Assembly back principles of Belfast Agreement

The Northern Ireland Assembly has narrowly backed a motion supporting the principles of the Good Friday Agreement.

The motion, which was scheduled for debate by Sinn Féin’s Pat Doherty, was passed by 34 votes to 29.

Following the vote, Pat Doherty said the debate demonstrated that the parties weren’t talking enough to each other.

“The quality and frequency of dialogue needs to be strengthened and deepened. We need real engagement. It’s time for real talk. The anti-agreement unionists are taking us nowhere; it is time that the pro-agreement parties developed a richer understanding of the problems confronting us individually and collectively.

“The establishment of an implementation group was one of the elements of the Weston Park talks. But to date it has met only once. We need to develop this so that we can address the issues of concern and build up confidence. These meetings need to be frequent and regular.

“The Good Friday Agreement created opportunities and challenges and collective responsibilities. But we will only grasp the opportunities and rise to the challenge if we work together.”

The DUP and UUP both failed to back the motion with the UUP abstaining in favour of an amendment, which was dropped after a procedural breach.

Meanwhile, First Minister David Trimble and Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan told a packed chamber earlier on Tuesday they had no intention to raise rates sharply over the next two years.

Both ministers delivered a detailed response to last week’s economic package announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and Prime Minister Tony Blair during a visit to the province.

The package will see Stormont borrowing £125 million directly from the UK Treasury, the transfer of prime real estate to Executive for resale, and a major overhaul of public services.

Speaking on Tuesday Mr Trimble said: “Since last week we have seen and heard ill-informed stories about huge hikes in people’s rates to pay back the borrowing.

“The Executive has made it very clear already that it will not be proposing increases above the pattern of recent years unless and until the present rating system has been reviewed and we have an acceptable local revenue system

“Also, any changes that would arise from the Review of Rating Policy will need to be phased in over a number of years, so that we can avoid any very sudden changes in the bills required of any sector, business or individual.”

The First Minister concluded that without this investment package, the public must be aware that the Executive would have had to increase rates in the longer term “just to make ends meet for basic services.”

(AMcE)