Adams urges clear response to proposals

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams TD has urged the leaders of the North’s main parties not to “fudge” their responses to the Haass proposals on overcoming difficulties in the peace process.

As the parties prepare to discuss the Haass document with their ruling executives, Mr Adams called on the Irish and British governments and all of the parties to the Haass talks “to grasp the opportunity that now exists to resolve outstanding issues”.

Mr Adams was the first of the five party leaders to endorse the New Year’s Eve proposals on parading, the past and flags.

Frequently in the zero sum nature of Northern Ireland politics when a nationalist or unionist party supports a particular issue, opposing parties feel pressurised to adopt a negative position. Whether the Haass document gains political support now largely depends on the response of the DUP and its leader and First Minister Peter Robinson. He has agreed to Dr Richard Haass's proposal to establish a "working group" to try and resolve any outstanding matters.

Election concern
Mr Robinson must also decide if support for the proposal would be damaging to the DUP in the run-up to the May European and local council elections, especially with his hardline opponents led by Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice, opposing the deal.

Mr Adams acknowledged this political reality yesterday. “It is a quite legitimate concern to look to election contests. It is a quite legitimate concern to look at those who may be coming at you from the left or the right,” he said at a west Belfast press conference. “But in the business of peacemaking and peacebuilding the imperative is to keep making progress. A fudge means no progress and that isn’t good for anyone,” he added. “Negotiation is about give and take; it’s about making concessions and accepting that there can be no outright winners. The Haass proposals are a challenge to Sinn Féin and to all of the other parties.”

He said the Sinn Féin ardchomhairle will discuss the proposals on Saturday, January 11th. Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt, who has declined to reveal whether he supports or rejects the Haass paper, is meeting his party executive on Monday to talk about the proposals.

He said yesterday that as the Haass talks were an initiative from Mr Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness it was up to them to “outline how they see this process moving forward”.

“The Haass talks were a critical element of their community relations policy, ‘Together: Building a United Community’. Another failure to create a truly shared future, rather than the current shared out future, cannot be tolerated,” he added.

SDLP MP Mark Durkan, reflecting the positive response of his party, said the political parties should come together as soon as possible “to optimise the promise and potential of large aspects of the paper”.

“Having talked and worked together in all of the discussions that led to the paper, the parties need to get into a working compact to take forward significant areas of agreement and those points where more agreement needs to be developed,” he said yesterday. Alliance Assembly member Chris Lyttle said the parties “must avoid political games and instead show real leadership to make further progress possible”.