14 January 1999 Edition
No more obstacles
Decision day is fast approaching for those holding up the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. For over nine months Unionists raised everything they could as an obstacle to progress. Negotiations were strung out and delays were manufactured until the process came to a virtual standstill.
The Unionist tactics were carefully implemented by a political leadership desperate to cling to old certainties. And all along the purpose was to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement. But always one certainty was going to prevent these tactics bearing fruit. That certainty was the wording of the Agreement.
The Unionists can't escape what was so painstakingly negotiated over so long. The wording is clear and David Trimble, despite his bluster and spin to the contrary, must accept that there are no preconditions to Sinn Féin taking their rightful seats in an Executive and in the all-Ireland Ministerial Council.
All the obstacles are out of the way. The `undergrowth' has been cleared and the Unionists must face up to reality. They can either form the Executive and the all-Ireland Ministerial Council - as the Agreement says they must - or they can collapse the process.
The onus is not only on the Unionists. Tony Blair has a responsibility to move things forward. That means forming the Executive. He must tell the Ulster Unionists what is clear to every other participant in the political process - the Executive must be formed.
An important development in the organisation of former republican prisoners takes place next Tuesday with the launch of Coiste na n-Iarchimí. The umbrella organisation will represent 17 groups from throughout ten counties.
The ex-prisoners community is now well-organised and ready to play a full part in the emerging new Ireland. They have proved themselves over the years capable of great resourcefulness, commitment and leadership and those qualities will be to the fore again in the coming years. The launch of Coiste na n-Iarchimí is greatly welcomed.
The Unionist tactics were carefully implemented by a political leadership desperate to cling to old certainties. And all along the purpose was to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement. But always one certainty was going to prevent these tactics bearing fruit. That certainty was the wording of the Agreement.
The Unionists can't escape what was so painstakingly negotiated over so long. The wording is clear and David Trimble, despite his bluster and spin to the contrary, must accept that there are no preconditions to Sinn Féin taking their rightful seats in an Executive and in the all-Ireland Ministerial Council.
All the obstacles are out of the way. The `undergrowth' has been cleared and the Unionists must face up to reality. They can either form the Executive and the all-Ireland Ministerial Council - as the Agreement says they must - or they can collapse the process.
The onus is not only on the Unionists. Tony Blair has a responsibility to move things forward. That means forming the Executive. He must tell the Ulster Unionists what is clear to every other participant in the political process - the Executive must be formed.
New group for ex-POWs
An important development in the organisation of former republican prisoners takes place next Tuesday with the launch of Coiste na n-Iarchimí. The umbrella organisation will represent 17 groups from throughout ten counties.
The ex-prisoners community is now well-organised and ready to play a full part in the emerging new Ireland. They have proved themselves over the years capable of great resourcefulness, commitment and leadership and those qualities will be to the fore again in the coming years. The launch of Coiste na n-Iarchimí is greatly welcomed.