Browse content similar to 11/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The Taoiseach and his deputy come north to join in services of | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
remembrance in Belfast and Enniskillen. We talk live to the | :01:31. | :01:41. | |
:01:41. | :01:41. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2145 seconds | :01:41. | :37:26. | |
Hello and welcome to Sunday Politics in Northern Ireland. | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
On this Remembrance Sunday, leading politicians from the Republic have | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
joined services here to honour the war dead. We talked to the Tanaiste | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
on why he felt he had to lay a wreath in Belfast. | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
And as the SDLP meets for its annual conference, we ask the party | :37:41. | :37:46. | |
leader what he has achieved one year into his job. | :37:46. | :37:56. | |
:37:56. | :37:57. | ||
And casting an eye, Finnouala O'Connor and Jim Flanagan. | :37:57. | :37:59. | |
The Irish deputy prime minister Eamon Gilmore laid a wreath at | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
Belfast City Hall this morning during Remembrance Day service. | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
This is the first time an Irish government has sent a | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
representative to the Remembrance Sunday event in the city. There | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
Taoiseach was in Enniskillen participating in the service of the | :38:13. | :38:18. | |
war memorial there, where an IRA bomb claimed the lives of 11 people | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
twenty-five years ago. Eamon Gilmore is with me now. Welcome to | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
Sunday Politics, by due for joining us. Why did you want to take part | :38:27. | :38:31. | |
in today's act of remembrance in Belfast? To remember all those who | :38:31. | :38:38. | |
died and he suffered in the great for us. Why do not think there is a | :38:38. | :38:42. | |
family or a community are a parish anywhere in Ireland that was not | :38:42. | :38:52. | |
touch by the Great War is that did not have -- by the Great Wars. This | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
is part of our shared history and the Irish government wanted to be | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
part of sharing that remembrance with the people of Belfast and | :39:00. | :39:06. | |
Northern Ireland. That is why I attended in Belfast and a Taoiseach | :39:06. | :39:12. | |
has attended in Enniskillen. It is the first time an Irish government | :39:12. | :39:15. | |
representative has officially attend the Remembrance event in | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
Belfast. We have seen pictures of the Taoiseach lay in the week in | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
Enniskillen. We are seen pictures if you blame you weave in Belfast. | :39:24. | :39:29. | |
The symbolism of both of you being in Northern Ireland will not be | :39:29. | :39:35. | |
lost on anyone. We have a shared history and we are in what we call | :39:35. | :39:43. | |
a decade of commemorations, we will commemorate 1912-1922. As part of | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
that decade of commemorations, it is important we remember together. | :39:47. | :39:53. | |
So much of this was a shared endeavour. Remember at the time of | :39:53. | :39:57. | |
the Great War, there were people from different parts of Ireland who | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
took part in the war, who suffered and died, and it is important that | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
we remember these things together and do so with respect, with | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
integrity and with dignity. We want it to be -- we wanted to be part of | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
that. If it is our shared history and understanding at the moment, | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
obviously that was not always the case. By using there is a palpable | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
change in the way the vast majority of people in the Republic view this | :40:25. | :40:35. | |
:40:35. | :40:36. | ||
issue? Things are moving on. The constituency I represent in Dublin, | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
the first time we did a commemoration for the Leinster, | :40:40. | :40:47. | |
which was sunk just a month before Armistice Day 1918, hundreds of | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
soldiers were returning to the front in it, postal workers were | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
sorting letters, this had not been talked about in our history and it | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
was significant that when we did decide to commemorate its, that | :41:01. | :41:04. | |
there were families from all over Ireland who came forward and said, | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
I had her grandfather on that ship, or someone belonging to me. -- I | :41:09. | :41:12. | |
had a grandfather. There is a strong sense of people throughout | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
the island who want to remember these events and want to remember | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
them with respect. There was real change, per minute change, | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
