Early Assembly elections essential - Cowen
Foreign Minister Brian Cowen today issued a new call for early elections for a new Northern Ireland Assembly.
In a detailed survey of progress made by the ongoing Ulster peace process, he declared: “If we are to succeed – and, in particular, the necessary dynamic is to be injected into the process – it is essential to schedule early Assembly elections.
“All participants require fresh legitimisation and only a democratic act can provide this.”
Mr Cowen, speaking at the annual MacGill summer school in Glenties, Co Donegal, said Government thinking on the poll question was based on the conviction that a decision on elections would fundamentally change the overall context in which acts of completion were sought and obtained.
And he added: “My fear is that if we do not move soon to elections, the alternative will be continued stalemate and the steady leaching away of optimism.
“A major factor contributing to the erosion of the confidence and trust of all law-abiding people throughout the community has been the continuing active manifestation of paramilitarism, sectarian violence and disorder.
“Once a date is fixed for elections, there will be an immediate responsibility on the parties to show clearly that they are prepared to address the lack of trust that exists.
“We insist that those with such responsibility will be pro-active in addressing the deficit of trust in the run-up to elections.
“This is essential if the electorate is to be satisfied that those parties which support the agreement are truly committed to resolving the outstanding issues and thus will ensure that the Assembly and the other institutions are quickly established thereafter.”
The minister said he was convinced that the great mass of all the people of Northern Ireland – and of the island as a whole – wanted a future in which difference was respected, but sectarianism was rejected, in which “our common pursuit of a better life for all transcends our differences”.
He also made a new plea to Sinn Féin to take the steps needed to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland and to encourage members of the republican community to work in it.
But Mr Cowen conceded, too, “We cannot yet claim that Northern Ireland is a society at ease with itself.
“Difficulties remain – not least in the persistence of the virus of sectarianism. Stalemate in the operation of the institutions of the (Good Friday) agreement is also deeply frustrating.”
