Dodds: towards future agreement

Here we have re-produced most of the text of a speech by Nigel Dodds to be given this afternoon. In it he lays out his parties practical approach to the re-negotiation of any new Agreement. If follows the publication earlier this week of the party’s Towards a New Agreement paper.

Speech given today by Nigel Dodds MP

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.

The sooner that all political parties concentrate on a new way forward rather than being tied to a failed Agreement the sooner real progress can be made.

Genuine agreements do not unravel overnight or fall apart at the slightest sign of difficulty in the political process. They survive the result of any election and can cope with difficult periods too. Unlike the Belfast Agreement, they have solid foundations and building blocks which endure.

Whilst the other parties have been squabbling, the DUP has been building for the future, realising the need for a new agreement. Short-term expedients do not lead to long-term solutions. Fundamental principles which can be broadly accepted across the community can be the only basis for progress and must lie at the heart of realistic proposals.

Our critics, bereft of anything positive to say, attack us for no new ideas or vision for the way forward. That could not be further from the truth. The reality is that we have established core building blocks for any new agreement. This may not be the stuff of newspaper headlines but does a much greater service to the political process itself.

To spell out the details of any alternative would be na�ve, arrogant and foolish. 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. Those who are impatient for bold declarations of a detailed way ahead are more interested in scoring political points than building a solid future.

We have not spelt out a detailed alternative to the Belfast Agreement but nor should we underestimate the significance of the preparation done over the last couple of years towards building that new future.

The �seven principles� spelt out first by Dr Paisley during the 2001 General Election deal with values true, not just for Northern Ireland but for any society. The first five are particularly relevant to any new institutions.

1. Support for a form of devolution which provides democratic, fair and accountable government is at the heart of our beliefs. 2. This must be delivered through a willingness to negotiate with democratic parties but not those who are wedded to violence. 3. Indeed, there must be a settlement which does not permit the representatives of violence to exercise unaccountable executive power. 4. We have made it clear that there can be no place at the Cabinet table whilst terrorist structures and weaponry still exist and 5. any relationship with the Republic of Ireland should be fully accountable to the Assembly.

These principles have been endorsed by the people of Northern Ireland and will be central to the next Assembly election campaign. The principles are broad but they are self-evident and enduring. They represent a coherent, sustainable basis for any negotiations or settlement which is likely to last.

So too do our proposals for dealing with the cost of government in Northern Ireland we published earlier this year. With political bureaucracy spiralling out of control and Rates set to escalate massively we published proposals which were again based on solid foundations.

A more streamlined government created to serve the community, rather than itself, would represent a better way forward.

An Assembly with 72 rather than 108 Members would deliver a service to the public every bit as good as the present Assembly but with savings of millions of pounds. Half the number of Departments could also help save money better diverted to front-line services than spent on administration. Significant savings could be made across the Human Rights and Equality sectors without any real loss to the community and a critical analysis of the value for money on expenditure on the North South bodies is required. Inefficient government serves no one�s political goals but that is what was created under the Belfast Agreement.

These are real problems which need to be deal with and for which we seem to be the only party which has brought forward proposals for the future.

Again we must build on solid foundations. I believe that there are core in any Agreement which is designed to last. These are:

1.The Agreement must be a settlement not a process and

2. its terms must be clear.

3. It must have the support of unionists as well as nationalists and

4. provide stable government.

5.For it to work there must be no side deals with the government and

6. 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.

This week we also launched our latest publication, �Towards a New Agreement� which builds on the preparation we have already completed. Once again it sets out a critical assessment of why the Belfast Agreement has failed to deliver effective government and stable devolution for Northern Ireland. This analysis is not merely carried out to show that we were proved right five years ago but far more importantly to act as a guide for a future agreement. It is rooted in reality and based on experience. The core difficulties we identified should have been obvious to anyone with any knowledge of the workings of the institutions. It is an indictment of the political process in Northern Ireland that others are so wedded to a failed process that they are not willing to talk about what are clearly fatal flaws in the Belfast Agreement.

It is obviously not satisfactory to have the representatives of terrorism sitting at a Cabinet table with no effective or adequate mechanism for removing them. This issue must be addressed by any new agreement. Indeed there any many different ways in which this problem could be solved which are capable of gaining support across the community but simply to pretend that the problem does not exist will serve no useful end.

It is not acceptable that any politicians, never mind those linked to violence can take decisions which are not accountable to the Assembly itself. This is however what has happened over the last few years with Ministers in virtually total control of their Departments irrespective of the wishes of the Executive or the Assembly. Allowing nationalist Ministers to behave in a way unchecked by the Assembly is not only undemocratic it is also a fundamental danger to the Union.

The North South relationship whether in the form of the NSMC or the all-Ireland implementation body has also proved to be unaccountable to the people of Northern Ireland through the Assembly. This is a critical and fundamental weakness which undoubtedly threatens the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. We have always made it clear that any relationship with the Republic of Ireland must be accountable to the people of Northern Ireland.

The devolved institutions, due to the nature of their creation, were also unable to deliver any coherent government which could actually deliver tangible benefits for the people of Northern Ireland. Devolution is only a means to an end and if the end which brings better services cannot be delivered, devolution will lose its justification and support in the community. A new agreement must place the ability to deliver to the public at the top of its agenda.

These are amongst the issues which should be addressed in the negotiations for a new agreement. Progress can be made in Northern Ireland but it must be based on realties about the situation.

Until the other parties and the government face up to the reality that the Belfast Agreement will not provide the way forward progress will be delayed. We shall not however be diverted from the hard work of preparing for negotiations when they come. As others continue to squabble we shall continue to work. It is ironic that the party so long castigated for being negative is the only party that is preparing for the future.