by Danny Morrison (for the Andersonstown News)

It was Seamus Mallon who famously once described the Belfast Agreement as ‘Sunningdale for Slow Learners’, a soundbite which was immediately seized upon by opponents and critics of the Republican Movement. They were claiming, in varying degrees, that what was negotiated in 1998 was available in the power-sharing Sunningdale arrangements of 1974 and therefore republicans, by continuing the armed struggle, had to bear major responsibility for the continuation of the conflict and the loss of all subsequent life. Please register or log in to continue reading.