HAILING IRELAND for its “tolerant” nature, former British prime minister John Major said he was confident the Northern Ireland powersharing Executive would continue.
“There may be a political squabble – that’s in the nature of democracy,” he said. But “what I am certain about is that the democratic instinct now is sufficiently rooted for it to survive any difficulties that there may be . . .”
Mr Major was speaking in Cork where he and former taoiseach Albert Reynolds were presented with the freedom of the city by Lord Major Cllr Donal Counihan in recognition of their contribution to the peace process.
The former Conservative leader said: “I come to Ireland quite a lot – and the Ireland I come to today, North and South, is a wholly different Ireland to the Ireland I first came to a couple of decades ago. In both parts of the island, it is infinitely more prosperous, infinitely more tolerant.
“Outside I saw a Union Jack flying alongside the Irish flag. I very much doubt I would have seen that prior to the joint declaration,” he said.
“There may be the odd bump in the road . . . I don’t forecast but that’s all it will be – it will be a short–term political squabble that an increasingly mature democracy will know how to solve.”
Mr Counihan said that both men had shown great “leadership, integrity and common sense” in negotiating the Downing Street Declaration which ultimately paved the way for the establishment of a lasting democratic solution in Northern Ireland.
Both men said they were honoured to accept the freedom of Cork at a ceremony at Cork City Hall attended by almost 300 guests including Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe, Bishop of Cork and Ross Dr John Buckley, and fellow recipient of the honour Michael Flatley.
The ceremony was boycotted by Sinn Féin’s three members of Cork City Council and Socialist Party councillor Mick Barry, while a group of about 20 dissident republicans from Republican Sinn Féin and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement picketed the ceremony.