THERE IS now a serious need to question whether the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) and the position of Northern Secretary held by Owen Paterson should be continued, the Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, said in London last night.
Just as the 1916 Rising marked the end of the British empire, the Belfast Agreement of 1998 marked the end of the British union, Mr McGuinness argued in a lecture at the London School of Economics.
“The role of the British secretary of state continues to diminish, and rightly so, in my view.
“It is time for a serious conversation on whether there is a need for the NIO and the secretary of state job to exist at all,” he said.
“It is my view that the removal of the NIO and the secretary of state position and the transfer of remaining powers would be a massive vote of confidence in our political institutions and the peace process, as well as a massive saving to the exchequer,” he added.
Mr McGuinness urged people in Britain to lobby for a change in British government policy on the union.
He said he wasn’t being provocative or engaging in rhetoric but he believed that similar to the years preceding and following the first World War, “we are now living through a similar period of massive change – obviously not as dramatic as 100 years ago, but significant change nonetheless”.
“In constitutional terms, whereas the Rising marked the beginning of the end of the empire as people knew it, it is my belief that the Good Friday agreement marked the end of the union as we know it,” he said.
He said his belief was strengthened and confirmed not just by what was happening in Ireland, but also by events elsewhere such as the demand for Scottish independence and greater Welsh autonomy. “The constitutional fabric of the British state has been changed and changed forever,” he said.
“I am also absolutely wedded to the political and peace process,” he added. “A united Ireland makes sense. In many ways the political progress in the North over recent years has levelled the political playing field for nationalists and republicans to argue for the first time ever from a position of equality that Irish unity is a political and economic imperative,” he said.
Mr McGuinness said the debate should not be confined to Ireland. “There is a role for people in Britain to become persuaders for Irish unity,” he said.
“Tonight I call on all those in Britain to become voices for an altered union, a union without Ireland, for a united Ireland, at peace with itself and its neighbours, including Britain.”
