The Independent Monitoring Commission was strongly criticised at yesterday's Church of Ireland Synod for its lack of anything positive to say about the role played by paramilitaries in communities in the North.
Canon Barry Dodds, who works in the Shankill area of Belfast, said he applauded meetings by members of the church with Sinn Féin, which he noted were balanced by meetings with other groupings, but he felt these may not be possible in future because of recommendations in the commission report that community activists should take a stand against paramilitaries.
He noted that the chief constable had recommended people should work with community activists and said there was a need for ongoing contact with paramilitaries in a period of transition from war to peace.
Canon Dodds said that he was not countenancing criminal activity involving such groups, where this happened, but it did not help for instance that staff at Progressive Unionist offices were being let go at this time when it came to dealing with paramilitary activists.
In Belfast working-class areas which were suffering economic deprivation it was necessary for all to work together to change the situation, including paramilitary community activists.
The Rev Colin Hall-Thompson, who serves in Ballymacarret in east Belfast, said anyone working in inter-face working class Belfast would agree with everything Canon Dodds had to say.
