Northern Secretary backs UDA disarmament deadline

Mr Woodward, who condemned a pipe bomb attack linked to an ongoing feud between rival loyalist factions in Carrickfergus, said: "Nobody should ever be complacent about any act of violence.

"There should be no more paramilitarism from any quarter and I would like to see the decommissioning of all weapons now, not just October 9.

"I admire the leadership of Margaret Ritchie. It is important to show such leadership.

"It is also important that we help as many people who have been in the grip of the consequences of what the paramilitaries have been doing to escape that."

Since becoming Social Development Minister, the SDLP's Miss Ritchie has warned that a fund for helping loyalist communities to regenerate themselves economically and socially could be withdrawn if the UDA does not step back from violence and disarmament.

Mr Woodward's predecessor as Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Hain, originally pledged more than £1m (€1.4m) to the conflict transformation initiative for loyalist communities which had been supported by the UDA's political advisers in the Ulster Political Research Group.

Mr Woodward said: "Whilst it is very clear that it is now a devolved matter, my predecessor put in place a means to help people in communities who were in the grip and are still in the grip of paramilitary activity to get out of that paramilitary grip.

"Essentially the government provided a new ladder of opportunity for those people looking for a way out.

"We owe it to the family who were attacked on Saturday night to help them out of that grip on their community."

Mr Woodward said it was important that, while a deadline had been set of October 9 by the SDLP minister, people also focused on the achievement of UDA disarmament as an end in itself.

Mr Woodward also signalled that he was working to ensure all the ingredients were in place for the transfer of policing and justice powers to the Stormont Executive next year.

He said it was up to politicians in the North to determine if that target date was met.

“The first stage of devolution is well in hand,” the Northern Secretary said. “As Tony Blair said on May 8, it was a good day for optimists everywhere.

“My task now is to help to bring about the devolution of policing and justice powers.

“In my opinion, the timetable of St Andrews is doable but it requires everyone to want it to happen.

“I will do everything to have the institutions ready for the devolution of policing and justice but what local politicians have to do is to have the confidence-building measures in place to allow it to happen.

“We are in a situation where 75% of the people of Northern Ireland want policing and justice devolved and that is up from 50%.

“There is an enthusiasm for local devolved politicians to exercise power, a rapacious appetite.”

Mr Woodward said as Gordon Brown had to listen to the people, engage the people and involve the people on the issue of whether there should be a general election this autumn, the North's politicians had to do the same on the question of when policing and justice powers are transferred.

“That is how peace came to Northern Ireland, that is what the politicians did by listening to what people were saying,” he said.

Despite unionist claims that the deadline for securing the powers might not be met, the minister said he admired the honesty and the realism of senior Democratic Unionist members in the Assembly in facing up to the need to share power.

“There is a recognition by people in the leadership of the DUP that people want devolution,” he said.

“We know that 75% want at this stage for policing and justice powers to be exercised by devolved ministers and that figure must include supporters of the DUP.”