Irish peace deal is flawed - Durkan
The British and Irish governments’ deal for reviving power sharing is flawed, the leader of the nationalist SDLP Mark Durkan claimed today.
As the governments waited to see what damage had been inflicted on their plan after it was rejected by republicans, Mr Durkan prepared to launch his party’s response to the document.
But while the Foyle Assembly member said that there were positive elements to the proposals, there were also weaknesses.
The SDLP leader said: “On paper, the DUP are ready to sign up to fundamental aspects of the Agreement that they have previously held back on: power sharing, working North South institutions and some equality provisions.
“Sinn Féin and the IRA also seem to be moving forward on things that they have held back on: complete IRA decommissioning, the ending all paramilitary activity and Sinn Féin finally signing on for the new beginning to policing.
“Those are all advances, and should not be kicked into touch. However there are major question marks about this package.
“Why has Sinn Féin been so fixated on the issue of photographs of decommissioning, which may only be used once when they have handed the DUP vetoes over what nationalist ministers can do, which can be used more than once?
“There are also inconsistencies over the timetables the Governments and Sinn Féin have over Sinn Féin moves to sign up to policing. We are also perturbed that, yet again, the Good Friday Agreement’s promise to victims and survivors has not been addressed.”
Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern claimed in Belfast yesterday that a landmark deal between Sinn Féin and the Reverend Ian Paisley’s DUP stumbled over the issue of IRA disarmament.
The DUP wanted the Provisionals to complete decommissioning in the presence of two observers and a photographer.
But republicans insisted that photographs, which the British government suggested could be published once power sharing is reactivated next March, would be used by unionists to humiliate the IRA.
In a bid to keep Northern Ireland’s politicians’ eyes fixed on the prize of a deal to end all deals, Tony Blair yesterday insisted that remarkable progress had been made.
“I think there is an inevitability about this process which is locked in. I can’t see this process going backward, but I do know that it’s going to require extra effort to finish the journey,” he said.
“This is a transformed landscape in which we operate today, but it won’t be properly transformed until we have the devolved institutions back up and working again.”
Sinn Féin and the DUP, however, have initially been focussed on trading punches over who was to blame for the latest breakdown in the process.
Gerry Adams claimed that Sinn Féin had told the governments that the issue of a photograph was a DUP demand, and was not achievable.
“We were surprised on November 17 when we received their joint statements, when this demand was contained in a paragraph of draft IICD report,” the Sinn Féin president said.
“We made it clear then that this wasn’t a runner. In fact, we asked the governments to take it out of their draft outlines. They explained to us there was no other way of getting the DUP to look at this.”
DUP leader Ian Paisley accused republicans of not coming up to the mark on decommissioning.
“We were in the process of resolving these outstanding matters when IRA/Sinn Féin brought their discussions with the government to an end,” the North Antrim MP said.
“It is clear from the remarks of the Prime Minister and Bertie Ahern where the responsibility lies for the current impasse.
“One hardly needs to read between the lines to see that it was the inability of the Republican Movement to decommission in the manner that was expected by the two governments.
“No-one should be in any doubt it was the IRA that said ’no’.”
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