Mowlam seeks to build closer ties
From THE HERALD October 15th, 1998
BY Murray Ritchie;Scottish Political Editor
Constitutional change throughout the UK could mean Scotland and Northern
Ireland working more closely together, Dr Mo Mowlam said yesterday on a
visit to South-west Scotland. The Northern Ireland Secretary mentioned policy
areas including transport and environment which could be subjects of bilateral
agreements reached through the new British-Irish Council. She emphasised
the flexibility built into the new constitutional arrangements for Northern
Ireland and Britain which provided for a north-south ministerial council
for Ireland, an inter-governmental conference for London and Dublin and
the new British-Irish Council. ''I hope and would expect Northern Ireland
and Scotland to take advantage of that flexibility,'' Dr Mowlam said in
a speech in Stranraer before travelling to Ayr where she met aspiring Labour
MSPs and went on a town centre walkabout. ''This is not ideology, this is
practical common sense.'' She said today's political changes in Northern
Ireland could not have happened without changes happening elsewhere in the
UK. ''It requires confidence on all sides to move forward. And I am sure
that the confidence among the people of Northern Ireland has been boosted
by the confidence shown by the people of Scotland and of Wales in embracing
change. ''Devolution in Britain provided a new background for agreement
in Northern Ireland to take place. Change is hard but I believe it is made
easier when people see others going through change, too.'' Meanwhile, the
number of paramilitary prisoners released early from Northern Ireland jails
under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement topped 100 yesterday as prison
officers attended talks about redundancies. One hundred jobs will go by
March and 1000 by March 2001 because of the slashing of the paramilitary
prisoner population. |
