Mr John Hume has called on young people in Ireland to rally behind the Belfast Agreement. He told sixth-formers at St Malachy's College in Belfast yesterday the agreement represented "principled compromise but not compromised principles".
Mr Hume urged enfranchised young people to vote Yes, and those who were too young to vote to urge their parents, relations and friends to endorse the agreement. The carrying of the referendum would allow the real potential of the agreement to be unlocked.
"Nobody's identity is diminished by the agreement. Nobody's rights are threatened by the agreement. Nobody's aspirations are thwarted by the agreement. The integrity of nobody's position has been surrendered in this agreement," said Mr Hume.
He said the agreement offered a "new emancipation" where everyone could shape the future. People should vote for their hopes rather than their fears.
Mr Hume said he did not want the coming generation to endure the ordeals his generation had faced. "You will want to make a much better society than the one you grew up in." On Good Friday the conditions for such a success had been created.
He added the agreement allowed both traditions and allegiances to co-exist in mutual respect and, having done that, then "build on our differences". It would create the opportunity for a society which understood what Martin Luther King meant when he said: "I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be."
Mr Hume said: "It is clear that nationalists cannot be what they ought to be until unionists are what they ought to be, and vice versa."
