Remarks should not derail peace process - Durkan
Northern Ireland’s politicians must not allow intemperate remarks to derail the progress made in the peace process and devolution, SDLP leader Mark Durkan said today.
Just days after Saint Patrick’s Day events in the White House were overshadowed by a row over David Trimble’s criticism of the Irish Republic, Mr Durkan issued a mild rebuke in a speech to organisers and participants of the annual St Louis’s parade.
In an address which claimed Northern Ireland politics was improving despite the occasional hiccup, the nationalist Deputy First Minister of the Stormont Executive acknowledged: ‘‘From time to time there are still fireworks.
‘‘From time to time we still hear intemperate remarks and the prejudices of the past can rear their ugly heads - not just on the streets but also among our politicians.
‘‘Indeed, I regret that I have heard some of that in recent days. This is disappointing but it is not surprising.
‘‘I will not, however, turn an outburst into a standoff.
‘‘Change does not come overnight and sometimes after great strides forward, we end up taking a few steps back. But measured by our standards that we have set ourselves throughout history, our progress has been breathtaking.’’
Before his arrival in the US on Tuesday, Mr Trimble was at the centre of a row over his assertion in a speech to the Ulster Unionist council in Belfast that the Irish Republic was a ‘‘pathetic, sectarian, mono-cultural, mono-ethnic state’’.
The Ulster Unionist First Minister reignited the row in Washington on Wednesday by insisting he was right and claiming after receiving the Global Citizens Circle peace prize that the recent abortion referendum in the Irish Republic was ‘‘sectarian’’.
The First Minister’s comments were immediately challenged by his cabinet colleague Mr Durkan who was sharing the same platform and by Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern after President George Bush’s Saint Patrick’s Day reception.
Despite the controversy, Mr Durkan, who today marched at the head of the St Louis parade with policemen and firemen from New York, insisted the Stormont Executive was confounding cynics at home who thought it could not succeed.
The experience of power sharing meant Northern Ireland’s politicians were learning not just about government but each other, he claimed.
‘‘We are learning how to work together, how to build partnerships.
‘‘We are even learning how to say good things about each other!’’
The SDLP leader said he was a nationalist, committed to the unity of Ireland and its people.
However, he was also committed to the full operation of the Good Friday Agreement and serving all the people.
‘‘The Good Friday Agreement commands us to overcome these divisions - to work not just to heal the body politic but also to heal our society, to build not just a peace of the politicians but a peace of all the people.’’
As guest of honour of the St Louis parade Mr Durkan also fired a cannon to start a fun run involving around 6,000 people from all over the American Mid-West before the parade.
Around 300,000 people watched the parade featuring 110 floats involving everyone from high schools students, police and firemen to the Budweiser Clydesdale horses and characters from the cartoon Scooby Doo.
The city skyscrapers resonated with the sounds of rolling drums and the swirl of the bagpipes and green clothing was the fashion accessory of the day.