meaningful change in people's attitudes in the south, you would | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
in fact be leading a national event at remembering the war dead in | :41:31. | :41:35. | |
Dublin rather than coming to Belfast and Enniskillen? There is | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
still some way to go. We have a national day of commemoration every | :41:40. | :41:45. | |
July. We are talking about Remembrance Sunday. The President | :41:45. | :41:50. | |
of Ireland will attend an event in St Patrick's Cathedral, just as his | :41:50. | :41:55. | |
predecessors have done over many years. We have been commemorating | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
these events. What is different today is that we are commemorating | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
these events here in Belfast, in my case, and in Enniskillen in the | :42:04. | :42:11. | |
case of the Taoiseach. There have been events of commemoration and | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
remembrance in Dublin, a national day of commemoration in July and a | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
commemoration by the President on Remembrance Sunday. I understand | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
that and know that has taken place. Do you think an event similar to | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
the event in Belfast or Enniskillen would be something Dublin would | :42:28. | :42:34. | |
welcome in the centre of the city, not associated with a church, that | :42:34. | :42:36. | |
featured the President, Prime Minister, polished up and everyone | :42:36. | :42:44. | |
who wanted to assemble in that way? -- Tanaiste and everyone. It is | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
important to remember everything that took place, this shared | :42:49. | :42:51. | |
experience of families, irrespective of whether they were | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
from Belfast or court. When news came back that somebody was missing | :42:55. | :43:00. | |
or had lost their life, it was the same sadness and sorrow suffered by | :43:00. | :43:05. | |
the family, the widow, the people who were left behind. I think that | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
is a shared experience, but we remember right across the island, | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
and it is appropriate that we do it in different ways, we direct our | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
own way, but that we share in that memory and in that experience. Also | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
it is important that we share in the conviction that it should not | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
happen again. In remembering war, one of the things we should always | :43:25. | :43:30. | |
commit ourselves to doing is making sure it is not repeated and that we | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
work to maintain peace, whether on this island or internationally. | :43:34. | :43:39. | |
we just talk about party politics. The Fianna Fail leader Micheal | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
Martin and launched a scathing attack against Sinn Fein in an | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
interview I did with him on our political programme of Thursday | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
night. He was criticising Sinn Fein for demonstrating against the | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
charging of one of its members in connection with the murder of | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
Robert McCartney. Are you are uncomfortable with her Sinn Fein | :43:56. | :44:00. | |
handled the issue? We have to support the police service of | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
Northern Ireland in what they do in investigating crime, irrespective | :44:03. | :44:10. | |
of what crime it is. The PSNI, its strength is to do that impartially. | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
That is what we have all sought down the years. There cannot be, in | :44:14. | :44:21. | |
my view, any partial investigation of crimes. The PSNI have to | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
investigate crimes and take whatever action they have to take, | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
arrest whoever they have to arrest in connection with crimes. But has | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
to be done without fear or favour and should not be subject to | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
political influence of any kind. I want to bring in our commentators. | :44:37. | :44:42. | |
Jim Flanagan, you were in Enniskillen on the day of the Bomb | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
25 years ago. How do you think people there will feel about the | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
Taoiseach taking part in the act of remembrance this morning? I am | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
delighted he is in Enniskillen today. He will be warmly welcomed | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
by the community down there. I was in Enniskillen that date and I | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
vividly remember the scenes of devastation and the subsequent | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
human heartbreak visited upon the community. That particular incident | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
