Tragedy
and farce in equal measure.
From THE IRISH NEWS July 16th, 1999
JULY 15, 1999 will go down in history as the date when politicians in Northern
Ireland found themselves part of a surreal parliamentary farce. The Ulster
Unionists refused to go to Parliament Buildings leaving a row of 28 empty
blue-backed seats. They were not present to take up the offer to nominate
three ministers, having refused to sit in an executive with Sinn Fein because
of arguments over decommissioning. The SDLP and Sinn Fein nominated ministers
- but they were only ministers for a short time.
The executive was not viable as it did not secure cross- community support.
It was at this stage that everyone knew that the game was finally up and
the process was heading into cold storage review for the summer. Then before
the assembly was adjourned came the shock - Seamus Mallon resignation as
deputy first minister designate.
Mr Mallon who has put so much effort into trying to make the Good Friday
agreement work was obviously at the end of his tether when he criticised
the Ulster Unionists for using the crisis in the process "to bleed more concessions out of the governments - to bleed this very process dry". Monica
McWilliams of the Women's Coalition summed up the feelings of many in the
pro-agreement camp in paying a warm tribute to Mr Mallon. Mrs McWilliams
said: "I heard Mr Mallon during his speech saying he had tried and tried again - and that this process has been bled dry. There are many occasions Seamus, when many of us must have felt, you too have been bled dry - that white face often met the colour of that white hair. And we tried over and over again to make the process work. You yourself never stopped. I hope in your resignation today that you will not give up."
Mrs McWilliams referred to the Ulster Unionists the previous night only
taking 15 minutes to throw out the Way Forward declaration. "It kind of struck me this was a minute for every month it has taken us to implement the Good Friday agreement." Turning to suggestions by some that the agreement was over, Mrs McWilliams emphasised they had to realise the crisis should not be allowed to bring everything down. They had a mountain to climb.
The DUP's Ian Paisley however was happy in the chamber yesterday when he
declared that "today has been a good day for Northern Ireland - democracy has triumphed". The mood of the anti-agreement parties was one of euphoria
at the painful discomfort being felt by the pro-agreement parties. What
of the future now for the British and Irish governments and the pro-agreement
parties as they prepare for the review process? Next week Prime Minister
Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern are expected to have discussions on
the remit of the review and there will be some consultations over the summer
with the political parties.
Ulster Unionists, for example, are known to be anxious that leaders of the
political parties should meet very soon for discussions. Yet the reality
is that the politicians and governments are dog-tired and the true shape
of where the process is heading will not become clear for some time yet;
and the real work and real decisions may not come until the Autumn, probably
October.
Yesterday was one of the darkest days for the political process and has
dimmed hope in the Good Friday agreement. In the morning even before the
assembly session started the headline in The Times newspaper, London shouted
'Unionists kill Blair's Ulster peace plan.' The Ulster Unionists, in the
eyes of the world, also seemed to have compounded their position by not
turning up for the assembly meeting - although they argued that it was pointless
going as they were not nominating; and also did not believe they should
be part of the DUP's motion seeking a debate to exclude Sinn Féin. |
