While the executive parties squabble over the Haass talks’ proposals, the people of Northern Ireland are “getting on with dealing with many of the issues”, according to NI Conservatives’ co-chair, Trevor Ringland.
“As we witness the parties indulge in acrimonious arguing, following their latest round of ‘hot-house’ talks, it’s worth remembering that many of the key issues are already being dealt with successfully on a daily basis”, Trevor remarked. “Look at parading, for instance. In Londonderry dialogue between the loyal orders and various community groups has significantly lowered tensions around marches, over the past number of years. Many rural Orangemen have been applying their own codes of good practice for decades. Meanwhile the Parades Commission deals with the vast majority of parades successfully, with only a small number of high profile cases causing concern.”
“Flying the Union Flag on designated days, right across Northern Ireland, is the only solution which makes any sense, if the constitutional wish of a majority to remain part of the UK is to be the bedrock of an agreement on flags. Likewise, there is nothing to fear in a debate about a flag for a new Northern Ireland, as exists in other parts of the United Kingdom. It seems that it’s going to take the executive parties some time to arrive at this common-sense position, which the people adopted some time ago, according to opinion polls.”
“Of course there are also the current mechanisms available to help victims find truth and justice for crimes which happened during the Troubles. More needs to be done to address the trauma which these incidents created and to make sure that resources are fairly distributed, where investigations are concerned. The debate which has taken place over Christmas offers some hope that the various parties might be prepared to work with a system that confronts their pasts. Hopefully this can be explored further through the existing mechanisms. But there are certainly countless inspiring examples of victims ‘dealing with the past’ far more effectively than any of our politicians.”
“The people of Northern Ireland are way ahead of the executive parties on all these issues and they deserve better leadership. They are crying out for a new approach to politics which works constructively to build a shared, stable society and focuses on creating jobs and delivering more effective public services.”