skip to main content

McDonald says draft agreement was struck with DUP last week

Updated / Friday, 16 Feb 2018 00:09
Mary Lou McDonald said that the latest phase of talks on restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland is 'over'
Mary Lou McDonald said that the latest phase of talks on restoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland is 'over'

Sinn Féin has accused the DUP of whipping up fear and division over the Irish Language Act and collapsing power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

It comes after DUP leader Arlene Foster announced yesterday that efforts to restore power-sharing in Stormont have failed.

The talks collapsed after nearly four weeks of negotiations between the DUP and Sinn Féin on setting up an executive in Northern Ireland, which has been without a government for 13 months.

Speaking at a press conference in Belfast, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou MacDonald, said that her party had struck a draft agreement with the DUP last week, which included an Irish Language Act, an Ulster Scots Act and a Respecting languages of Diversity Act. 

She said that it was up to Ms Foster to explain why the talks were brought to a close.

Sinn Féin wants a stand-alone piece of legislation to protect Irish speakers, but the DUP has long insisted it would only countenance new laws if they also incorporate other cultures, such as Ulster Scots.

"We understood above all else that we had a deal, we understood we had landed on a respectful, workable accommodation," she said.

But the DUP has dismissed the claims as "propaganda", with Ms Foster also rejecting suggestions she was over-ruled when she presented the mooted accord to colleagues, branding the theory as "rubbish".

Ms Foster also denied Sinn Féin’s claims that a free-standing Irish Language Act was part of any draft deal.

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Insisting the act was present in the text, Ms McDonald accused some critics of deliberately misrepresenting its contents to whip up fears among unionists, by claiming Irish would be forced upon people.

"I say shame on you for so deliberately misrepresenting a good measure, an inclusive measure in a way that would cause such levels of concern or even distress among our unionist citizens," she said.

While she declined to publish the full text, Ms McDonald outlined details verbally at Stormont.

She said there was a need to dispel "mistruths and inaccuracies" about what it contained, and that the ill-fated "draft agreement" was struck late last week.

"At that time we advised the DUP leadership that the deal should be closed before those opposed to it could unpick what we had achieved.

"We made it clear that if there was a delay there was every chance that the package would unravel."

Ms McDonald claimed the DUP's attitude shifted on Monday to one of "disengagement" before the party crashed the talks on yesterday when Sinn Féin challenged its negotiators on what was going on.

"It was at that juncture that the DUP faltered," she said.

She also said there was "no meeting of lines" on marriage equality.

She said the draft agreement included a commitment to establish a Stormont committee to look at a bill of rights.

She also said that there will be more talks, but the timing of this is uncertain.

Foster says she has not given up on restoration of power-sharing

Ms Foster said she has not given up on the restoration of power-sharing, but a free-standing Irish Language Act is not something she can countenance, or recommend to her party or the wider unionist community.

Speaking on RTÉ's Six One news, she said: "I didn't feel that it was something I could support, so that's why I didn't make a recommendation at that stage because, to me, the idea that we had a free-standing Irish Language Act was not something the unionist community would support, or, indeed, I would support."

Ms Foster said the unionist position is that it will legislate for the Irish language, but not in a way that will impinge on those who don't engage with the language.

She said her party's influence at Westminster, as welcome as it is, is only short-term and, from a strategic point of view, what unionists need is a devolved administration in Northern Ireland.

She also said it is nonsense to say there are splits within the party. 

A spokeswoman for the British Prime Minister said that Theresa May expressed her disappointment to both Mrs Foster and Ms McDonald that an agreement had not been reached, despite progress in the talks. 

Mrs May insisted that the basis for an agreement to save Stormont still exists.

In separate phone calls to both leaders this evening, she urged both Ms McDonald and Ms Foster to "reflect on the recent phase of talks in order to find the best way forward."

The statement said that Mrs May "reiterated how the government remains absolutely committed to restoring an executive and that it is still her firm belief that restoring devolved government - so that democratically elected politicians can make locally accountable decisions - is in the best interests of everyone in Northern Ireland."

Read: 

The British government faces the prospect of having to step in and take previously devolved decisions in Northern Ireland.

Stormont departments have been without ministers for months and decisions need to be made speedily about the next financial year's public spending budgets.

Proposals for dealing with the Troubles involving extra money for historic investigations and truth-telling processes have also been delayed by the impasse and may fall to Westminster to implement.

More stories on