[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 39 (Thursday, March 2, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3369-S3370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                 THE PEACE PROCESS IN NORTHERN IRELAND

  Mr. PELL. Mr. President, last week, British Prime Minister Major and 
Irish Prime Minister Bruton took an important step toward lasting peace 
in Northern Ireland. The two leaders unveiled a framework document 
designed to serve as the basis for negotiations on Northern Ireland's 
future.
  I believe it is important to note, as both Mr. Major and Mr. Bruton 
have, that the framework document is not a done deal or final 
settlement to be imposed, but a basis for talks among all the parties 
of Northern Ireland. This assurance should go a long way toward putting 
the various parties on the negotiating track.
  Both the British and Irish Governments have signaled their 
willingness to make some difficult compromises in the name of enduring 
peace and reconciliation--compromises that cut to the heart of each 
country's traditional constitutional doctrines and that could cost each 
government political support at home. I believe that Mr. Major and Mr. 
Bruton should be commended for their courage. Similarly, Irish Foreign 
Minister Dick Spring, who was in Washington yesterday, deserves great 
credit for his efforts--in providing continuity and credibility to the 
process.
  For its part, the British Government will propose changes to its 
constitutional legislation to ensure that the will of the majority of 
the people of Northern Ireland is respected in determining Northern 
Ireland's status. Similarly, the Irish Government will introduce and 
support proposals to end its constitutional claim to Northern Ireland. 
The document also proposes to create cross-border institutions, such as 
a North/South body with elected representatives from a Northern Ireland 
Assembly and the Irish Parliament.
  The fate of the process now lies squarely in the hands of the various 
parties in Northern Ireland. I sincerely hope that they will not miss 
this historic opportunity to create a permanent peace. An editorial in 
Monday's Washington Post makes this point rather well, and I ask 
unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the editorial was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Feb. 27, 1995]

                      Agenda for Northern Ireland

       British Prime Minister John Major and his Irish 
     counterpart, John Bruton, took an important first step last 
     week in opening negotiations for the permanent resolution of 
     the Ulster crisis. The leaders released a frame work for 
     talks that offers a set of opening suggestions they hope will 
     lead to permanent reconciliation.
       As usual, the Rev. Ian Paisley and his colleagues were not 
     impressed. Blasting the agreement as a conspiracy to force 
     Ulster Protestants into union with the Irish Republic, the 
     68-year-old hard-liner seeks to block talks before they 
     begin. But other, younger men who might have stood with him 
     in year past were more responsive. One leader of a Protestant 
     paramilitary group rejected the Paisley position and 
     announced that he is tired after 25 years of killing, and 
     ready to talk. That sentiment was echoed by a Protestant 
     member of the Senate of Northern Ireland whose own daughter 
     was killed by an IRA bomb. If that view is widespread, there 
     is reason for hope.
       The framework announced is simply the opening move in what 
     may be a protracted series of negotiations. Devise over 18 
     months of consultations between the British and Irish 
     governments, the document suggests steps that could be taken 
     to heal divisions in the province. The British, for example, 
     want to create a new legislative assembly in Northern 
     Ireland, with voting procedures that will protect the 
     Catholic minority. The Irish government will support changes 
     in that country's constitution that will revoke legal and 
     political claims to the countries in the North. Both 
     governments suggest the 
     [[Page S3370]] creation of a cross-border authority composed 
     of elected legislators from Ulster and the Republic, which 
     would work together on matters of common interest such as 
     tourism, economic development and environmental regulation. 
     ``These are our ideas,'' Mr. Major stressed, ``but the future 
     is up to [the people of Northern Ireland.]''
       That last assurance is critical. No steps will be taken 
     without the consent of the governed. There will be 
     parliamentary debates ahead, counterproposals, compromise and 
     eventually referendums. But there is no rush so long as the 
     cease-fire holds, as it now has for many months. Peace has 
     given a whole generation of combatants an idea of what life 
     should be like. Young people who, until last September never 
     experienced a day free of fear that some indiscriminate 
     killer or hidden bomb would destroy then don't want to see 
     the old days return. Neither do most of their elders who have 
     borne the full brunt of the violence.
     

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