Unionists and nationalists should reaffirm their commitment to the principles of the Belfast Agreement in any debate on the constitutional future of Northern Ireland, SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan said today.
Responding to Sinn Féin leader Mr Gerry Adams's argument that unionists should begin discussing with nationalists what type of united Ireland they could live in, the Stormont Deputy First Minister said in New York it would be wrong to think the end of the Union could be negotiated outside the Agreement.
Before leaving for Washington on the second leg of a tour of the US with Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble, Mr Durkan said: "I think what we need to be doing is underscoring the Agreement and I don't think people should be raising serious questions about anything other than how the Agreement should be implemented.
"I think that plays into the agenda of other people, particularly those anti-Agreement people who try to believe something different from the Agreement can be negotiated within Northern Ireland's current constitutional framework.
"I think it is dangerous for people to be suggesting: Let's negotiate something different outside Northern Ireland's current constitutional status when we have the Agreement. That in turn provides a mechanism whereby we can determine whether Northern Ireland is a part of the UK or part of a united Ireland in the future."
Unionists and nationalists who signed the Belfast Agreement agreed that the constitutional position of Northern Ireland could only be change if the majority of its people wanted to do so in a referendum.
PA