from IAIS: UNIONISTS REFUSE SINN FEIN TV DEBAT Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit UNIONISTS REFUSE SINN FEIN TV DEBATE 10/23/97 12:40 EST Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and a British government minister will appear together in a TV debate for the first time tonight. But the BBC has been unable to persuade unionists to take part in the Question Time debate, broadcast from Belfast. Britain's Northern Ireland political development minister, Paul Murphy will sit on the panel with Adams and SDLP (Social, Democratic, and Labour Party) leader, John Hume. Conservative Party member, Andrew Hunter and former Presbyterian moderator, the Very Rev. John Dunlop will take the place of the two main unionist parties. Ulster Unionists refused to appear, even though they face Sinn Fein across the table at Stormont. They say the programme will give the republicans "unwarranted credibility". Peter Robinson, deputy leader of the Democratic Unionists, said unionists had been offered a separate studio but rejected the option as it meant there would have been some "inter-play". He had refused to appear because he did not want to be seen with "representatives of unrepentant terrorists", he said. Sinn Fein accused the Ulster Unionists of running away. A spokesman said their boycott "goes against the reason they gave for entering Stormont. We were all told that one of the reasons why they were going into Stormont was to challenge Sinn Fein. Therefore running away makes no sense at all when they could challenge us in front of several million television viewers." __________________________________________________________ The Irish American Information Service is a non-profit orginization provding up-to-the-minute objective coverage of news as it happens in Ireland and the North. Please visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.iais.org ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-10.26.97-11:05:45-6007