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| Britain |
| Protestant Leader: N. Ireland Deal Flawed |
| 2003-12-02 |
| "Flawed" means they're going to kick it to pieces. It's part of the lefty vernacular... The strongest Protestant party in Northern Ireland told the province’s British governor Monday that ``the flaws’’ of the 1998 peace accord must be corrected in new negotiations. The hard-line Democratic Unionists, who triumphed in last Wednesday’s elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, spent an hour with Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy, who described their talks as ``positive and useful.’’ "They didn’t brandish anything bigger than a 9 mm." Party "You guys are ucky." He said his party impressed on Murphy the need for multiparty negotiations ``to address all the flaws of the old agreement, enable us to reach our objectives and achieve all the goals we have set.’’ "Which include putting those evil Papists back in their place!" Before the meeting, Paisley stressed that his party would not form any kind of administration involving Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army-linked Funny, they think pretty much the same thing about you. Wonder how that happened? Britain, Ireland and the three other major political parties in Northern Ireland insist that the Good Friday agreement of 1998 is an internationally binding treaty that cannot be renegotiated, only ``reviewed.’’ This review is tentatively scheduled to begin next month, and may involve Democratic Unionist negotiators remaining in a separate room from Sinn Fein. Good idea, it’ll keep the homicide rate down. ``It is not going to be an easy few weeks and months ahead of us. It is going to be a big challenge because of what has happened,’’ Murphy said, referring to the election results. Murphy said he wouldn’t convene the 108-seat Assembly until the review concludes. Once formed, it would wield the power to create - or, if lawmakers prefer, prevent - a joint Catholic-Protestant administration for this territory of 1.7 million. The Good Friday accord stipulates that an administration requires majority support from both the British Protestant and Irish Catholic sides of the house. Direct rule might not be so bad. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 Sounds like Palestine with peat bogs... LOL gonna steal that line. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-2 3:20:47 PM |
| #3 Who do you intend to negotiate with if not Sinn Fein? Sounds like Palestine with peat bogs... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2003-12-2 3:09:24 PM |
| #2 Forget about demographic shifts and the destiny of an untenable position in Northern Ireland, it's Blair's fault for dealing with a legitmate political movement. Who do you intend to negotiate with if not Sinn Fein? |
| Posted by: Brian 2003-12-2 10:26:39 AM |
| #1 This is what Blair gets for his blatant patronizing of Sinn Fein (aka IRA). It p**sed off the mainstream protestants and they snub Trimble. On the other hand the Republicans see more acceptance of the IRA/Sinn Fein and drift back from the SDLP to that extreme. This will get more nasty, IMHO, before it gets better - next census - when catholics outnumber protestants. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2003-12-2 10:10:15 AM |