Photo by Theo Russell.
Tom Griffin reports on the meeting 'What Next for the Irish Peace Process' organised by Islington North Labour Party on the 27th June in the latest edition of the Irish World.
It’s a relatively rare occurrence to find speakers from all the main parties in Northern Ireland represented at a public meeting in London. All credit therefore to Islington North Labour Party for achieving just that last Wednesday, with a meeting on the peace process where the line-up included the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, Sinn Fein’s Martina Anderson, Rodney McCune of the Ulster Unionists and Paul Callaghan of the SDLP.
The theme for the evening, was where next for the peace process? On that point there was underlying similarity in the message offered by the two largest parties.
Both the DUP and Sinn Fein presented a controlled optimism, emphasising that significant pitfalls still lie ahead.In his speech, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson emphasised the changes he believed his party had secured from the Good Friday Agreement.“The one thing we always said was that if we got a deal which we believed was workable, we would stick by it,” The East Antrim MP told the meeting. “I think that so far the behaviour of our party and in particular our party leader, has indicated that that promise has been kept.”“We will expect ongoing delivery by the other major partner in the administration, namely Sinn Fein. There will be rocky roads ahead because the kind of consensus Government which we are expected to live with, I doubt that any party would contemplate in Westminster.”“We are dealing with politicians who for thirty years have never had a chance to rule, so there are big challenges ahead. Nevertheless, I believe that we’re up to it and that so far we have seen sincerity on everyone’s part.”
Sinn Fein’s Martina Anderson agreed that the Stormont executive will face rough patches: “As Sammy said, there’s a lot of things not tested. There’s a view that things have moved on, it’s sorted now in the North and people don’t have to worry about it. Nothing could be further from the truth.”The Foyle Assembly member emphasised the continuing inequalities in the North, and suggested that the relationship with the South would be key to turning the situation around.“We live in a basket case economy, and that’s not Sinn Fein saying this, it’s PriceWaterHouseCooper, a consultancy firm who came in to take a look at our economy, “ she told the meeting. “We need to try and hook up with the amazing developments that have happened in the 26 counties. We need greater all-Ireland co-operation.”
The SDLP’s Paul Callaghan continued the economic theme. “I agree with the concept of importing the best bits of the Republic economic success into the North, but it has to be met with action,” he said. “The Republic has a National Development Plan which the northern administration really has to hook into. We want to see a united Ireland based on just enterprise that funds quality services, and that can be done through the National Development Plan and our integration into that.”
It was also the UUP speaker McCune who repeatedly stressed the importance of the British Labour Party organising in the north of Ireland. However a largely nationalist audience opposed the proposal for the clear role of unionism driving it forward, primarily because of their support for Labour's long-standing policy for Irish reunification but as one speaker highlighted, the lack of any voter base for the British Labour Party in the Six Counties.
The same speaker highlighted that Islington North Labour Party had indeed already discussed organising in the north and had decided not only to firmly reject it but to raise its opposition at Labour's annual conference.
