NI Conservatives’ spokesman, Trevor Ringland, believes that the new integration strategy (Together: Building a United Community), unveiled yesterday by the first and deputy first ministers, can only be judged against its effectiveness in delivering a shared future for Northern Ireland.
“Whether the DUP and Sinn Féin can move beyond talking about a united community to actually showing a real commitment to delivering it can only be gauged by results”, Trevor observed. “It would be churlish not to give a qualified welcome to a document which sets out some laudable goals, even if they are quite modest, given the complete lack of progress on the cohesion, sharing and integration strategy over the past two Assembly terms.”
“The first ministers have set a Christmas deadline for an agreement on central issues like flags, parading and a way of dealing with the past. A major test of their bona fides will be whether they can deliver a solution durable enough to settle these matters for the foreseeable future in Northern Ireland.”
“From a pro-Union perspective, Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom has never been more secure. The challenge for pro-Union parties is to appeal to people from right across the community who support the Union and to attract more voters to commonsense politics, with a UK perspective. It’s also important to build good relationships with the Republic of Ireland where we can and work together, regardless of constitutional preferences, where there is an opportunity. We want to see a prosperous, successful, peaceful Northern Ireland and a society at ease with itself and getting shared future right is a critical step along the way.”