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New
bodies pose threat to the Union
From NEWS LETTER December 23rd, 1999
NIGEL DODDS
NIGEL DODDS is a DUP MLA and Social Development Minister in the Stormont
Executive FOR many people the sight last week of the fleet of black ministerial
Mercedes carrying all 15 Dublin Cabinet Ministers to the new all-Ireland
North/South Ministerial Council in Armagh brought home the extent to which
the Dublin government has increased its role in our affairs under the terms
of the Belfast Agreement.
The purpose of the new North/South Council is to develop consultation, co-operation
and action on an all-Ireland basis. This is the Framework Document proposal
(once denounced by all unionists) for all-Ireland consultative, harmonising
and executive powers simply repackaged in new words. During the Referendum
unionists were told, and are still being told, that the whole elaborate
edifice of institutional structures is only to achieve better co-operation
with the Irish Republic.
The reality is very different. The principle has been conceded that Dublin
has the right not only to be consulted on matters relating to Northern Ireland's
affairs. There is now a duty to try to have common policies in areas of
policy for which the two administrations have powers; and, most importantly,
the North/South Council has executive powers to take decisions at an all-Ireland
and cross-border level. Underlying all this is the creation of six mini
all-Ireland departments known as Implementation Bodies, to put into practice
policies on an all- Ireland basis.
And, of course, all these areas can be developed in due course so that more
and more decisions are being made through the all-Ireland machinery rather
than in the Assembly. There is no doubt that we are seeing what nationalists
have sought for years - namely the embryo of a united Ireland government.
Unionists were also told during the referendum that the North/South institutions
would be fully accountable to the Assembly. But what happened in the Assembly
after the Armagh meeting showed that to be completely untrue. No vote was
allowed on any of the far-reaching decisions arrived at in the North/South
meeting. No approval of the Assembly was needed for the location of the
headquarters of the six all- Ireland Bodies, the appointment of any of their
members, or even the programme of work to be undertaken!
All these decisions and more were taken in the Council without any vote
whatsoever of the Assembly being sought or required. Some accountability!
In fact, membership of the Ministerial Council is so organised that unionists
will always be in a permanent minority - even when dealing with sectoral
issues such as agriculture, health, language issues etc. Assurances are
given that all is well, however, since the agreement of Mr Trimble's unionists
is needed for anything to happen. Hardly the stuff to make unionists sleep
well at night.
Remember the cast-iron guarantees about ''no guns, no government''. Remember
the election pledges so quickly forgotten. And already there are attempts
being made to separate the issue of decommissioning from the working of
the political institutions. Having abandoned so easily what were previously
fixed positions, there seems little reason but to expect more of the same
in future from the Trimble unionists. Already the excuses are being prepared
- ''it's really the fault of the DUP for keeping their election pledges
not to sit in an executive with Sinn Fein''.
Such nonsense simply does not wash because we have heard it all before.
Remember who the UUP tried to blame after they, of their own volition and
free will, agreed to letting IRA terrorists out of jail early and signing
up to the proposals for the Patten Commission? The fact is that it was Mr
Trimble who conceded that there would never be a unionist majority on the
Executive by giving nationalists and republicans half the seats, out of
proportion to their electoral strength. For good measure, he then ensured
the unionists would always be in a permanent minority in the North/South
bodies.
Any consequences therefore are his responsibility and his alone. Attempts
to portray the London meeting of the British-Irish Council as a counter-
balance to the powers given to the all-Ireland bodies have no validity or
credibility. Real power lies in the North/South Council which has real teeth.
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