Andrews calls for EU support to help consolidate Northern settlement

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr David Andrews, T.D., today briefed EU Foreign Ministers on the Good Friday agreement and said he looked forward to continued EU support for the consolidation of this historic settlement. The EU Foreign Ministers, meeting for the first time since the Good Friday Agreement, congratulated the Irish and British Governments on their achievement and committed the Union to continue playing its part in promoting peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland and the border counties.

Mr Andrews told his EU colleagues that the Agreement was a "radical breakthrough with the potential to make the future very different from the past". He said the Agreement represents "an opportunity for a new beginning - in relationships within Northern Ireland, between North and South on the island and between Britain and Ireland. All of this, of course, is taking place in the context of our shared membership of the EU". He underlined the Government's deepest appreciation of "the crucial role played by the European Union in bringing us to this achievement. The Union's economic support has been vital in underwriting the peace process in real and meaningful terms for communities on the ground, both in Northern Ireland and in the border counties".

He said that "the continued role of the European Union, both politically and financially, will be critical to meeting the challenges which lie ahead in consolidating the settlement, particularly in regard to regional development, the problems of a divided society, and social, economic and cultural development. The Government, together with the British Government, looks forward to working with the Commission, the Parliament and our partners in taking forward that role in practice".

Mr Andrews told the meeting in Luxembourg that the Government had been gratified by "the enormously positive and welcoming response from our friends internationally, particularly within the European Union which underlines the historic and momentous nature of the Agreement". He said that the Agreement had been "the culmination of over two decades of ever-closer partnership between the British and Irish Governments."

He went on to praise the joint role played by the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister, as well as that of Secretary of State, Mo Mowlam, with whom the Minister built up a close partnership during the final intensive months of the negotiations. A meeting of the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday, to be addressed by Minister Andrews and the Secretary of State, will provide a further opportunity for the EU to demonstrate its support for the Agreement.

Referring of next month's referendums, Mr Andrews said he was "very hopeful and confident that the people of Ireland, North and South, will vote overwhelmingly in favour of the Agreement, and that the potential it contains for a better future can be realised to the full".Top