Felix the Cat
11-22-2007, 04:17 PM
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/ireland/politics/article3185297.ece
Politicians from the north were for the first time allowed to take part in the workings of the Oireachtas in Dublin today.
Westminster MPs from Northern Ireland were invited to participate in a new committee set up to help implement the Good Friday Agreement.
While unionists did not accept seats on the committee, nationalists welcomed it as a further step in developing all-Ireland relations.
Northern Ireland representatives on the committee include the SDLP's South Belfast MP Alasdair McDonnell, South Down MP Eddie McGrady, Sinn Fein's Fermanagh/South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew and Pat Doherty, MP for west Tyrone.
Speaking after the inaugural meeting on behalf of the SDLP, Mr McDonnell said he believed the committee would serve as a useful forum in ensuring the 1998 peace pact is fully implemented.
``I am pleased and I think it's very useful.
``If the meetings work and I think they can work as a tool to implement much of the Good Friday Agreement, I think it would be great,'' he said.
``We [SDLP] want to see the agreement taken apart piece-by-piece and fully implemented in the interests of all the people of the island.''
Politicians from the north were for the first time allowed to take part in the workings of the Oireachtas in Dublin today.
Westminster MPs from Northern Ireland were invited to participate in a new committee set up to help implement the Good Friday Agreement.
While unionists did not accept seats on the committee, nationalists welcomed it as a further step in developing all-Ireland relations.
Northern Ireland representatives on the committee include the SDLP's South Belfast MP Alasdair McDonnell, South Down MP Eddie McGrady, Sinn Fein's Fermanagh/South Tyrone MP Michelle Gildernew and Pat Doherty, MP for west Tyrone.
Speaking after the inaugural meeting on behalf of the SDLP, Mr McDonnell said he believed the committee would serve as a useful forum in ensuring the 1998 peace pact is fully implemented.
``I am pleased and I think it's very useful.
``If the meetings work and I think they can work as a tool to implement much of the Good Friday Agreement, I think it would be great,'' he said.
``We [SDLP] want to see the agreement taken apart piece-by-piece and fully implemented in the interests of all the people of the island.''