The a la carte approach to the Belfast Agreement from some parties inNorthern Ireland must end, SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan claimed tonight. Addressing United States business and community leaders at the Sky Club in NewYork, the former Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister said that withdevolution still in suspension now was the "time to consolidate a pro-Agreementaxis" right across the different parties who claimed to support the accord.
Mr Durkan insisted: "The SDLP have never diverged from our stance that all ofthe Agreement needs to be implemented.
"We have said time and again that the key is 'implementation, implementation,implementation'.
"Clearly the proof that this is the way forward can be seen in terms ofpolicing. Once we were satisfied that we had the necessary commitments onpolicing legislation the SDLP drove the policing agenda forward on the PolicingBoard.
"(The) Patten (Report on police reform) is being implemented on the PolicingBoard.
"By sticking to Patten as the roadmap for the new beginning to policing wehave not just succeeded in delivering Patten's proposals against theexpectations of some and the antipathy of others, we have arrived at Patten pluson key areas, including recruitment and the dismantling of Special Branch."
Mr Durkan said that in the same way his party had insisted Patten must beadhered to as the road map for policing, it was also asking all parties to stickto the Belfast Agreement as the roadmap for the new political order.
"The Agreement is the real way to build trust and overcome doubts anddifferences that have been created by the a la carte, stop-go, yes-no stancessince the Agreement," he said.
"All parties need to hold to the promises of the Agreement and need to beheld to the common standards of the Agreement.
"The Agreement cannot be seen as an optional luxury merely secondary to thepeace process.