UUP to challenge Blair-Ahern statement at Home and Abroad
At the request of the party Leader, Senior Ulster Unionist Dermot Nesbitt is to spearhead a party strategy to confront the recent Blair and Ahern Statement about the way forward for Northern Ireland
Fundamentally, the UUP sees the Prime Ministers’ statement as a breach of their commitments to all residents living in Northern Ireland.
Mr Nesbitt said: “Put simply, the aspect of treating nationalist/republican aspirations for a united Ireland as equal to the unionist position is a crime against international law and without precedent. For example, that the Republican aspiration must be given recognition by way of a “step change” to the North/South dimension is simply unlawful. Yet both Prime Ministers present an image of reason and tolerance, but mask an undiluted support for the Republican agenda; an agenda that is an anathema in a modern democracy.”
He continued: “And this coming from two Prime Ministers who on the international stage champion the ideals of a modern democracy yet deny the same ideals to people in Northern Ireland. It smacks of pure hypocrisy. Yet we seek no more than democratic values and fairness that everyone else in Europe has as of right. Our case is correct, reasonable and justified.
Dermot Nesbitt concluded: “Over the coming months the two governments’ position must be exposed: it cannot go unchallenged. The case will be put at both home and international level, that the rights of United Kingdom citizens are being denied in Northern Ireland. The task is extremely difficult - the governments have the power while citizens’ power is weak. Only by a process of exposure and possible embarrassment is there any chance of success – such is the power of government today. To not succeed will be to deny political stability to Northern Ireland that others throughout the democratic world enjoy.”