Patsy McGlone 19th June 2009

MCGLONE: IRELAND WILL BE UNITED BY PERSUADERS

SDLP Mid-Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said Ireland will be united by those who practise dialogue, persuasion and the building of trust, not by those who have promoted division, distrust and the use of murderous force.

Mr McGlone was speaking at a special weekend event to celebrate the teams of election workers who fought the Euro election in mid-Ulster. He said:

“For more than 80 years many who proclaimed the goal of a united Ireland treated it solely as an aspiration, something to be wished for rather than worked for, to be preached more than practised. Some of those who shouted the loudest did the least to achieve their goal, and worse still, some of them worked actively against any realistic prospect of unity.

“Uniting Ireland means uniting people, not real estate. It should be fairly obvious that you can’t unite people by force, but that is the blind alley the Provisional movement trapped us all in for decades. They pushed aside the persuaders of the civil rights movement and the persuaders of Sunningdale – and for what? Let us be absolutely clear – the Provisional movement has failed. It has not achieved a single one of the objectives for which it sent out young men to kill and to die. Because not one of those young men set out to achieve a seat beside Peter Robinson for Martin McGuinness. They were promised much more, they were promised a united Ireland , but it was all a lie. They were tricked into putting their own goal back by decades.

“Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams went to New York recently to announce a ‘massive effort’ to achieve a united Ireland . But Ireland will not be united in Manhattan . If he wants to make a start, there is no better place than in the constituency which he has represented for 20-odd years.

“Of course, it is hard to see how any member of the Provisional movement could have any credibility as a persuader for unity in the Shankill. In fact, they lack such credibility throughout the island.

“Since it was formed in 1970, the SDLP has preached the simple message that the first step on the road to a united Ireland is an agreed Ireland , which we achieved with the Good Friday Agreement. We have created the conditions in which persuasion for unity becomes possible, is totally separated from any perception of threat or pressure.

“But the job of persuasion has not only got to be done among unionists. Nobody’s feelings can be taken for granted, especially after decades of futile violence and death. We believe that a united Ireland could be a better place, socially, economically, environmentally, culturally and by every other measure of human benefit. That is the case we have to make, and we have to make it to everyone on this island. Manhattan will have to wait.”

ENDS 19/05/09