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Belfast
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Irish
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NI
culture goes online
http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/
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the news today |
Parties
assess plans to break impasse
By Chris Thornton
29 September 2004
Government proposals to alter the
rules for running Stormont were
viewed sceptically by Sinn Fein
today - but the DUP were more upbeat
about the still unreleased proposals.
The plans, designed to get around
an impasse on power-sharing between
the parties, have not been unveiled
to the parties, but Sinn Fein's
chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness,
said it will not be up to the British
alone to make changes.
Secretary of State Paul Murphy was
due to refer to Government plans
to amend the Executive's structures
during his cancelled speech to the
Labour Party conference in Brighton
yesterday.
Mr Murphy was unable to deliver
the speech after falling ill.
But a released text showed he would
argue that "the prize of removing
paramilitarism and the gun from
Ireland is within our grasp".
And he was going to indicate that
he would not let the procedural
hang-ups stand in the way of that
prize.
DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson
welcomed those indications today.
"When the Secretary of State
confirms in his undelivered speech
that there are going to be changes
that sounds like progress,"
Mr Robinson said today.
But Mr McGuinness accused Mr Murphy
of considering unilateral alterations
to the Good Friday Agreement.
"It is not up to the British
Government alone to bring about
changes," he said. "The
Irish government and the political
parties have ownership of the Agreement
also.
"Sinn Féin will not
support changes which will alter
the fundamentals of the Good Friday
Agreement. We will oppose any attempt
to diminish the Agreement. We look
to the Irish government to do the
same."
Alliance leader David Ford said
that reform of the Stormont structures
"is the only realistic pro-Agreement
option".
"It is clear that the fundamental
principles of the Agreement stand,
but there are flaws with some of
the details," he said.
"Those who maintain that the
Agreement is perfect and utterly
unchangeable are just as wrong as
those who used to state that the
Agreement is so flawed that it cannot
provide a basis for a settlement.
"It is clear that the Government
now shares the Alliance analysis
on the need for reform. It is time
for people to be rational."
SDLP leader Mark Durkan insisted
in Brighton last night that his
party won't be moved on any proposals
that take away any of the Agreement's
"key features or principles".
His party fears the changes sought
by the DUP are aimed at undermining
power-sharing.
"That is our reasonable, principled
position. We make no apology for
that," he said.
"We will not succumb to anyone's
assumptions - be they DUP, Sinn
Fein, UUP, Alliance or either or
both governments - that we will
assist or support them in deviating
from the Agreement's requirements."
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news
spotlight: Northern Ireland
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Bono
Demands Action over Aids and
Debt
29.09.2004
By
Jamie Lyons
Source : Scotsman
U2 frontman Bono will take centre
stage at the Labour Party conference
today.
The singer, the star speaker
at the conference, will call
for action to combat the spread
of Aids and ease the debt burden
in Africa.
He is the latest in a string
of celebrities to address the
annual gathering, including
Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton
and Afghanistan president Hamid
Karzai.
Bono has praised the Government’s
decision to increase its contribution
to the global fight against
HIV/Aids. The UK’s overall
contribution will increase from
£300 million a year to
£550 million a year by
2007/08. The Government has
also announced £150 million
over three years to support
Aids orphans.
Bono’s speech will take
in the work of his Debt, Aids,
Trade Africa (Data) organisation
as well as his backing for a
new campaign called Make Poverty
History.
Data has also called for action
in Sudan, where thousands of
people have been killed by government-backed
militias and more than one million
refugees have been displaced.
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