Adams surprises with acceptance of need for consent on Irish unity

A debate on Northern Ireland at the World Economic Forum produced an unusually frank acknowledgment from the Sinn Féin leader…

A debate on Northern Ireland at the World Economic Forum produced an unusually frank acknowledgment from the Sinn Féin leader, Mr Gerry Adams, of the need for consent to a united Ireland, and a warning from the US envoy for Northern Ireland, Mr Richard Haass, of the worrying potential for backsliding in the peace process because of recent violence.

In response to a question Mr Adams said: "I don't think we can force on unionism an all-Ireland state that doesn't have their assent or consent and doesn't reflect their sense of being comfortable." He also spoke of the need of unionists to feel "a sense of ownership" in a united Ireland.

The debate was chaired by Senator George Mitchell, and the panel included the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, the Deputy First Minister, Mr Mark Durkan, Mr David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party and Mr John Sweeny, president of the AFL-CIO unions.

Mr Trimble said afterwards that Mr Adams's comment was significant although he thought he had said something similar on another occasion. Mr Ervine said: "It was very good, very clear and definitive". Mr Adams said he had said it before "but maybe not in those words."

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Mr Haass, outlining US policy, said: "We have come a long way, but we are not there yet. What worries me is the potential for backsliding." Recent events had provided a "dark picture" of what could happen.

Progress was needed in four areas: decommissioning, which "must continue to be a process not an event" ; reduction of British military presence; reform of policing, which was at the core of a process to persuade paramilitaries to put arms beyond use; and the working of the institutions so people could see improvement "day by day, week by week, month by month." Mr Haass also stressed that normality would only come when people spoke out to other constituencies and broadly reassured them.

Mr Trimble warned about the perception of the Belfast Agreement as a "battering ram used to hollow out Britishness" and said that there would be serious problems if it was still perceived as such by the time new elections took place in 15 months.

Mr Durkan emphasised the need for the agreement to become a reality on the ground and warned that it could become badly damaged by underachievement of its potential.

In exchanges on the warning by the Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, about Northern Ireland becoming a "cold place" for unionists, Mr Adams said: "Unionism was allowed to run the place for a long time, and the British are now saying this isn't good enough."

It was his conviction that the vast majority of of people including those in the "rejectionist community" enjoyed benefits from the Good Friday agreement.

Mr Ervine spoke of a feeling among working-class loyalists that they were portrayed by the media as epitomising "poor white trash", a feeling reinforced by the "smarmy opinion of nationalist Ireland" about human rights.