Dodds: Good Friday Agreement doomed
Nationalists must face up to the reality that the Good Friday Agreement is doomed to failure, a hardline unionist said tonight.
Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds told supporters on the eve of the Protestant Orange Order’s 12th of July celebrations that the Agreement needed to be replaced by a new one because it did not command the support of both unionists and nationalists.
The North Belfast MP called for a clearer agreement with the support of both communities, which would provide stable government and wouldn’t rely on trust to make it work.
He argued: “Unless unionists as well as nationalists endorse any political settlement, it is doomed to failure.
“This is the political reality regardless of any provision in the Belfast Agreement.
“Just as unionists have learned that they cannot govern without the consent of the minority community, so too, much more, will nationalists have to learn that they cannot have a form of government opposed by a majority of unionists.”
With David Trimble’s Ulster Unionist Party today deciding to proceed with disciplinary action against three rebel MPs, Mr Dodds claimed they were disintegrating in public.
He accused the Government of having no strategy other than to wait and see what went on in the Ulster Unionist Party.
He criticised the decision by Prime Minister Tony Blair to postpone Assembly elections in Northern Ireland on May 29, claiming it had left “a damaging vacuum at the heart of the political process in Northern Ireland.”
The former Stormont Social Development minister continued: “The Ulster Unionist Party is mired in the depths of internecine warfare and the nationalist parties are in a state of denial.
“They seem either unable or unwilling to accept the fact that the Belfast Agreement they created gives unionists the ability to block the formation of an executive.
“Protestations that they will not renegotiate the Belfast Agreement, therefore, ring hollow in light of the knowledge that the current system cannot be revived as the cross-community voting safeguard in the Agreement designed to protect nationalists can be used by unionists to insist on their democratic rights being protected.
“That safeguard was not some mere formality to be tossed aside when it proved politically expedient. It was a fundamental safeguard which merely reflected the reality of life in Northern Ireland.”
Mr Dodds said contrary to the claims of political opponents, the DUP had ideas and a vision for the way forward for Northern Ireland.
The party had already established “core building blocks for any new agreement,” he said.
However, the North Belfast MP refused to spell out any details of the DUP’s alternative, claiming that would be “naive, arrogant and foolish”.
He argued: “Regardless of its merits, it would be peremptorily dismissed by our political opponents and consigned to the dustbin without so much as a cursory examination.”
The former devolved minister said his party had already outlined seven principles at the last Westminster election which dealt with the values which should be central to any settlement in Northern Ireland.
The party had also stressed the need for a more streamlined form of devolved government than the one which emerged out of the Good Friday Agreement, with less Assembly members, half the number of government departments and more money freed up for public spending.
He outlined a further six principles for any future settlement in the North.
“I believe that these are core in any agreement which is designed to last,” Mr Dodds said.
“Firstly, the agreement must be a settlement – not a process.
“Its terms must be clear.
“It must have the support of unionists as well as nationalists.
“It must provide stable government.
“For it to work, there must be no side deals with the Government.
“Finally, do not rely on trust to make any agreement work.
“Only by adhering to these concepts can a sustainable agreement be created. These concepts not only represent common sense, but are based on lessons learned from the Belfast Agreement.”
