Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
There is “no alternative” to dialogue and agreement, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said.
The Sinn Fein MLA was speaking at in Derry at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the IRA ceasefire.
Mr McGuinness said the absence of dialogue and a commitment to dialogue was the way to overcome disagreements was at the heart of the “growing difficulties” now facing the peace process.
He added: “Rather than making progress on the issues of identity, parading and the past by building on the enormously important work carried out by Richard Haass and Meghan O’Sullivan, the DUP and the UUP have now retreated into a coalition with rejectionist unionism and loyalist paramilitaries.
“Three times in the last six months, the DUP have threatened the political institutions if they do not get their own way.
“But the real threat to the political institutions is stagnation and the absence of progress.
“The real threat is the retreat of political unionism from dialogue, compromise, agreement and reconciliation.
“I have personally tried to understand and reach out to the unionist population not least in my engagements with Queen Elizabeth.
“But reconciliation is not a one-way street. Unionist leaders need to engage in similar initiatives.
“So there is an enormous onus on those who recognise the enormous progress we have made, and continue to make, since the IRA cessation in 1994 to make their voices heard.
“There can be no return to the violence and repression that scarred this society for so long.
Turning his attention to dissident republicans, Mr McGuinness called on them to “stop into politics and away from conflict.”
He added: “I would urge anti-peace process republicans still committed to armed actions to take that same step in 2014 into politics and away from conflict.
“The supporters of the agreement internationally, in particular in the United States of America, need to reassert their interest and influence.
“The two governments need to be champions for progress not, as they have been over the recent past, facilitators of inertia.
“These are the challenges for all of us as we enter a new term in the Assembly but I am convinced that we can find a resolution to all the difficulties facing the political process.
“There is no alternative to dialogue and agreement.”
Mr McGuinness concluded: “This is the only path to a shared and better future on this island.”
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