Neeson calls on parties to `lift veto on progress'

The people of Northern Ireland will not easily forgive any politicians who allow the Belfast Agreement to collapse, the Alliance leader, Mr Sean Neeson, told his party's annual conference in Bangor, Co Down, on Saturday. Too much political capital has been expended to see it fail, he said.

Mr Neeson, who was addressing the Alliance conference for the first time as leader, told about 300 delegates that the political centre must be strengthened in Northern Ireland in order to compete against the "irreconcilable" positions of unionism and nationalism.

It was only through emphasising the primacy of the agreement that the impasse over decommissioning and the formation of an executive could be broken. This would involve political compromise.

"Too many parties are breaking their obligations under the agreement. Sinn Fein and the loyalists seem to think that it is OK for the release of prisoners to have commenced almost straightaway, but for no start on decommissioning to have been made whatsoever," he added.

"The Ulster Unionists have stalled on the establishment of the executive. Virtually everyone, except David Trimble and his immediate followers, recognises this failure to implement the agreement.

"Even the British and Irish governments have opted to be choosy over which prisoners to give early release to. Jack Straw equivocated over the release of the Brighton bombers; the Irish Government seems to think that different rules apply to the murderers of Jerry McCabe than to other IRA prisoners," said Mr Neeson.

Alliance, he said, wanted to see all illegal weaponry decommissioned but the greatest imperative was to work the agreement. "Decommissioning itself is no guarantee that there will be no return to violence on the part of paramilitary groups.

"Decommissioning is only one of several possible confidence-building measures. Unambiguous statements that `the war is over' could help build confidence - as could an end to paramilitary beatings and shootings that are so inappropriately described as `punishment attacks'."

He said the Hillsborough Declaration, which demanded that paramilitaries put some weapons "beyond use", did contain imaginative and novel ideas but that "both Sinn Fein and the backwoodsmen in the Ulster Unionists wasted no time in moving to unpick it.

"Parties should be prepared to move away from their own narrow selfish concerns and act for the greater good of all. It is up to the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein to remove the vetoes that they are imposing on progress.

"David Trimble demonstrated great courage in facing down his `No' men to deliver the Good Friday agreement. But since then he has allowed himself to be hijacked by the `No' people in his party, and is now leading from the rear rather than from the front.

"Let us not forget that it is not just Sinn Fein and the IRA who have helped to paralyse the process through a blanket refusal to decommission. The loyalists have dug their heels in just as deep."

He also criticised the DUP, stating that despite its opposition to the agreement it really wanted it to work. "They are desperate for others to negotiate a deal which they can describe as a sell-out, and then work for their own benefit."

On policing, Mr Neeson said Alliance recognised the enormous sacrifices made by the RUC. "The RUC should form the basis of a new police service. It is neither realistic nor constructive to call for the disbandment of the RUC.

"However, there is a great deal of room for meaningful reforms. Some should take place with the opportunities arising from a reduction in terrorist activity. Others should take place because they are the right thing to do.

"Serious efforts must be made to address the under-representation of Catholics, women and ethnic minorities in the force. More transparent complaints and investigation procedures are also required to generate greater confidence among the wider community.

"The sooner the police ombudsman is appointed, the better. The weaknesses of the Independent Commission for Police Complaints were clearly exposed in the case of the murder of Rosemary Nelson."

Mr Neeson said Alliance, in its 29-year history, always understood the need for a fundamentally political solution for a fundamentally political problem. "Terrorism and use of political violence were only the most extreme manifestation of a much wider problem - the problem of a deeply divided society. A security crackdown by itself would never create a solution."

He said one of the drawbacks of the Belfast Agreement was that it further institutionalised sectarianism in that parties in the Assembly had to designate themselves as "unionist, nationalist or other".

"The agreement, on the whole, seems to reinforce the idea of two communities of unionism and nationalism, each rigidly divided from each other and requiring constant management and control from the top down.

"Unionists and nationalists seek to divide our community into two separate but equal units, which barely interact with each other. But you cannot create a peaceful and stable society based on separation. You can only build peace and stability on sharing."

Alliance wanted a society rigorously supportive of the protection of human rights and the promotion of equality. "Equality is not just an issue between Catholics and Protestants. We must also root out discrimination based on gender, race, disability, or sexual orientation."

He said he has commissioned research to explore how to tackle sectarianism or what in the US is know as hate crimes. "Two images from Holy Week stick in my mind. The first is the DUP-led mob chanting bitter sectarian taunts outside Hillsborough Castle. It is time the DUP decommissioned their rhetoric of bigotry and hate.

"The second is that of republicans throwing stones outside the Waterfront Hall because an Orange exhibition was being held there. Is that what Gerry Adams means by parity of esteem?"

He accused the Orange Order of breaking the law through the continuing Drumcree protests. The poison of Drumcree was permeating through the community. "For the sake of Northern Ireland and its people, it is time for them to get off the hill. It is time for the Orange Order and Garvaghy residents to get round the table and deal face-to-face, eyeball to eyeball, until they sort themselves out."

Mr Neeson said Alliance would be the party of ideas in the Assembly, seriously and imaginatively addressing social and economic issues for the general good. "We are restructuring and modernising our party organisation," he said.