Republican News · Thursday 25 September 2002

Governments must promote Agreement - Adams

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams met with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Government Buildings on Monday. Afterwards, Adams said there was an urgent need for the two governments to actively promote the Good Friday Agreement. He said that "republican confidence was being slowly corroded because of what is happening at interface areas and the failure of the British government to fulfil their obligations under the Good Friday Agreement.

"At a time when there are so many crucial issues to be dealt with, including the Nice Treaty referendum and the threatened war in Iraq, it is important that we also keep our focus on defending and promoting the Good Friday Agreement and advancing the peace process," said Adams.

"On Saturday afternoon, we had the attempted sectarian murder of three Catholics in North Belfast and earlier in the week we had the attempted murder of a man on the Springfield Road in West Belfast. We also have the upcoming UUC meeting and the ongoing crisis within unionism which is threatening the political institutions. We are in danger of the process almost being reduced to what I referred to last week as the Save Dave Process."

Adams added: "This evening I spoke with the Taoiseach about the need for the two governments to actively promote the Good Friday Agreement. We also discussed the difficulties in the peace process, the need for the British to honour commitments on policing, the ongoing loyalist sectarian campaign and the issue of northern representation in the Oireachtas."