COMPROMISE ESSENTIAL
Compromise essential, NIO minister warns
NO peace process can survive if rival sides refuse to compromise, a NIO minister warned yesterday.
Des Browne, who has been spearheading Government efforts to end sectarian violence, told a peace conference in Londonderry there was no alternative to the Good Friday Agreement.
"We have come a long way from days of all-out terrorist campaigns," he said. "If anyone needs a reminder of where we have come from, you only need to look back 30 years ago: in 1972, there was 497 deaths.
"But there is no acceptable level of violence. We must be clear that politics in Northern Ireland under the Agreement is about exclusively peaceful means. But it will not mean peace at any price."
Mr Browne said the building of a peaceful society posed "challenging issues around leadership and compromise" for both British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland's political parties.
By showing leadership and compromise, the Province's politicians, he said, had come far.
Mr Browne said the Omagh bombers had set out to destroy Northern Ireland's future. The loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters gunmen who gunned down Catholic father-of-one Gerard Lawlor in north Belfast last month had tried to do the same, he said.
But he told 200 delegates at the Peace is Tough conference that, while the Agreement was not an end in itself, its intention was to set Northern Ireland on the road to peace, stability and reconciliation.
Ulster Unionist junior minister James Leslie agreed that, despite setbacks, progress had been.
"Hurdles on the path to peace are inevitable and in Northern Ireland we can reflect on a number of issues which have been faced up to and overcome through a collective will to see peace succeed," he said.
NO peace process can survive if rival sides refuse to compromise, a NIO minister warned yesterday.
Des Browne, who has been spearheading Government efforts to end sectarian violence, told a peace conference in Londonderry there was no alternative to the Good Friday Agreement.
"We have come a long way from days of all-out terrorist campaigns," he said. "If anyone needs a reminder of where we have come from, you only need to look back 30 years ago: in 1972, there was 497 deaths.
"But there is no acceptable level of violence. We must be clear that politics in Northern Ireland under the Agreement is about exclusively peaceful means. But it will not mean peace at any price."
Mr Browne said the building of a peaceful society posed "challenging issues around leadership and compromise" for both British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland's political parties.
By showing leadership and compromise, the Province's politicians, he said, had come far.
Mr Browne said the Omagh bombers had set out to destroy Northern Ireland's future. The loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters gunmen who gunned down Catholic father-of-one Gerard Lawlor in north Belfast last month had tried to do the same, he said.
But he told 200 delegates at the Peace is Tough conference that, while the Agreement was not an end in itself, its intention was to set Northern Ireland on the road to peace, stability and reconciliation.
Ulster Unionist junior minister James Leslie agreed that, despite setbacks, progress had been.
"Hurdles on the path to peace are inevitable and in Northern Ireland we can reflect on a number of issues which have been faced up to and overcome through a collective will to see peace succeed," he said.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/440
Published Date: 16-Aug-02
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