The British and Irish Governments have long shared a common analysis and a common objective: a comprehensive political settlement based on consent. We have also been united in agreement that this objective can only be attained through all-party negotiations addressing comprehensively all the relevant relationships and issues in an interlocking three-stranded process. The necessity for all-party negotiations is also appreciated by all parties in Northern Ireland.
Where they and we have differed has been on how to proceed into such negotiations. Was it possible to ensure that, on the one hand, all parties could enter into such negotiations freely on a basis of equality and without prejudice to their fundamental aspirations and, on the other hand, that all could negotiate in full confidence that there was a basic commitment all round to exclusively peaceful methods and to the democratic process?
This conundrum has dominated discussion between the two Governments, and wider debate, for the past 12 months. It has been a difficult and frustrating period. Disputes over a wide range of complex and interconnected, but ultimately secondary, issues have been permitted to obscure the fundamental point that there is an overwhelming consensus for peace and for agreement between the people who share this island. Debate about questions of substance has been crowded out by debate about questions of procedure.
The appalling prospect that the peace process might run into the sands has loomed before us. In their mass demonstrations last Sunday, the people underlined their determination that this could not be allowed to happen. Even before yesterday's communiqué was written, the wider Irish public had demonstrated that the peace does indeed belong to all the people in this country. The two Governments agreed at the end of November that it was their firm aim to launch all-party negotiations by the end of February. A clear and unalterable timetable leading to negotiations on 10 June has now been put in place. The timescale now envisaged is consistent with the implications of an elective process, the possibility of which was signalled in the November communiqué.
The essential point agreed at the summit is that there is a fixed date on which all-party negotiations will begin. This is a firm and unambiguous commitment and neither Government has sought to enter any qualifications, to hedge or to equivocate. We now see a definite commitment that the two Governments and the Northern parties will sit down together to begin to fashion that lasting settlement which is required to underpin peace and to allow for a new beginning in all three core relationships.
The need for negotiations has been acknowledged on all sides. We want them because, objectively, they are necessary. They would be necessary even if the paramilitary organisations had never existed because there is a political conflict which must be resolved. Nor can the will of the people for negotiations leading to an agreement founded on consent be thwarted by violence. The Taoiseach and the Prime Minister resolved that neither violence, nor the threat of violence, would be allowed to influence the course of negotiations or preparations for negotiations. They also agreed that the IRA's abandonment of its cessation of violence was a fundamental breach of the declared basis on which both Governments engaged Sinn Féin in political dialogue. They reiterated what has already been stated more than once in the House, that the resumption of full political dialogue with Sinn Féin requires the restoration of the ceasefire.
The vast majority of the people of Ireland, North and South, who utterly repudiate the use of violence for any purpose whatsoever, can be assured that there will be no bending of the principle that violence has no place in any political process. Equally, the Governments have emphasised that they are determined to press on in the search for political agreement, irrespective of whether the republican movement makes it possible for Sinn Féin to rejoin that quest. Nevertheless, a fundamental objective of the peace process has always been to offer a meaningful political alternative to violence. Negotiations conducted on a fully inclusive basis, in the absence both of violence and security countermeasures, have always seemed more likely in the long run to produce a stable agreement in which all could acquiesce. The two Governments hope, accordingly, that the negotiations will be fully inclusive, with all parties being able to participate in them. We call on Sinn Féin and the IRA to make Sinn Féin's participation in the process of such negotiations possible.
On 15 February, the president of Sinn Féin said:
The absence of negotiations led to the breakdown. The commencement of negotiations therefore provides the way forward. Any new process must contain copperfastened and unambiguous public assurances that all-party talks will be initiated by both Governments at the earliest possible date.
All-party negotiations will begin on 10 June. While many would have wished for an earlier date, we wanted to be sure that the appointed date was realistic and could be fixed without doubt. This fixed date surely now offers the basic assurances the republican movement sought. Given the intolerable human cost, and the grave political damage caused by the violence to date, how can the IRA explain the continuation, for one more day, of its renewed campaign? It is up to it to decide its own course. I cannot pretend to know how the minds of its leaders work, but I expect that all those with influence upon it will do what they can to point out to it the straightforward and positive implications of agreement on a fixed date and timetable for negotiations.
The Taoiseach and the Prime Minister both recognised that confidence building measures will be necessary in the course of all-party negotiations. Negotiations are a dynamic process, depending on the interplay of personalities and arguments, and not a matter of static calculation. As one such measure, all participants need to make clear at the beginning of negotiations their total and absolute commitment to the principles of democracy and non-violence set out so clearly in the Mitchell report. These principles offer essential guarantees that negotiations will not be affected by violence, or by the threat of violence, and that they will address and, as part of their outcome, achieve, the totally and verifiable decommissioning of all paramilitary weapons.
All parties will also have to address, as a high priority, the report's proposals on decommissioning. Negotiations must, in a nutshell, deal fully and satisfactorily with this issue. However, decommissioning is by no means the only item on the agenda, nor should the commitments we seek be exploited to avoid serious negotiations on the many other questions which need to be addressed. The two Governments have been at pains to stress that confidence is required all round if the negotiations are to gain the momentum necessary for their success. The parties must have reassurance that a meaningful and inclusive process of negotiations is genuinely being offered to address the legitimate concerns of their traditions and the need for new political arrangements with which all can identify.
