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22 April 1999 Edition

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Dúirt siad...

It is clear that the two governments, under pressure from David Trimble, have moved from the common ground of the Good Friday Agreement, shared by all the pro-Agreement parties last April, to the much narrower ground occupied by the Ulster Unionist Party.

Gerry Adams, Thursday 15 April.

 


The recent decision by the two governments to move away from the Good Friday Agreement onto David Trimble's agenda is a major departure with profound implications for the Good Friday Agreement. If the governments do not move away from this, and back to the letter of the Agreement , then the Good Friday Agreement is dead.

Martin McGuinness writing in Monday's Irish News.

 


The two governments now clearly know that the declaration is not a runner.

Sinn Féin source in the Irish News, Thursday 15 April.

 


You cannot have this kind of conflict without errors such as this occuring. This is not the business of perfection.

US President Clinton on the deaths of civilians by NATO forces in Kosovo.

 


The best option is to stay out of NATO's Partnership for Peace and offer an independent contribution in defence of Ireland's commitments ``to international justice and morality and the pacific settlement of international disputes,'' as enshrined in our constitution. Failing that, I believe that a consultative referendum should be called. It is the least the people deserve on a subject which has such far-reaching consequences for national policy and the wider world. After all, the question remains: Do the Irish people want to be partners with NATO?

Claire O'Grady Walshe (a member of Fianna Fáil) writing on the PfP and Ireland's involvement following NATO's bombing of Serbia. The Examiner, Thursday 15 April.

 


Just seven months ago, Rosemary Nelson testified here before our subcommittee and told us that, as a defence attorney working on high-profile, political cases, she feared the RUC.

U.S. Congressman Chris Smith, after the American Congress cut funding to the RUC. Irish News, Friday 16 April.

 


When British soldiers changed from wearing steel helmets to berets, TV crews were invited to record the change. Now the British soldiers in South Armagh are once again wearing steel helmets I would invite the same journalists to record the scenes.

South Armagh Assembly member Conor Murphy on the re-militarisation and stepping up of activity by crown forces in the area last week.

 


This force was conceived and run as a counter-insurgency unit which operated death squads.

Tim Pat Coogan on the RUC. Ireland On Sunday, 18 April.

 


In Belgrade, we bomb because they would not sign the Peace Agreement... In Belfast we merely try to rewrite the Peace Agreement.

Mural in Ardoyne entitled `The Two Faces of British Imperialism'.

 


We were in for one and a half hours and it was a tight engagement. And we told the governments under no circumstances should the Agreement be parked - because we all know who will fill such a political vacuum.

Sinn Féin chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin after meeting the two governments in Downing Street. Irish News, Tuesday 20 April.

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