The Good Friday Agreement does not mention '˜settled will' of NI's people

It seems to have become the fashion to make up quotations and pretend they came from an international agreement.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Dec 2017, 09:00 BST
Updated 12th Dec 2017, 12:55 BST
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Letters to editor

Graham Gudgin (December 1) wrote: “the Good Friday Agreement boldly stated that the decision to remain within the UK was ‘the settled will of the people of Northern Ireland’.”

A quick internet search reveals the quote does not appear in the Good Friday Agreement.

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It does, however, appear in the Ulster Unionist Manifesto for 1998.

Dr Gudgin was formerly special advisor to David Trimble.

What the Good Friday Agreement actually says is “while a substantial section of the people in Northern Ireland share the legitimate wish of a majority of the people of the island of Ireland for a united Ireland, the present wish of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland, freely exercised and legitimate, is to maintain the Union”.

Is it too much to expect that a University of Cambridge academic would present quotations accurately? The “present wish” and the “settled will” are hardly the same thing.

Criostoir Mac Camlaoich, Drogheda, Co Louth

Related topics:Northern Ireland