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| Weekend Dispatch 9th-10th September 2006 SPEECH BY ALBAN MAGINNESS MLA BRITISH IRISH ASSOCIATION 9 SEPTEMBER 2006 I would like to thank the British Irish Association for inviting me and representatives of the other Northern Ireland parties here today. We meet at a time when the stakes could not be higher. As we approach the November 25 deadline we face a choice of two futures. On the one hand, if, by the deadline, we achieve the restoration of the Good Friday Agreement’s institutions, we will be setting out towards reconciliation and a shared society. We will have all the politicians of all the people of the North working together on bread and butter issues, in partnership with the Government of the South through the North South Ministerial Council. If, on the other hand, we fail to achieve restoration, the prospects are grim. It’s hardly just that 108 Assembly members and their staffs will lose their jobs. That may be hard for us, but it’s not what really matters. What matters is that our economy will suffer as investors are deterred by the failure of our politicians to work together to achieve real stability. What matters is that our society will suffer. After all, if politicians do not share power together, what chance is there of getting people to share society together. What matters is that our governance will suffer as the North languishes under continued direct rule – with largely absentee ministers who are in reality accountable to nobody. And instead of the Agreement approved by the people of Ireland, the North’s only democratic structures may be the seven supercouncils, devised by these direct rulers. The supercouncils will carve up the North into big sectarian blocks, back to back with dominant majorities, outvoted minorities and, as of yet, not a single concrete power sharing guarantee. So much for a shared future. The problem is that while this scenario is grim for the people of the North, it may well suit both Sinn Fein and the DUP. After all, the DUP could turn around on 25 November and try to say that the Agreement is dead. And with 9 MPs to the UUP’s one - thanks to the dangerously polarising Westminster electoral system - they believe that the winding up of the Assembly – elected by PR – will reinforce their dominance within unionism. As for Sinn Fein, the winding up of the North’s institutions may well suit them – allowing them to concentrate on the forthcoming elections in the South. Meanwhile, both parties will believe that they can still milk partisan concessions from the two Governments. On issues like state funded paramilitary vigilantism and weakening structures for resolving the parades issues. And for every concession they get at the expense of the common good, their appetite will only grow for more. But there is no reason why anybody should accept this grim scenario as a foregone conclusion. There is a better way - and the Governments deserve some credit for it. For the first time in a long time, there have been inclusive all party talks. Positive progress has been made at a number of levels in these throughout the summer. Because parties in inclusive talks face more scrutiny from other parties, they have to work harder to justify their position. They cannot just completely avoid each other or duck common challenges. But the talks are being held back because the DUP still believes that the real negotiations in the Autumn will not be with the parties, but with the British Government. And they are hardly deluded in that belief - the Government explicitly promised them as much on the floor of the House of Commons. The DUP also believe that they can upend the Agreement’s key protections. And, again, Government has foolishly made clear that new legislation changing the Agreement is a given. Yet none of the DUP’s poorly founded complaints about the Agreement gave rise to suspension, so why should they be allowed become preconditions for restoration? And it is hardly as if they are top of the ordinary unionist’s agenda. Unionists on the ground want to know that paramilitarism is over – not that the way the Executive operates has changed. We are also being held back by the DUP’s suspicion that the IRA has not in fact given up criminality – despite successive reports by the International Monitoring Commission which show real progress on that front. But to be fair, it’s hardly surprising that the DUP should have this concern. After all, how can Sinn Fein be truly against crime if they are not for policing – and in cases like the murder of Robert McCartney continue to shield their members from the rule of law? That’s why, to achieve restoration on 25 November, there are a few basic things the Governments must do. First, put it up to the DUP to work the Agreement’s institutions. Second, put it up to Sinn Fein to accept policing and the rule of law – now and without preconditions. Third, make clear that the only concessions coming to anybody will come from agreement between the parties, and not as goodies from the Governments to particular parties. Fourth, to keep on making clear that even if we don’t get restoration, the Agreement will remain the two Government’s agenda and they will work together more closely and deeply than ever before to deliver it. A good place to start is with the proposals in the SDLP’s North South Makes Sense document. If
those things are done, clearly and credibly, then we still stand
a good chance of restoration. If they are not, the Governments
may be guilty of failed tactics. But we should not fool ourselves.
Ultimate responsibility will lie with us, the parties of Northern
Ireland and, in particular, those problem parties that have held
up progress for so long. And the ultimate losers will be the people
of the North whom we will have – again - failed to serve. |
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