By Raymona Crozier BBC News NI June 28, 2023, 06:39 GMT
Updated 5 hours ago
image source, UK House of Commons/Parliament
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Sir Geoffrey Donaldson has spoken in an inquiry into the effectiveness of power-sharing institutions
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has submitted a document to the UK government with proposals on how to tackle key issues with Marco de Windsor.
Sir Geoffrey Donaldson made the remarks before the Westminster Commission to examine how well the institutions created by the Good Friday Agreement were working.
The DUP leader said he wanted to give the government time to respond and respect the integrity of the process.
But, he added, any results would become “a matter of public record.”
The Windsor Framework has made changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol with the aim of significantly reducing the amount of post-Brexit checks required on goods transported between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
The Westminster Commission hearing was part of a Northern Ireland Commission inquiry.
The investigation will consider changes to make Stormont organizations work better.
It will examine the effectiveness of institutions such as the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Northern Ireland Executive in enabling stable and effective government across society.
Fair, reasonable and balanced
Sir Geoffrey warned that any preparatory work already underway with public officials to explore the components of a government program did not mean a return to power sharing.
“I’m not saying that this means that the restoration of power in the short term is inevitable,” he told the committee, “much depends on how the government responds to the proposals that we have put forward that we believe are fair, reasonable and balanced.”
The party leader said the decision to withdraw from Stormont had been made with “great hesitation”.
Sir Geoffrey added that he felt it was a “proportionate decision” that would buy time for negotiations to take place while Cabinet ministers were in office.
“I was hopeful that during that period we would see meaningful compromise and negotiations leading to solutions regarding the concerns unionists have about the deal,” he said.
Coalition leader Naomi Long, who also testified at the Westminster inquiry, said her party’s ultimate goals were not much different from those set out by Sir Geoffrey.
“We would prefer a normal system of government and opposition in Northern Ireland, where we have a better ability to review and change government,” the committee heard.
“That would be the ultimate goal, but we recognize that we need to do this incrementally in terms of building trust within the community, so the changes we recommend are a step toward that.”
“There is no incentive” for DUP to return
Ms. Long said she did not want to exclude any part of Stormont.
She said: “I don’t want the Democratic Unionist Party to be out of the executive branch, I want the Democratic Unionist Party to be in the executive branch.”
“But I think as long as they can keep everyone out of the executive branch, there’s no incentive for them to leave.
“I think if they think we’re going to go into government without them, they’ll go back to the negotiating table to do their job.”
The commission has already heard evidence from a range of political voices, including former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, former Democratic Unionist Party leader Baroness Foster, and former civil servants David Sterling and Andrew McCormick.
He said he wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK, but politically there had to be something stable.
The committee will hear statements by the leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party, the Social Democrats and the Labor Party on July 5.
2023-06-28 17:22:21
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