Foreign Minister hails chance of a lifetime
The DUP and Sinn Féin grasped the opportunity of a lifetime when they agreed to enter a power-sharing government, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said today.
However he warned that the real test in the months ahead will be to build prosperity and end sectarianism within communities.
Delivering the Tip O’Neill Lecture at the University of Ulster in Derry, Mr Ahern said the restoration of the Assembly on May 8 would not be the end of the road but the beginning of a new era.
DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley is due to meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin tomorrow for talks on recent developments.
Mr Paisley and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams announced at their first press conference on Monday of last week that the institutions would be fully restored next month.
Mr Ahern said: “On that day we saw a shift in the political paradigm of Northern Ireland, when the parties grasped the opportunity of a lifetime and committed themselves to support and participate fully in a partnership government and in all of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.
“Restoration of the power-sharing institutions on May 8, as now agreed by the parties, will mark major progress, but it will not be the end of the road.
“It will be a critical stepping stone to the creation of a society in Northern Ireland where questions of identity, culture and tradition are no longer identified with discord and division, but are seen through a prism of tolerance, generosity and mutual respect.”
Mr Ahern said future challenges involved building prosperity, tackling sectarianism and supporting all communities.
North-south cooperation on infrastructural projects and the €580m Government fund will lure more investment to the North.
He said sectarianism was arguably one of the gravest threats to society on Ireland but it only made headlines when it resulted in deaths.
A specific budget within the Reconciliation Fund in the Foreign Affairs Department will support good projects in communities seeking new and more effective ways of addressing sectarianism.
He recalled that Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume’s approach to shaping a new future for Ireland was driven by a love of his country, a deep abhorrence of sectarianism and of violence, democracy, equality and the rule of law.
The minister added: “These common values are at the heart of the peace process. They have been central to our efforts to date to achieve the full potential of the Good Friday agreement and the consolidation of a peaceful society.
“They will be no less important now as we move on: the next move will be the test.”
