7 January 1999 Edition
Implement the Agreement
The agreement before Christmas on Assembly departments and all-Ireland bodies brought with it disappointment as well as hope that the six-month delay in forming the Executive and North-South Ministerial Council will now end.
The main source of disappointment is that a Department of Equality will be under the control of David Trimble as First Minister and Seamus Mallon as Deputy First Minister. It was a move defended by the SDLP but which has angered campaigners for equality in the Six Counties.
What the SDLP have ignored is that equality must be at the very heart of any conflict resolution in Ireland. It is not something to be sidelined by leaving it at the mercy of David Trimble's veto. Quite simply, if the issue of equality is not tackled with vigour, the process of resolving conflict will be greatly, possibly terminally, harmed.
Nationalist fears were largely confirmed in the New Year when one of David Trimble's first public pronouncements was to call for the Parades Commission to be scrapped. This was from an MP who refuses to meet those of his constituents who represent the Garvaghy Road. His commitment to conflict resolution is to turn his back on dialogue as a means to resolve the Drumcree dispute. Quite simply, he is entirely unsuited to take control of the equality issue and the SDLP should be ashamed of themselves.
Other areas of what was agreed at Christmas will potentially allow the Unionists to continue exercising a veto over progress, particularly in all-Ireland issues such as tourism.
But the agreement paves the way for the next step, the setting up of the Executive. Those who are arguing that that should not happen are quite simply going against the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Those who support them will be guilty of reneging on the Agreement which they signed last April. There is an onus on the two governments to make sure that the Agreement is implemented. There can be no more Unionist stalling.
The main source of disappointment is that a Department of Equality will be under the control of David Trimble as First Minister and Seamus Mallon as Deputy First Minister. It was a move defended by the SDLP but which has angered campaigners for equality in the Six Counties.
What the SDLP have ignored is that equality must be at the very heart of any conflict resolution in Ireland. It is not something to be sidelined by leaving it at the mercy of David Trimble's veto. Quite simply, if the issue of equality is not tackled with vigour, the process of resolving conflict will be greatly, possibly terminally, harmed.
Nationalist fears were largely confirmed in the New Year when one of David Trimble's first public pronouncements was to call for the Parades Commission to be scrapped. This was from an MP who refuses to meet those of his constituents who represent the Garvaghy Road. His commitment to conflict resolution is to turn his back on dialogue as a means to resolve the Drumcree dispute. Quite simply, he is entirely unsuited to take control of the equality issue and the SDLP should be ashamed of themselves.
Other areas of what was agreed at Christmas will potentially allow the Unionists to continue exercising a veto over progress, particularly in all-Ireland issues such as tourism.
But the agreement paves the way for the next step, the setting up of the Executive. Those who are arguing that that should not happen are quite simply going against the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Those who support them will be guilty of reneging on the Agreement which they signed last April. There is an onus on the two governments to make sure that the Agreement is implemented. There can be no more Unionist stalling.