Finian McGrath
Question:183 Mr. F. McGrath asked the Taoiseach the position regarding the peace process in the North. [5608/04]
View answerTuesday, 24 February 2004
Questions (93)
Written answers
The review of the Good Friday Agreement is under way and is expected to continue to the Easter period. The review is about the operation of the Agreement. There can be no change in the fundamentals. We are open to considering practical and sensible changes in the workings of the Agreement where the parties consent to such changes.
There are, of course, critical issues to be addressed. In the course of my address at Coleraine University on Thursday, 19 February I emphasised that the essence and core of the Agreement is partnership, that a viable partnership in Northern Ireland can only be constructed on the basis of total equality between the prospective partners. There can be no half-way house between violence and democracy. Equally, there can be no comfortable resting place between exclusion and partnership.
We must therefore, have definitive closure to paramilitarianism and a commitment to exclusively peaceful means. We must also have commitment to the inclusion of all parties whose electoral mandate gives them a right of participation in the political system.