6 May 1999 Edition
McGuinness meets with International Relations Committee
Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator Martin McGuinness was in Washington this week for a series of meetings on Capitol Hill and at the White House. He spoke at a large community event in New York on Monday night and while in the city, he met with Niall O'Dowd and Bill Flynn, two men who have been very instrumental in advancing American involvement in the peace process.
Moving on to Washington D.C. on Tuesday, 4 May, McGuinness met with members of the House International Relations Committee, the Ad-Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs, and the Friends of Ireland at a meeting hosted by Congressman Benjamin Gilman in the Capitol building.
There, he emphasised the seriousness of the impasse in the peace process, given the failure to implement the most important aspects of the Agreement. He said that any attempt to park the Agreement over the summer would hand the initiative to those intent on wrecking the entire peace process. He pointed to the attacks on nationalists, which are ongoing, and the murder of Rosemary Nelson as frightening examples of loyalist intentions and said that the unionist demand for decommissioning has to be put in this context.
``There is real alarm not only at the failure to resolve this issue but at the prospect of a political vacuum existing over the summer period. It is frighteningly clear that the anti-Agreement unionists and loyalists will use this space to destroy the Agreement.''
Speaking after the Press Conference, Congressman Gilman said: ``Today we still see the old `unionist veto' in play. Once again the issue of arms decommissioning is being used to prevent the establishment of the cabinet executive as provided for in the Good Friday accord.''
Moving on to Washington D.C. on Tuesday, 4 May, McGuinness met with members of the House International Relations Committee, the Ad-Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs, and the Friends of Ireland at a meeting hosted by Congressman Benjamin Gilman in the Capitol building.
There, he emphasised the seriousness of the impasse in the peace process, given the failure to implement the most important aspects of the Agreement. He said that any attempt to park the Agreement over the summer would hand the initiative to those intent on wrecking the entire peace process. He pointed to the attacks on nationalists, which are ongoing, and the murder of Rosemary Nelson as frightening examples of loyalist intentions and said that the unionist demand for decommissioning has to be put in this context.
``There is real alarm not only at the failure to resolve this issue but at the prospect of a political vacuum existing over the summer period. It is frighteningly clear that the anti-Agreement unionists and loyalists will use this space to destroy the Agreement.''
Speaking after the Press Conference, Congressman Gilman said: ``Today we still see the old `unionist veto' in play. Once again the issue of arms decommissioning is being used to prevent the establishment of the cabinet executive as provided for in the Good Friday accord.''