Negotiations must be for real, and must be undertaken in good faith. Every participant has the right to expect that every other participant will make a genuine effort to understand opposing perspectives and to seek accommodation. A heavy onus will rest on all of us. For all to gain, each must be prepared to change. A flexible and accommodating approach will be essential. For example, I was heartened by the fact that the Ulster Unionist Party's recent paper, "The Democratic Imperative", displayed some understanding of the basis of the Nationalist requirement for meaningful North-South links. I hope all parties, including the Unionists, will feel able, both before and throughout the negotiations, to prove to others their determination to forge a new and all-embracing accord.
The Unionist parties have stressed that for them an elective process is of crucial importance in enabling them to go to the table. Both Governments are of the view that such a process would have to be broadly acceptable and would have to lead immediately and without further preconditions to the convening of all-party negotiations with a comprehensive agenda. As reflected in the communiqué, the details of an elective process are primarily a matter for the Northern Ireland parties, which will be the participants in any such process, and for the British Government, which will have to introduce the necessary legislation and ensure it is speedily processed.
The question of how elections are to be integrated into the launch of negotiations is one in which we have a legitimate interest as one of the participants in those negotiations. The Irish Government is prepared to support any process which satisfies the criteria set out by the international body: it must be broadly acceptable to the Northern parties, have an appropriate mandate and be within the three-stranded structure. It is on this basis that the Government has agreed with the British Government on the approach outlined in the communiqué.
It is no secret that the Northern parties continue to disagree on the form of any elective process and on the precise function of that process. There are significant disagreements even between those who have advocated such a process from the beginning. There is a range of possible options consistent with the requirement that elections lead directly and without preconditions into three-stranded all-party negotiations. There are also numerous other significant details which need to be resolved in advance of the launch of negotiations. These are broadly grouped together under the rubric of "the basis, participation, structure, format and agenda" of such negotiations.
Both Governments have had useful discussions with the parties during the series of preparatory talks which were initiated after last November's summit. Nevertheless, there is still much work to be done. For example, we need to ensure that, irrespective of the form and outcome of any elective process, there will be a way for all the relevant players in the situation, including the loyalist parties which have played so crucial and constructive a role, to be involved in resolving the conflict. There are several other key points and myriad lesser details on which it will be necessary to be clear in advance.
It has seemed to me for some time that the only practical way to hammer out agreement on these issues, given both their complexity and the number of participants involved, would be through some form of concentrated and accelerated dialogue which would allow us all to bounce ideas off one another and to explore common ground. The Prime Minister and the Taoiseach have now agreed that the two Governments will conduct intensive multilateral consultations on these lines with the relevant Northern parties in whatever configuration or configurations are acceptable to those concerned.
These consultations will begin on Monday next, 4 March and preparations at official level are already under way. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and I will meet in Belfast on that day to launch the consultations and to agree on how we will make the best use of the time available to ensure that every effort is made to secure widespread agreement among the parties on elections and the organisation of negotiations and to allow us to come to a view on the question of a referendum. I appeal to all parties to co-operate fully in that process.
These consultations are to be strictly time-limited. They will end on Wednesday, 13 March. They will not be allowed to drag on inconclusively and in so doing to threaten the timetable set out for the launch of negotiations. The existence of a deadline will focus the minds of participants. After 13 March, the two Governments will immediately review their outcome. The British Government will bring forward legislation for an elective process, based on a judgment of what seems most broadly acceptable. Decisions will also be announced as appropriate on the other matters relating to the negotiating process which are to be addressed by the consultations. The two Governments are of the shared view that the parties must be given every opportunity to shape these matters in an agreed fashion, but ultimately we are prepared to make judgments and, where appropriate, to take the necessary decisions on the basis of what we have learned in the consultations.
In essence, we have mapped out a clear path to the negotiating table. This combination of steps offers to all parties a balanced and honourable way forward. It guarantees negotiations, and that they will be conducted on the basis of the principles of democracy and non-violence. There is no reason for any party to refuse to participate in negotiations. Equally, there is no reason for the IRA, through a refusal to restore its ceasefire, to deny Sinn Féin the possibility of full participation in political dialogue and entry into negotiations on a basis of equality.
Negotiations are a necessary means to an essential end. We must not forget what it is that we seek to attain through negotiations. It is important to remind ourselves of the ultimate prize we seek to gain.
Political violence could be eradicated forever through draining the swamp of inherited distrust and incomprehension. Through partnership in agreed institutions Unionists and Nationalists could learn to respect one another and to work together for the common good. Nationalists could feel secure and valued within Northern Ireland: Unionists could feel secure and valued on the island. We could achieve permanent agreement on the rules which would order our relationships through matching and reciprocal guarantees which would transcend disputes over sovereignty. The last ghosts which haunt the relationship between Britain and Ireland would be laid to rest.
It is long past time that we began to work out together how to reach this destination. Now we know when negotiations will begin, and we must prepare ourselves for the task ahead. The Irish Government, working on the foundations and with the commitments of yesterday's communiqué, will approach that task with the utmost urgency and resolve.