The US-based Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement is urging politicians to end the stalemate in Northern Ireland and get Stormont back to work.
The Committee issued a statement today, January 16, the day before a planned plenary sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The statement also comes two days before an estimated 170,000 workers in Northern Ireland will mount a strike over pay concerns - as well as the deadline for Northern Ireland's Secretary of State to call fresh Assembly elections if Stormont is still not functioning.
Northern Ireland has been without a functioning government for close to two years as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) continues to refuse to return to power-sharing.
On Tuesday, former Congressman Jim Walsh (NY), speaking on behalf of the Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement, said: "Over the course of the last five years, the Ad Hoc Committee has met with all the political parties and countless officials, always willing to listen and offer what advice we can.
"Northern Ireland now, however, has the opportunity to turn the page by restoring Stormont and we encourage its political leaders to do so this week.
"It’s time to get on with caring for the people of Northern Ireland from cancer patients to school children.
"The backlog of work is immense and incoming ministers need to roll up their sleeves, put in the hours to work out the compromises to pass legislation that gets Northern Ireland moving again.
"Political stability will open the way for new American economic investments and new jobs that will give young people some hope that they have a future in Northern Ireland. The Congress and Irish America stand ready to help. President Biden has demonstrated time and again his ongoing commitment to peace and economic prosperity in Northern Ireland.”
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Congressman Bruce Morrison, (Conn), co-chair of the Ad Hoc Committee, also made clear his concerns: “Fundamental to the Good Friday Agreement is a devolved parliament to be democratically elected and govern domestic affairs in Northern Ireland. Yet Stormont is more a failure than a success. It has been suspended more than it has sat. A government that does not govern at all times is not a government at all.
"The Good Friday Agreement would not have been agreed if defaulting to Westminster in times of disagreement were the plan. Yet that is where we are in the face of the DUP boycott-- and where we were after Sinn Féin's withdrawal five years ago. This cannot continue.
"For the moment, DUP must return to Stormont--or resign their seats and let another party be the second largest. But the immediate end to the boycott is only a first step.
"The Stormont rules must be changed so that a minority of MLAs cannot prevent Stormont from functioning. And if the majority won't sit, fresh elections must be called.
"Otherwise, Stormont is a government in word but not in deed. “
The Ad Hoc Committee to Protect the Good Friday Agreement was formed in response to the Brexit referendum and the fear that a hard border would be imposed across the island. From an initial group of 40 distinguished Americans with a long history of engagement in the peace process, it has doubled in size. The group says it has continued to remain vigilant, working in bipartisan fashion with its colleagues in US Congress. It has also made clear that it stands with all the political parties in Northern Ireland in opposition to legacy legislation passed by Westminster.
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