The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr David Trimble, has called on the politicians and people of Northern Ireland to join in the "historic and honourable task" of creating a society where unionism and nationalism can live side by side in peace and freedom.In a speech in Belfast to business and community leaders yesterday he outlined his vision for the new Northern Ireland Assembly, for a pluralist version of unionism, for respect between the two traditions and for a new age of economic prosperity."When I was elected leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, in September 1995, my inheritance was the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Framework Documents. We had no accountable democracy in Northern Ireland. We were told that Northern Ireland was a failed political entity and our near neighbours disdainfully claimed that territory."Many doubted unionism's future. But we were determined to succeed. Repeatedly, I told questioners during the talks that, while we couldn't guarantee the outcome, they would not fail for lack of effort on our part. Now it can be seen that we are succeeding and, as a result of the Stormont Agreement, the people of Northern Ireland have this Thursday, for the first time in a generation, the opportunity to take control."They have the chance to bring about change. When the going was tough we didn't run away. Thanks to our determination, Northern Ireland's place within the United Kingdom has been secured and the `consent principle' is universally accepted."Mr Trimble claimed that the process leading to the Belfast Agreement had its origin in papers presented by James (now Lord) Molyneaux and the Rev Ian Paisley to the Secretary of State in the late 1980s, which spoke of an assembly with a partnership administration based on proportionality and a structured relationship with the Republic in return for constitutional recognition and stability.He continued: "The hopes that are contained within, and engendered by, the Agreement are predicated on there being genuine and lasting peace. Hopefully, partly because of the pressure that we have been exerting on paramilitary-related parties to reconstruct themselves, there is some prospect of this happening."Now, many people say that things like decommissioning will never happen. But they should listen. Listen to the LVF, who stated two weeks ago that it was prepared to co-operate in this matter.
Listen to the self-styled commandant of the IRA in the Maze prison when he talks about voluntary decommissioning. Listen to John White, of the UDP, who yesterday said he would recommend to the UDA that they make a start. Well, I commend that."Mr Trimble said that he believed the Union with Britain offered the best future for all the people of the North, whether unionist, nationalist, Protestant, Catholic or otherwise. Unionism was "not based on any sense of elitism or on any particular personal religious belief", but on a sense of Britishness which was inclusive, not exclusive.Turning to the marching season, Mr Trimble said: "We don't need angry scenes on our streets; we don't want to see valuable resources being wasted; we don't want to see police being vilified and attacked; we don't need the damage which violence would do to our international reputation and image. I don't see traditional parades as providing any threat to anyone. But if nationalists feel they have to protest, my appeal to them would be to do it in a peaceful and dignified way."He pledged that the UUP would do what it could to seek a new accommodation which would foster peaceful co-existence and mutual respect. "We ask can we promote what is good and honourable in our shared heritage? Can we show respect for what is particular to other traditions?"Mr Trimble paid tribute to the business community for its "dogged resolve and determination" and for ensuring that there was a commercial and industrial base which could now be expanded.He said Ulster Unionism was ready for the challenge to take a bold and imaginative step forward: "Others may fail to understand, or lack the courage, but if we fail to take this opportunity our children will not be forgiving. To run away again, or to stay only to sabotage the hopes of society, would be utterly irresponsible."I promise you today: we will reach for the prize on offer, and we have good men and women with us who will stay the course. On Thursday, give us the tools, and we will do the job."He wanted the business community to be able to tell the story overseas of how Northern Ireland was being transformed, to "stand proud in any company" and tell the audience that the barricades of fear and distrust had come down.He said that "real politics" would become the order of the day, with decisions about schools, hospitals, agriculture, the environment and employment falling within the bailiwick of the Assembly. "We intend to make the Assembly work. It has the potential to transform Ulster politics. We may be able to move away from the constitutional politics that have done so much to perpetuate communal divisions."He said that the people of the North had a common task and ambition - to construct a civil society which would consign coercion to the scrap-heap of history."It means we share the same sense of place, the same suffering, the same hopes and the same humanity. It is the force which crossed the lines between us on the darkest days, the force which made us mark each other's bereavements, and feel for each other's losses as parents, sisters, husbands, wives and brothers."Until now, civil and state society had existed in separate spheres: "The Agreement ends that division. Now they have the same agenda. There is no party that is wholly outside the political process. We can now get down to the historic and honourable task of this generation: to raise up a Northern Ireland in which pluralist unionism and constitutional nationalism can speak to each other with the civility that is the foundation of freedom."But that obligation to speak to each other is subject to a condition: that those who are speaking should be able to do so in freedom - freedom from the actual or threatened use of force, freedom from the actual or threatened use of baseball bats, Armalites or bombs."The movement from tactical use of armed struggle to the threatened use of armed struggle is no movement. As leader of this party, I am prepared to speak to any group that has the good of Northern Ireland at heart. But neither I nor my colleagues are prepared to speak under the threat of coercion. We must be allowed to speak in freedom. But, once we speak in freedom, once we are agreed that our only weapons are words, then there is nothing that cannot be said."In conclusion, Mr Trimble quoted lines from "our great poet and freeman of this city", John Hewitt:And all must need,in tolerance combined,A steady purpose to achieve,extend employment, bodilynurture, peace of mind,When each may grasp hisneighbour's hand as friend.