was a violation against humanity. A group of people were gathering to | :45:12. | :45:20. | |
honour the dead, of all religions and none. Progress, Finnouala? | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
course it is. Up until a couple of years ago, Eamon Gilmore would not | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
have been welcome in Belfast. Attitudes have changed at different | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
paces in different places. Many Unionists were not have welcomed | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
anyone from the Irish government turning up at the City Hall. The | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
fact that he and Enda Kenny have been able to come is not just | :45:39. | :45:46. | |
movement in Dublin, but Ms mature as well. You will be encouraged to | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
hear to perspective political commentators are supporting the | :45:50. | :45:56. | |
move you have taken as a government? -- two respective | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
political commentators. I was also encouraged by the warm reception I | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
got this morning, the great sense of being among people who welcomes | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
me here. Yeah were there with the First Minister and the lord mayor | :46:08. | :46:17. | |
of Belfast, be DUP's Gavin Robinson. -- the DUP's Gavin Robinson. Did | :46:17. | :46:22. | |
you talk to them? Yes, we talk all the time about common interests on | :46:22. | :46:28. | |
the island. I met with Peter Robinson and the Deputy First | :46:28. | :46:34. | |
Minister jester or four weeks ago. -- just over a week ago. I met with | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
Theresa Villiers in Dublin. I was delighted to be in City Hall this | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
morning. Last time I was there it was at her local authority events | :46:42. | :46:48. | |
several years ago. BG get a sense that Peter Robinson and the leader | :46:48. | :46:58. | |
:46:58. | :47:00. | ||
of the DUP in Northern Ireland was glad to see you there? We have a | :47:00. | :47:05. | |
standing invitation from the City Council and I expect attendance by | :47:05. | :47:07. | |
the Irish government will be a normal part of this event from | :47:07. | :47:14. | |
hereon. What message will you take home to Dublin after today's | :47:14. | :47:20. | |
Defence? The message that I will take home is how important this | :47:20. | :47:26. | |
remembrance days to be people who were there, to be -- to those who | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
have a strong sense of the suffering that took place in the | :47:31. | :47:35. | |
war and how important it is that the Irish government be represented | :47:35. | :47:43. | |
at events like this in Northern Ireland. Thank you for coming in. | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
More from our commentators later in the programme. | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
Should be SDLP going to opposition at Stormont? That was one idea | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
raised at the annual conference this weekend. Some activists see it | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
as a logical step forward, arguing it will hold the Executive to | :47:59. | :48:03. | |
account. Others see it is to bigger risk and should only be considered | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
in the long time. In a moment I will be talking to the SDLP leader. | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
Let's hear from our political correspondent. | :48:13. | :48:18. | |
Around the conference., political metaphors are everywhere. Is there | :48:18. | :48:26. | |
a lot about to change and are we witnessing the substance or spend - | :48:26. | :48:31. | |
- spin? Dolores Kelly sparked debate. She wants the party to | :48:31. | :48:36. | |
consider going into opposition at Stormont. I think opposition can | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
work as an accountable mechanism for people to get involved in the | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
real politics and real policies and manifestos of political parties. | :48:45. | :48:51. | |
The SDLP's sole Minister is Alex Attwood. Does he feel it is time to | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
leave the Executive? I can see a system of government in the future | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
that has an opposition. The issue is, is this the time and place to | :49:01. | :49:05. | |
prepare for that? How did the rank and file of view the prospect of | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
opposition? In the long term it must be a viable option, but is | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
what democracy involved. involves. It is something we should | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
be thinking about. Be it is getting to the stage where it is inevitable, | :49:18. | :49:23. | |
we cannot keep going the way we are doing. It is a power-sharing | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
Executive, power-sharing legislator and at the minute, I do not think | :49:27. | :49:34. | |
it is time for an opera Sassoon -- opposition. We need to stay there | :49:34. | :49:41. | |
at the men it. -- at the minute. much attention was on Alasdair | :49:41. | :49:46. | |
