Tom Griffin (London, OK): For decades, the moderate nationalist SDLP has been the Northern Ireland party most associated with the principle of power-sharing. So it was a significant development when party leader Mark Durkan told the British-Irish Association on Friday that a strong bill of rights could remove the need for the institutionalised nationalist and unionist blocs put in place by the Good Friday Agreement a decade ago.
'I remember, at the time, saying that the system of designation was necessary because of what we were coming from, but should not be necessary where we were going,' he said. 'As we move towards a fully sealed and settled process we should be preparing to think about how and when to remove some of the ugly scaffolding needed during the construction of the new edifice.'
The end of the designation system would appeal to many frustrated by the current deadlock in the Stormont Executive. However, many nationalists would be deeply concerned at the consequences of abolishing a nationalist veto in the Assembly.
At the time the designation system was negotiated, that veto was effectively wielded by the SDLP itself. It has since been replaced as the dominant party in the nationalist bloc by Sinn Fein, whose Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, strongly criticised Durkan's remarks:
What Mark Durkan is suggesting, is an abandonment of the principles of the Good Friday Agreement and essentially an abandonment of the rights and entitlements of Nationalists and Republicans as secured by that agreement.
This disastrous U-Turn by the SDLP indicates how willing they appear to be to surrender to the DUP and others demands for a return to Unionist majority rule.
There are precedents in nationalist and republican thinking for a Bill or Rights as the primary way to ensure equality at Stormont, but in the present context, Durkan's proposal is likely to been seen primarily in terms of the internal battle within nationalism. It could interpreted as payback for Sinn Fein's decision to support an Alliance Justice Minister rather than an SDLP one.
The debate is well underway over on Slugger, while SDLP blog El Blogador has the whole speech, which includes some interesting thoughts on North-South and East-West relations.
