SF fury at Durkan call to scrap power-sharing
SINN Fein yesterday claimed there was "disbelief and anger" in the republican and nationalist communities over Mark Durkan's suggestion that it may be time for enforced power-sharing government to go and majority rule to return.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams hit out at the SDLP leader’s proposal, claiming it was a sell-out of the principles of the Good Friday Agreement and equality, which were the cornerstones of the peace process.
Sinn Fein vice-president Pat Doherty added: “Regardless of Mark Durkan’s ill-advised abandonment of power-sharing or the haste from the DUP, UUP and Alliance Party to welcome his U-turn, there will be no return to majority unionist rule at Stormont and neither will there be an engineered process to exclude Sinn Fein.”
But the SDLP continued to defend its position.
Deputy leader Alasdair McDonnell claimed Sinn Fein was already undermining the Agreement and the power-sharing mechanism anyway, having suggested selecting a Policing and Justice Minister outside of the agreed d’Hondt process.
And he called the current form of government a DUP-Sinn Fein carve-up which amounted to “majority mis-rule” which was not serving the public, with its emphasis on stagnation and deadlock.
Mr Durkan created a stir at the weekend after suggesting that should a Bill of Rights be enacted and be strong enough to protect the minority, the idea of enforced power-sharing may be discarded.
He noted it had been a device – now a decade old – necessary to create a political way forward but noted that it was not sustainable in the long-term and that its limits were being highlighted by the current problems between the DUP and Sinn Fein.
If Ulster politics is to develop and move away from the sectarian format, he added, the power-sharing operation may have to go.
But republicans were enraged by the idea – even though many others believe the current system is an illusion of democracy, when smaller parties who have lost the election can take seats in power.
Mr Adams said: “What is being proposed by the SDLP leader is the abandonment of the principles of the Good Friday Agreement – the principles of equality and of partnership government, and the protections these provide for citizens.
Many nationalists will be deeply troubled by these ill-considered and irresponsible comments which would effectively accept a return to unionist majority rule.”
Mr Doherty said: “The power-sharing institutions are an integral part of the Good Friday Agreement and for good reason.
“Now Mr Durkan is proposing to dispense with this system of government which, while not perfect, at least provides protection to the republican and nationalist community that majority unionist rule and all the abuses of power that went with it would never again occur.”
But Mr McDonnell said Sinn Fein was “undermining the democratic inclusiveness written into the Good Friday Agreement by attempting to abandon the d’Hondt formula in appointing a Justice Minister”.
He continued: “Through all the summer stand-off, Sinn Fein and the DUP were agreed on one thing: that they would use their joint numbers to exclude the SDLP from office.
“This is majority misrule, just as the old Stormont regime practised it.”
See Morning View, page 18
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
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