Northern Ireland Office

It is time for Northern Ireland to complete the transition from a divided past to a shared future, Secretary of State Peter Hain MP has said.

Describing the Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Bill as one of the most significant pieces of legislation to come before Parliament in generations, he told MPs during today’s second reading of the Bill that the time has come for restoring devolution and bring an end to direct rule.

Peter Hain said: “This legislation gives effect to the St Andrews Agreement with its twin pillars, of power-sharing on a fair and equitable basis and support for policing and the rule of law across the whole community. These twin pillars stand or fall together.

“Since the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland has been in transition, from conflict to peace, from instability to stability, from economic stagnation to increasing prosperity, from a divided past into a shared future.

“The time is now right to complete this transition, with the local parties delivering on a stable and lasting political settlement.

“The time has come for action on restoring devolution, on ending the democratic deficit and closing down direct rule. The people of Northern Ireland have waited long enough for locally accountable democratic government.”

The Secretary of State repeated that the Government will live up to the commitments it gave at St Andrews and urged others to do the same.

He said: “I can understand why parties are edging forward with considerable caution. I know that there are issues on which all sides want reassurances and where the Government can give that reassurance, we will.

“Where the parties must give that reassurance to each other, they should but there is nothing that cannot be resolved within the timeframe set out in the St Andrews Agreement – given the will to do it.”

The Secretary of State said that Northern Ireland remained on track for devolution but warned that if the process fails, he will move to dissolve the Assembly.

He said: “The future of devolution for Northern Ireland rests on the twin pillars of the St Andrews Agreement; if either one collapses the whole edifice collapses.

“We must know that the parties want to move forward to March 26 on that basis.

“That is why November 24 is important. When that deadline was set, I said that we needed to know by then that a deal was on and we were on track for a lasting political settlement.

“That is still the case. Without knowing that, there cannot be a Transitional Assembly, an election nor devolution.

“The sequence set out at St Andrews will not be set aside and no-one should think that this is some kind of a virility test to see who blinks first.

“If the Assembly has to be dissolved because we cannot move forward then it will be but I sincerely hope it will not come to that.”