SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MLA has said that 20 years on from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, it is high time we returned to the spirit upon which the Agreement was built. Mr Eastwood said:
“20 years on from the Good Friday Agreement, we must remember that we have much to be thankful for, particularly the absence of violence and the significant steps towards the integration to break down the old sectarian divide.
“However, for the SDLP, it is with a heavy heart that we cannot celebrate today as active legislators in a functioning Assembly with a power-sharing Executive, rather as a divided house, with no credible mechanism to bring about positive change in very testing political times.
“Twenty years on, we have moved from power-sharing to power-starving.
“Given the high stakes, we all have a duty to get back to work. That is why the British and Irish Governments must convene the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference to agree and bring forward a package of legislation.
“The SDLP’s progressive Nationalism, has always been one built on equality, inclusivity and fairness.
“Just as we asked Unionism 20 years ago to work with us to build a better future, I want to reassure Unionism that no-one is asking Unionism to set aside its core values and beliefs.
“We are simply asking them to recognise and make space for the core values and beliefs of all communities throughout the North.
“My Irishness does not threaten anyone’s Britishness and anyone’s Britishness does not threaten my Irishness.
“That is because we built an agreement that would embody, encompass and protect the two traditions of this island.
“The Agreement is key to our future here, we cannot make progress alone.
“We must come back together.
“Today I will be requesting to meet with the DUP and UUP leadership – as well as all other parties.
“While London has washed its hands of finding a solution here, the SDLP will not allow a situation where the British Government will have a free hand to impose British Direct Rule.
“We cannot keep retreating from each other, we must grasp power, not squander it,” added the SDLP leader.
