 |
 |
|
 |
||
| SPEECH TO SDLP ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2009, 24TH JANUARY 2009, CITY HOTEL ARMAGH In these early days of 2009 we find ourselves as citizens of a world in a state of change – both, economically and politically. The old order has disintegrated, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the collapse of Wall Street. We are all bracing ourselves for the challenges ahead. Times will be tough. Firms and families will feel the strain. But different times demand different approaches, if out of adversity we are to seize opportunity. During the next four months as we embark on the European Election campaign we all must work harder for those, who need us most. The SDLP’s job is to represent and reflect the biggest ambitions people have for themselves, their families, their communities, this country and for Europe. And the SDLP must be here for the people who need us to be here. For eighteen months into devolution very few are fascinated / mesmerised at the mere fact of power-sharing government. You want to know what Parties are doing to make a real difference. You want to ask, is this the best devolution can deliver? What happened to the bright new promise of May 2007? The political love story between the DUP and Sinn Fein has changed from the newly-weds to the nearly dead. Sweetness and light was replaced by fall-outs and fractures, boycotts and belligerence, walk-outs and walkovers. Neither Party has given leadership and their administration is stuck in the graveyard of indecision. Power sharing has been replaced with a power carve - up under the stewardship of Lord Castlereagh Councillor in chief, Peter Robinson. While bending at the knee to play a bit part role in the DUP show, Sinn Fein have adopted a Simon and Garfunkel approach to politics – Here’s to you Mr Robinson. Here’s to you Mr Robinson the nationalist right to a justice ministry. Here’s to you Mr Robinson the hard won power sharing protections of the Good Friday Agreement. Here’s to you Mr Robinson the future of the Maze project And if it wasn’t for the sterling work of my party colleague Dominic Bradley, here’s to you Mr Robinson the right of any Irish language speaker to use their language in any official capacity. Every way Nationalists look at this they lose out! However, the SDLP will continue to be the champion of partnership government .We support the architecture of the Agreement. But we are not prepared to stand by and watch the power-sharing process abused in favour of a power carve-up by the two larger parties. Nor will we let the bully-boys turn a democratic assembly into the rubber-stamping supreme Soviet and a supposedly accountable executive into a Politburo. For the SDLP are in politics to serve, not to rule. We can argue without fear of contradiction, that the processes got better results and bigger outcomes when the SDLP have been at our strongest arguing for the interests of Nationalism and the wider community. Using our craft and our experience and our dogged determination, we brought home the difficult issues – most notably policing. Last year we recognised the flaws in the Programme for Government and Budget and voted against it. Our stand has been vindicated. This year SDLP proposed building social houses as a means of alleviating homelessness and boosting the construction industry, the lynchpin of our economy. And once again making your needs our priority we are asking the Finance Minister to look again at his budget priorities on the floor of the Assembly next week. What a different situation we might be in if the SDLP had been at centre stage over the last few years rather than what we have at the moment. For if Margaret Ritchie has proven anything it is that she and the SDLP are both, up to and up for government. And unlike others we are not afraid to face down Peter Robinson. Like many we lament not only the five wasted months of last year but the last five wasted years of inept political representation in Europe. In the midst of the present recession there is one great certainty and that is the collective political and economic strength of the European Union and its institutions. The SDLP are the only truly Pro - European Party in Northern Ireland. We are proud of that commitment and recognised for it. We have the support and solidarity of our friends throughout Europe and in the European Parliament, in particular the Party of European Socialists. Come June it is very likely the PES will be the biggest group in the European Parliament. Through our membership of the PES, the SDLP will have unprecedented access and influence at the very highest levels. I will be proud to serve within that Group come the 8th of June. Given the depths of our financial crisis, we need Europe as a friend to support us as an economy and to see out this recession. We need to restore NI's Voice in Europe. Rightfully, we will win back the SDLP seat. But let us be real - we have a battle on our hands against some familiar foes. There is Jim Allister, a political Rip Van Winkle, whose thoughts have been frozen in the 1980s. A malevolent voice intent only to destroy power sharing and our membership of the EU. While Barbara de Brun has gone from minister of hospital closures, to an MEP with no public exposure. Fair play to Barbara, she has managed to remain silent over the past five years, in at least two languages. Unfortunately the DUP appear to be playing a game of I’m a European Candidate Get Me Out of Here.’ Edwin was voted off first, soon followed by Nelson, the Ulster Scot, leaving Nigel and Lord Maurice to battle it out in the DUP jungle. But this is not a media game and the SDLP has still a job to do. We must capture the imagination of the people, the ambition of youth, and the very soul of our society. We must proactively engage with those from other traditions both religious and political. And we have to turn all those stay – at – home SDLP supporters, into active SDLP voters. After all we committed ourselves to the European ideal when others, who together as either little Irelanders, or little Englanders, rejected it as anti-Irish, neo-imperialist, or as a rich man's economic club. They were all proven wrong on all counts. As I have said many times before Europe is Here! Not over There! Belfast is as European as Brussels. Armagh is as European as Amsterdam. We are citizens of Europe, as well as citizens of Ireland. Europe is the living political reality of today and it was never more important than today. For Europe is poised to play an even greater role in the affairs of this world, based on the same values that the SDLP espouses, the values of the Party of European Socialists. The great neo-liberal experiment of let-her-rip markets has come crashing down, the world has found that greed is not good after all and it is turning to European models of social partnership. The disastrous decade of neo-con militarism is over, the Bush-Blair axis is gone, and we have a new administration in Washington which looks to Europe for a progressive partnership. And we must take up the challenge of that partnership, we must work together to ensure that there are no more Gazas, no more Congo’s, no more Darfur’s. The Little Englanders and the Little Irelanders, lost in their petty parochial squabbles, have nothing to offer such a global partnership. They cannot even see that Europe is the great dynamic that has shaped and formed Ireland North and South since 1973 and will continue to do so even more in the 21st Century. For the EU has not only transformed the Irish economy over the past 4 decades – it continues to do so today. That Euro-dynamic continues to impact on all aspects of our lives as witnessed by many who live in border areas such as here in Armagh. A key objective now must be the establishment of a sustainable all Island economy only made possible by the EU. An economy which addresses the needs of farmers, fishermen, workers and businesses. That champions the rights of those on low pay and ensures fair pay for good work. That offers protection to the working, the workless and strives to improve work prospects for the future. And that supports those creating jobs through innovation, enterprise, and technology. These are the challenges which lie ahead if we are to reclaim the rich legacy of John Hume, which has been, squandered by his inadequate successors. We must restore the voice of the people of Northern Ireland in Europe, in the very heart of Europe, the European Parliament. For too long it has been silent. We offer a change for the better, a voice of positive ideas for a positive future. This is our work. These are our ways. This is our time. Seize the moment.
|
||
 |
||
