Events on 4 October 2002

Part of the debate – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 3:00 pm on 8 October 2002.

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Photo of Prof Monica McWilliams Prof Monica McWilliams NIWC 3:00, 8 October 2002

I share Mr Ford’s concerns about the events of Friday, 4 October 2002. Although the Assembly has met to discuss what happened on that date, Members are clearly more concerned about the events that occurred beforehand.

The Women’s Coalition has had serious reservations about the games that people have played with the agreement. Mr Speaker, you said that the debate is so serious that no Member should behave badly in the Chamber, or, indeed, outside it. It is possible that there was wrongdoing by both sides on Friday 4 October 2002, and in the events that took place before that date. That is a good question. The questions that people could ask go far beyond who sanctioned the raid and what was found.

Why do Republicans not move forward on the issue of policing, given that it is such a phenomenally important part of the agreement? Indeed, in the light of the events of last Friday, we might well ask how the support of the whole community can be won for policing. Why have leaks been coming in all directions except to us, the political parties, who generally find so much secrecy and lack of transparency? In fact, to find out whether we will be negotiating important issues of the agreement in the morning, it is better to pick up the newspapers than do what we all should have been doing from the start — talking to each other.

Why are punishment beatings still going on? Why is the antisocial behaviour that triggers them not being tackled in a legal and constructive way? Perhaps the most serious question of all is this: if parties are committed to peace and to the agreement, why have they not been in dialogue day and night, both in and out of crises? Why have they not brought their problems to the table rather than pretend that they are someone else’s responsibility? Every day we hear that it is all John Reid’s fault. Unionists say that he has not done enough. Republicans say that he has not done enough. John Reid says that if he hears that from both Unionists and Republicans he must be doing something right. He is entirely wrong. That is not my analysis of how to sort out a problem.

The Women’s Coalition has continually called for the establishment of an implementation committee during the past three years. The easy part of the agreement was signing it; the hard part is implementing it. Therefore, like any other business project, those who are involved should ask each other what they must do to ensure that it works. That is the part that has failed. Some failed to take the implementation of the process seriously. They failed to come to the table. Now people are saying that it never would have worked. I believe that it never had a chance. If everyone knows what caused the breakdown of trust and the breakdown of the institutions, if they can say that they know what the problem is — [Interruption].