Governments must deliver on Agreement - Durkan

The two governments must deliver all the commitments in the Belfast Agreement and the joint declaration, the SDLP said this evening…

The two governments must deliver all the commitments in the Belfast Agreement and the joint declaration, the SDLP said this evening.

After meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan said the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister must publish a detailed plan of action.

"We are disappointed that they have failed to do this following last week's meeting of the British Irish Inter-governmental Conference," he said.

"There is a heavy onus on them to make this up when next they meet in March.

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"The two governments have the authority and the duty to follow through on the undertakings that they have given."

Irish and British ministers are due to jointly chair a review of the Belfast Friday Agreement involving all the northern Ireland Assembly parties.

The Reverend Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party is hoping to secure radical change to the Agreement during the review which starts on February 3rd.

They want changes to the way the devolved government in Northern Ireland is formed, a smaller Assembly and less government departments at Stormont. The cross-community Alliance Party has also published its vision for altering the Agreement.

The SDLP and Sinn Fein are arguing that the review is not a renegotiation of the Agreement and that the two governments should not indulge the DUP notion that the 1998 accord can be redrawn.

Following his meeting in Dublin with Mr Cowan, the SDLP leader said the fact that the review was starting next month did not in any way diminish the responsibility of the British and Irish Governments to press ahead with what they had promised.

"While the commitment of the parties to work together will be a question in the review, there should be no doubt about the determination of this Government to honour the commitments they have made in the Agreement and the joint declaration," Mr Durkan said.

PA