SINN FÉIN and the DUP have again clashed publicly over a key policy area.
DUP Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson dismissed a policy paper published by Sinn Féin on community relations and integration. A shared strategy was needed, he said. “The peace walls will not come down whilst Sinn Féin persist with a mistaken belief that a shared future is created by imposing their template, rather than a template based on a broad consensus.”
Republicans quickly hit back, accusing the DUP of opposition to equality and human rights. Other parties have weighed into the argument, accusing the dominant parties of deepening paralysis in the heart of the Stormont institutions.
The Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister, headed jointly by Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, was to have produced a strategy aimed at community Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) last year. This has yet to be agreed.
Duncan Morrow of the Community Relations Council branded this failure as “embarrassing and potentially dangerous”.
Former PSNI chief constable Sir Hugh Orde, in his final interview with The Irish Times before his departure, warned that intolerance had become “embedded” in Northern society and that progress on a policy to tackle this had been “buried” by politicians.
Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd said yesterday that the party’s policy proposals on tackling sectarianism were a genuine attempt to move the debate forward, and accused the DUP of blocking progress.
Addressing Mr Donaldson, Mr O’Dowd asked: “Why does his party oppose measures to tackle sectarianism? Why does he oppose measures to tackle racism? Why are they blocking the CSI strategy? Why do they oppose a Bill of Rights? Why are they opposed to equality measures?”
Sinn Féin and the DUP are divided on key areas including cross-community voting arrangements, the size of the Executive and Assembly, education, devolution of policing, cost-cutting and bureaucracy, the Irish language and the future of the Maze site.
The SDLP said this latest row showed the degree of “disarray” involving Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness.
Assembly member Alex Attwood said: “Insults, the blame game and damage limitation is now the DUP/Sinn Féin strategy of choice. That the latest dispute is about a shared society is a final indictment . . .Our community gave them the opportunity to govern in all our interests, and they have blown it. The shared society fallout tells the tale.”
Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy criticised the DUP and Sinn Féin’s “farcical” attempts to deliver a CSI strategy.
Alliance deputy leader Naomi Long accused the DUP and Sinn Féin of having a segregated approach to tackling community segregation. “This strategy is essential for Northern Ireland to move forward to a shared future,” she said. “This disagreement perfectly illustrates why we need CSI; there is division on our streets and there is division within government here.
“People are sick of the DUP and Sinn Féin failing to deliver. The CSI document has already been delayed, and further delays will hurt our society.”