilians could gain access to army bases had allowed the IRA to penetrate security at Thiepval Barracks last Monday and explode two no-warning bombs, killing Warrant Officer James Bradwell.
Mr Donaldson claimed at the Forum that the IRA now had "sleepers" in place in Thiepval Barracks and in at least one other British army base. He called on the British army to carry out a major review of its current "appalling" security procedures.
"Republican sympathisers have access to top-level security information, to plans of buildings in those installations, to maps of the camps. They are able to move about within those camps with a large degree of free will," he said.
Referring to one report, he also asked why the main security camera in Thiepval was not working at the time of the bombing (the British army has refused to confirm or deny this report).
Delegates at the Forum yesterday adopted a motion deploring Monday's IRA bombing and extending sympathy to the family of Warrant Officer Bradwell. The parties also praised the loyalist paramilitaries for holding their ceasefire, and urged them to maintain that stance.
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, said the loyalist paramilitaries must "stay their hand" and not retaliate against the bombing. He also asked the SDLP how long "it will sustain its association with those people who carried out this appalling atrocity".
He said it was inconceivable that there be any suggestion now that Sinn Fein should be allowed into the peace process, a comment that generally reflected the mood of the other parties yesterday.
Mr John White, of the Ulster Democratic Party, which is linked to the UDA, said he was in no doubt that the IRA bomb was intended to provoke loyalist paramilitaries into retaliation. But, he added, loyalists must "not allow themselves to be drawn into the game plan of Sinn Fein/IRA and further destabilise this province".
Mr Hugh Smyth, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), which is linked to the UVF, said that if loyalists retaliated the only people to benefit would be the IRA. I appeal to the loyalist paramilitaries not to allow the IRA off the hook," he added.
Mr Nigel Dodds, secretary of the DUP, said the broadcasting ban should be reintroduced to keep Sinn Fein off the airwaves.
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, accused Sinn Fein of blatant hypocrisy in calling for inclusive talks at the same time as the IRA was planning the bombing of Thiepval Barracks.
The Alliance party leader, Lord Alderdice, said the attack meant the "republican movement had written itself out of the talks".