McDonnell's keynote address. He claimed that the DUP and Sinn Fein | :49:46. | :49:51. | |
were engaged in phoney disputes. Let me tell them, the time for | :49:51. | :49:57. | |
plain schoolboy politics has long gone. This was a speech that | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
touched on many key SDLP themes such as peace, prosperity and | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
reconciliation. What Alasdair McDonnell did not talk about in | :50:06. | :50:10. | |
detail with the issue of opposition, a subject close to his deputy | :50:10. | :50:19. | |
leader's card. Some comfort -- some observers say opposition could be | :50:19. | :50:22. | |
the way forward. Do the people of Northern Ireland need an | :50:22. | :50:26. | |
opposition? The SDLP have been rewarded by the public one may have | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
been at their boldest and bravest. Just because it doesn't exist | :50:30. | :50:35. | |
doesn't mean we should not vote for it. Alasdair McDonnell says his | :50:35. | :50:41. | |
party's fight back is under way. On the horizon, they made Ulster by- | :50:41. | :50:47. | |
election and a European election. Very soon, the party can decide if | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
the leader is going in the right direction. | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
Alasdair McDonnell joins me now. Your first speech as leader last | :50:57. | :51:00. | |
year was not widely judged as a great success. Did you feel you | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
made up for lost ground yesterday? Yesterday I said what I had to say. | :51:05. | :51:14. | |
I had a lot of ground to cover. I was very happy with the conference. | :51:14. | :51:18. | |
You must have been annoyed about the debate about opposition. You | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
signed off yesterday and recovered the speech. I saw every minute of | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
it. You signed off with a rallying call for delegates to work to get | :51:27. | :51:33. | |
SDLP back to the heart of government again. The night before, | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
you deputy was calling delegates to move into position. I think she | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
said simply that we should considerate and we will. She said, | :51:41. | :51:49. | |
should not we be thinking about whether this is going? We could | :51:49. | :51:57. | |
lose our soul If we stay in the Executive. I think the SDLP's grown | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
-- role is to build a future and to create a prosperity process for a | :52:02. | :52:11. | |
Northern Ireland. That sounds like a mixed message. She used a stay at | :52:11. | :52:16. | |
the heart of government, she says get out of it. Fine, people want to | :52:16. | :52:24. | |
mix it. We are now at the beginning of a process, we will discuss that. | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
From my perspective, the objective is not to put the SDLP into | :52:28. | :52:33. | |
opposition. My objective is to win back seats and put us right back at | :52:33. | :52:41. | |
the heart. The problem is, we have stagnation in Stormont. Without the | :52:41. | :52:45. | |
SDLP driving and coming up with ideas it will not move on. The way | :52:45. | :52:49. | |
you run the people to your standard is by having at Clear clarion call, | :52:49. | :52:55. | |
a clear message. It looks like the leader saying one thing and the | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
deputy leader saying something else. We do not have an army council. We | :53:00. | :53:05. | |
are a democratic party. That is different from an agreed policy, | :53:05. | :53:09. | |
you do not seem to have that. have agreed policies offer a range | :53:09. | :53:14. | |
of things. We have agreed policies over efforts to create prosperity | :53:14. | :53:20. | |
and holding the present Executive to account. If you want people to | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
join new to get the SDLP back above heart of government, why would you | :53:24. | :53:26. | |
tell me you want to start a discussion about going into | :53:26. | :53:31. | |
opposition, which is what you have just said? We will discuss | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
opposition in context because it may be an option. You have to | :53:35. | :53:39. | |
discuss all of the options. There is no place at the moment, no place | :53:39. | :53:42. | |
on the schedule of things at the moment, called opposition. There is | :53:42. | :53:48. | |
no role for an opposition. From my perspective, and others are free to | :53:48. | :53:54. | |
disagree with me or to think of it as a good idea, and ensure it will | :53:54. | :54:00. | |
be discussed, -- I am sure it will be discussed, there is no place | :54:00. | :54:04. | |
called opposition, there is no role at for opposition and we will be to | :54:04. | :54:11. | |
some extent limiting our capacity to influence. We have been working | :54:11. | :54:16. | |
for months with the Irish government around a whole array of | :54:16. | :54:20. | |
things as to how we ensure the next decade is a decade of respect and | :54:20. | :54:25. | |
reconciliation rather than further conflict. That is where we are at | :54:25. | :54:31. | |
our best, with ideas and ambition and bringing people together. | :54:31. | :54:33. | |
said you would lead the regeneration of your party in your | :54:33. | :54:37. | |
first year as leader. You said yesterday in your speech, and I | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
