SDLP leader urges reaffirmation of agreement

Unionists and nationalists should reaffirm their commitment to the principles of the Good Friday Agreement in any debate on the constitutional future of Northern Ireland, SDLP leader Mark Durkan said today.

Responding to Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams’s argument that unionists should begin discussing with nationalists what type of united Ireland they could live in, the Stormont Deputy First Minister said in New York it would be wrong to think the end of the Union could be negotiated outside the Agreement.

Before leaving for Washington on the second leg of a tour of the United States with Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, Mr Durkan said: ‘‘I think what we need to be doing is underscoring the Agreement and I don’t think people should be raising serious questions about anything other than how the Agreement should be implemented.

‘‘I think that plays into the agenda of other people, particularly those anti-Agreement people who try to believe something different from the Agreement can be negotiated within Northern Ireland’s current constitutional framework.

‘‘I think it is dangerous for people to be suggesting: Let’s negotiate something different outside Northern Ireland’s current constitutional status when we have the Agreement. That in turn provides a mechanism whereby we can determine whether Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom or part of a united Ireland in the future.’’

Unionists and nationalists who signed the Good Friday Agreement agreed that the constitutional position of Northern Ireland could only be change if the majority of its people wanted to do so in a referendum.

In the clearest signal yet of his party’s acceptance of that principle, Mr Adams told the World Economic Forum in New York on Sunday he recognised unionists could not be forced into a united Ireland and it would have to have their ‘‘consent and assent’’.

Mr Adams went further yesterday, urging unionists to take ‘‘a leap of imagination’’ and ‘‘begin seriously thinking about, discussing and engaging with nationalists and republicans about the nature and form a new and acceptable united Ireland might take.

‘‘A united Ireland will not be a cold house for unionists if it guarantees their rights and entitlements, if they have their own place, their own stake in it and a sense of security and ownership,’’ the West Belfast MP said.

Mr Durkan responded that while he was a nationalist who wanted a united Ireland, it was important nationalists reassured unionists they were wholly committed to the Agreement and did not see it as ‘‘disposable".

‘‘Let’s be clear about the importance of the Agreement,’’ the Foyle MLA said.

‘‘If unionist concern at the minute is that nationalists are trying to somehow work past the Agreement, that nationalists just regard the Agreement as some sort of disposable compromise on the way to a united Ireland, I think it is important I indicate to unionists as a nationalist that I do not see the principles and the protections of the Agreement as being disposable.

‘‘I am a nationalist. I want a united Ireland but I do not want the type of united Ireland that traps unionists or dismisses unionists. I am a nationalist who fully believes in the principles and protections of the Good Friday Agreement.

‘‘What we have to do is to create the situation where all are guaranteed that we can have a referendum and regardless of how we vote and the constitutional position, we will still have the protections and guarantees of the Agreement.’’