CITY The UK Unionist Party has dismissed as "absolutely without foundation" any suggestion that it now supports Irish unity.
This follows publication of newspaper articles by Dr Conor Cruise O'Brien outlining a scenario by which unionists might be obliged to enter negotiations for a 32-county republic.
Dr O'Brien was one of three UK Unionist Party members of the Northern Ireland Forum. The articles are from his new book of memoirs.
Dr O'Brien said last night that he had discussed the text with the leading people in the UKUP, but the headline on one newspaper report, "O'Brien urges unionists to seek a united Ireland", had gone "a bridge too far".
He said that if Sinn Fein was seated in ministries without any decommissioning, and the RUC was reformed on the specifications of "Sinn Fein-IRA" as he expected, the best outcome for the Protestant population of Northern Ireland would be something along the lines he had suggested. "In a negotiated united Ireland they would have clout. They would be a sizeable voting bloc," he said.
The UKUP leader, Mr Robert McCartney, said he saw the relevant chapter of Dr O'Brien's memoirs last Thursday.
"He specifically says this is an analysis and a hypothesis, no more than that. And I think it's also from the viewpoint of a man who is 80 years of age, has a wonderful mind and like the rest of us realising that life is finite, and he's looking into the future," he told RTE. He added that any suggestion that he would endorse a united Ireland was "absurd."
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has admitted that the October 31st deadline for setting up North-South bodies will not be met. "It is not the end of the world," Mr Ahern said at the EU summit in Austria.