underline bid, the party is stronger than a year ago. Where is | :54:41. | :54:46. | |
the evidence? 12 months on, you are down in the polls and a personal | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
approval rating has slumped to the bottom of the five main party | :54:50. | :54:58. | |
leaders. That is fine. Those were not the same polls from the | :54:58. | :55:04. | |
conference. We had a buoyant confidence -- conference yesterday. | :55:04. | :55:09. | |
That is your delegates. This is from the population generally. | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
have a party that is moving. We had at conference with more active | :55:13. | :55:19. | |
young people. I have brought in 40 new local representatives. There is | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
a buoyancy and urgency and an ambition in the SDLP that has not | :55:23. | :55:28. | |
been there for a while. At the Assembly election you had 14.2%. | :55:28. | :55:38. | |
:55:38. | :55:39. | ||
The latest poll in Northern Ireland you can't -- had 13%. The European | :55:39. | :55:45. | |
elections in 18 months' time, that is my objective. It will count in | :55:45. | :55:52. | |
June, 2014, when we have elections to Europe. I can promise you, our | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
vote will be well up. You think you are moving in the right direction? | :55:56. | :56:00. | |
I am confident. If you had spoken to anyone at a conference he would | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
have known that. Remembering the past has been a | :56:05. | :56:08. | |
dominant theme in a political story as we'd be back at the week in 60 | :56:08. | :56:15. | |
seconds. -- in a political story as we look | :56:15. | :56:18. | |
back at the week. In Cookstown, hundreds attended the | :56:18. | :56:23. | |
funeral of David Platt, murdered by dissident republicans. Every sane | :56:23. | :56:28. | |
person in Milan believes that those who carried out the killing are | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
odious, pain filled deviance and psychopaths who should be locked up | :56:33. | :56:38. | |
for life. 25 years on, the people of | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
Enniskillen remembered those who died when the IRA exploded a bomb | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
at the town's war memorial in 1987. At car parking charges are to be | :56:47. | :56:53. | |
frozen for three years as part of a �2 habits 1,000 economic package | :56:53. | :56:59. | |
announced by the Executive. -- �200,000. | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
One of Northern Ireland's biggest building firms went into | :57:03. | :57:12. | |
administration putting jobs at risk. Give some leadership and tell them | :57:12. | :57:22. | |
:57:22. | :57:24. | ||
were used stand today. -- bird you stand. | :57:24. | :57:29. | |
Finnouala and Jim Flanagan are still with me. Let's talk about the | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
SDLP conference and Alasdair McDonnell. First, the idea of | :57:32. | :57:37. | |
opposition. Is it a red herring? is a red herring. It seems a | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
distraction. It is not what politics are now been Ireland is | :57:40. | :57:44. | |
going to be about for a considerable time. -- in Northern | :57:44. | :57:49. | |
Ireland. These are abnormal arrangements. It is the best we | :57:49. | :57:54. | |
could do, it is an arrangement that brings everybody in. What is more | :57:54. | :58:04. | |
:58:04. | :58:05. | ||
significant is for Alasdair McDonnell is losing motions about | :58:05. | :58:10. | |
internal reorganisation. His biggest strength has always been | :58:10. | :58:14. | |
energy. His ability to energise the party that really struggles to find | :58:15. | :58:22. | |
a role, that is true. Without it, both them and the Ulster Unionist | :58:22. | :58:28. | |
are hoists in Stormont. The best he can do is appeared to voters. 18 | :58:28. | :58:33. | |
months from now will not be about their position in opposition but | :58:33. | :58:43. | |
:58:43. | :58:45. | ||
how loudly they met. The the issue of opposition was introduced by | :58:45. | :58:52. | |
Dolores Kelly. They were not prepared to take his advice? | :58:52. | :59:00. | |
says they are a party in trouble. The SDLP is struggling, having been | :59:00. | :59:05. | |
for a very long time the leader of the nationalist political opinion. | :59:05. | :59:10. | |
It is normal that there are difficult and different opinions. | :59:10. | :59:16. | |
Is the party in trouble? Possibly. I do not know whether to Loris | :59:16. | :59:18. | |
Kelly cleared what she said with him or whether he knew it was | :59:18. | :59:24. | |
coming up. -- Dolores Kelly. Four now, he would rather be inside the | :59:24. | :59:29. | |
tent looking out. He gave a clue that he did not want to lead the | :59:29. | :59:37. | |
SDLP in to opposition. Forever and a date was the phrase he used. That | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
would be his concern, given the rise of Sinn Fein that he could be | :59:40. | :59:45. | |
locking the door for good. What precisely does the need to do? He | :59:45. | :59:49. | |
says he is confident that despite what the polls suggest he is moving | :59:49. | :59:55. | |
in the right direction. This that ring true? It is from a very low | :59:55. | :00:00. | |
position. It is a question of making the best of a bad job. After | :00:00. | :00:05. | |
a rocky start that is what he is doing. It does not matter if there | :00:05. | :00:09. |