Republican News · Thursday 17 October 2002

We all must redouble our efforts to save Agreement

Speaking in Leinster House on Tuesday on the suspension of the institutions in the Six Counties, Sinn Féin Dáil group leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said:

"The suspension of the Good Friday Agreement institutions by the British government represents a temporary success for the anti-Agreement unionists but only a temporary success. Their strategy to block political change can only be short term. They know that this process will have to be revived, and the Good Friday Agreement fully implemented.

"The current crisis dates not from the raid on Sinn Féin's offices in Stormont but from the Ulster Unionist Council meeting of 21 September when the anti-Agreement forces in that party finally succeeded in having their programme adopted. That programme seeks the rolling back of changes that have taken place, the exclusion of Sinn Féin and the renegotiation of the Agreement.

"We in Sinn Féin are totally committed to ensuring the full implementation of the Agreement, which was supported in referenda by the overwhelming majority of the Irish people. It must not be forgotten that the people of the 26 Counties made very significant changes to the Constitution on the basis that the Agreement provided for an inclusive Executive, an all-Ireland Ministerial Council and all-Ireland Implementation Bodies. There is an obligation on the Irish government, therefore, to help ensure that these institutions are re-established at the earliest opportunity.

"John Reid in suspending the institutions, for the third time, has done the Ulster Unionists dirty work. He has slavishly played out their threat to bring down the executive if, as they demanded, my party was not excluded. He and his government have joined with David Trimble and the other nay-sayers in the Ulster Unionists to undermine an Agreement that had already brought us a long way from the bitter conflict that preceded it.

"An internal unionist battle for party political advantage is now being waged between the UUP and the DUP with the Assembly and the Executive being used as the battleground and the destruction of Good Friday Agreement as the ultimate prize. Last night's suspension was never about Colombia; it was not about Castlereagh; and was not about the raids on Sinn Féin's offices in Stormont. It is about bringing an end to changes that were required of unionism in respect of the Agreement. It is their reluctance to share power and to be part of real change that is driving their agenda to have Sinn Féin ejected from Stormont.

"The British government must not be allowed to present themselves as some sort of impartial arbiter; that they too have responsibilities in all of this. There are a range of issues, involving all aspects of the Agreement which are within their power and indeed within the power of the Irish government. The British Secretary of State, John Reid, in particular has been slow to fulfil his responsibilities in relation to demilitarisation, policing, criminal justice and other matters.

"We need to know from the two governments what they intend to do to address these matters. We need to know how they plan to honour the commitments they made yesterday.

"We all need to redouble our efforts to save the Agreement from collapse. We have worked too hard to allow Unionist party political interests and British security services to destroy it. The Irish government must play a more robust role in defending the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement."

Martin Ferris later had the chance to intervene in the debate. He welcomed the Taoiseach's acknowledgement of Sinn Féin's positive contribution to the development of the peace process to date. "I particularly welcome his recognition that we have undertaken, unilaterally, a number of initiatives aimed at building greater confidence among the unionist community," said the North Kerry TD. "I point to Alex Maskey laying a wreath at the cenotaph and acknowledging in a commemorative way the dead of the First World War.

"Sinn Féin's efforts to build a relationship with the wider unionist community have been ongoing for more than a decade. There are those within the unionist family who do not want to share power with nationalists. Unfortunately, they have been setting the agenda in recent years and trying to upset any chance of unionism coming to terms with the equality of nationalism within the Assembly and the institutions.

"Some of the commentary during this debate has been regrettable. I refer particularly to the contributions of Deputies Howlin, Gay Mitchell and Crawford.

"The commentary regarding people at present before the courts creating an innuendo of guilt is disgraceful. There was no mention from these Deputies about the proven collusion between the RUC-PSNI and loyalist-unionist paramilitaries which is a reflection on the inequality of their contributions.

"I vividly remember Deputy Ruairí Quinn speaking at the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation when he stated the RUC was a corrupt and irreformable police force. This same force has been drafted into the Police Service of Northern Ireland, as it is now known, without accountability. It is imperative for all of us to work collectively, as we have done in recent years, to ensure the Good Friday Agreement survives and is implemented in full.

"Sinn Féin will continue to play a positive and constructive role in bringing about its full implementation."