Earlier I read the following reply:
I met last week with representatives of the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition and the Lower Ormeau Concerned Community to discuss the issue of parades. I also met briefly with members of the Parades Commission when I dropped in to a lunch hosted by Senator Edward Haughey.
At these meetings I took the opportunity to stress the importance of dialogue and accommodation and the Government's view that we could not allow this year's marches to threaten the Agreement that everybody has worked so hard to achieve. Both residents' groups expressed their fears and concerns about the situation. I hope that the message which is being clearly expressed by ordinary people in both communities — that they do not want conflict — will be heeded by all of those directly involved.
I and the Government are very anxious to see a situation brought about in which there can be a balanced, fair and agreed accommodation of the rights of the various groups involved, in the spirit of the commitments given by all the participants to the Good Friday Agreement to the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust and to the protection and vindication of the human rights of all; and drawing on the accepted principles of mutual respect for the identity and ethos of both communities and parity of esteem. The Government, and I personally, will do all we possibly can to encourage an accommodation on this issue, which will be receiving the highest priority in the weeks ahead.
My most recent phone conversation with President Clinton was on Saturday 23 May — as the results of the referendums on the Good Friday Agreement were coming in. I was delighted to be able to convey personally to the President the news of the decisive and overwhelming endorsement given by the people of this island — North and South — to the Agreement and to thank him for his own personal input and the input of his Administration in helping to bring about this very positive chapter in Ireland's history.
I also met last week with Sir Kenneth Bloomfield. I congratulated him on his report and the work he had done in the presentation of the cases of the victims of violence. This is an important part of the healing process and, as the Minister for Justice announced recently, the former Tánaiste Mr John Wilson will carry out a similar exercise for victims of the violence from a southern perspective.
It is not proposed to change the present arrangements with regard to Northern Ireland Affairs. As I said in response to Questions recently, the implementation of the State's commitments arising from the Good Friday Agreement will be closely overseen by the Government, particularly the Ministers most closely concerned, that is myself, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
