Sean Neeson, Calls for parties to recommit to Agreement
The Alliance Party leader, Sean Neeson, has attacked David Trimble for allowing himself to be hijacked by elements in the Ulster Unionist Party who are opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. In his address to his party's annual conference in Bangor, he criticised republicans for paralysing the political process because of their attitude to decommissioning.
Sean Neeson has headed the Alliance Party since John Alderdice was appointed as the initial Presiding officer in the Assembly. That move caused some internal rancour in the party, which has always occupied the centre ground. His first address as party leader came at a time when the Taoiseach and British Prime Minister were preparing to find ways to move the political process forward, following a setback over the Hillsborough declaration.
Mr. Neeson said that the Good Friday agreement must be implemented in full. He criticised both Ulster Unionists and Sinn Féin for imposing vetoes. Republicans had helped to paralyse the process by a blanket refusal to decommission IRA weapons and he said that Loyalists had also dug their heels in.
While acknowledging that David Trimble had shown great courage in facing down the Ulster Unionist "No" men a year ago, he believed that the First Minister had since allowed himself to be hijacked by them and was leading from the rear. In his speech, Sean Neeson also dealt with what he called the poison of Drumcree. He appealed to the Orange Order and Garvaghy Road residents to hold face-to-face talks to sort out the parades issue.
The Alliance President opened the conference last night. Dr Philip McGarry said that the Agreement was being undermined by the tendency of some of the parties supporting the deal to cherry-pick elements from it. He rounded on some parties for elevating certain aspects of the Agreement over others and criticised some of the attitudes of both the British and Irish governments over prisoner releases.
