27/04/2017 The View


27/04/2017

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Political pacts - for some parties, they come at too high a price.

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For others, there could still be capital to made out of doing a deal.

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Tonight - can a pact ever work positively?

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We'll hear from the SDLP, the party that wanted one,

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and the Alliance Party, which says pacts are

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The UUP and the DUP have had pacts in the past, of course -

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but will they be able to agree one this time in a constituency

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Unionists have been attempting the pack game for years but they

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continue to play. -- the pact game. And miss.

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Plus - deepening divisions on dealing with the past.

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As a Westminister committee recommends that soliders who served

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here during the Troubles should be protected from future

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prosecutions, we'll hear from the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson

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And with their thoughts on that and more, Fionnuala O Connor

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and Alex Kane are back in Commentators' Corner.

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No sooner had Theresa May taken everyone by surprise

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on Easter Tuesday with her announcement of a general election,

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than talk of political pacts here took off.

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On one side are the DUP and the Ulster Unionists who've met

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once, but so far there's been no word of a deal.

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On the other side, the proposed pro-Remain alliance -

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though that looks like it could be dead in the water already.

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Gareth Gordon took himself off to South Belfast,

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a constituency where both pacts are - or certainly

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It is hep, happening and the fate in places and very diverse but when it

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came to elections, once South Belfast moved in one direction. The

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official Unionist is the man to beat. He is altogether more

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conventional in both religion and politics. His party decided that

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they kindly are changing. A car accident no longer tells the story

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of this constituency. He wasn't kidding. When Martin Smith stood

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down 12 years ago, Alistair MacDonald broke the mould for

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nationalism and he has held on a lot more comfortably than Unionists

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would like ever since. And that is at least partly because they keep

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getting in each other's way, something these boulders in south

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Belfast know all about. Unionists have been trying to perfect the game

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of pacts in south Belfast for years, but they continue to play and miss.

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In the CRA, it sounds quite simple. I agree on strong candidate, give

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them a clear run and they will knock the former SDLP leader out of the

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way and reclaim the seat for unionism, but they haven't so far

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been able to agree with that candidates should be or what party

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they should belong to, and things looked less than promising this time

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as well. Whether there is room for anything else, certainly we at the

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moment are looking for candidates in relation to South Belfast and that

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is a position at this point in time, and I think I can give you an

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exclusive, it will not be me. At this exchange the man who stood for

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the Ulster Unionist Party this time encounters a voter who believed a

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unionist pact existed. This time Robbie McEwen will watch on from his

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new home in Singapore. I am more likely to be contesting their

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selection than Jonathan Bell of the two a contested at last time and I

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am not going to be contesting, so neither party has an obvious

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candidate in terms of someone in the constituency who would expect to do

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well and has a chance of unseating an incumbent which is always a

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challenge in Westminster elections, so there will be some thought that

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goes into it. One thought that crossed my mind is somebody like

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Danny Kennedy. I think he has that broader appeal and if you have an

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Ulster Unionist Party did it where you have the DUP stand aside, it has

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to be someone who can get that thought out as well. The bowlers are

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not fans of pacts. It is divisive, as under them, a unionist group

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joining with another or our national prescription joining with another.

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It'll be polarising, more than it has been, because there's so aggro

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between the parties, it is better. It is in this country. At times they

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have been used to make sure that someone from the other party, where

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the Unionists join together to make sure she didn't get back in, and I

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don't think it is a very good idea. Alistair MacDonald says he doesn't

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fear a unionist pact even if one happens. The SDLP has been the

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dominant party in this constituency and I have 13-mac Times and the

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people said it was impossible in 2005 and even in 2010 and then said

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it couldn't happen a time and then it happened three times. Are you

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going to win fourth time? Yes. You were selected very early and you had

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your posters up before almost anyone else, was back in case the party

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changed its mind? It certainly wasn't. I am happy to get on the go

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and I work with a small but formidable team of people and we

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wrote round the door is and I am out with them talking to them and I am

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driven by the people or around me. The constituency was often talked

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about for an anti-Brexit Alliance party candidate although the Green

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party eventually objected to Mr McDonnell. The Green Party were

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never going to be a serious player in any of the politics year. They

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have a couple of rules but they are not going to be a big player. I have

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been personally insulted and personally attacked over 40 years

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and I will not take that seriously. Meanwhile, he and we await to see

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what South Belfast does next. This once predictable constituency is now

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anything but. The political temperature in South

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Belfast and with me now, are the Alliance leader, Naomi Long, and the

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SDLP's Nichola Mallon.. You have been confirmed tonight is your

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party's candidate in east Belfast. Are you believed an agreed unionist

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candidate looks unlikely at this stage? From my perspective, it was

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always about running a positive campaign, that is what we did in

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2010 when we won and in 2015 when we narrowly lost and that is what we

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will be doing this time, because I believe we should be giving people

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something to vote for, not trying to get them to vote against something

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and that is fundamental to the way we change politics. You are not a

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fan of pacts because they work against your party in places like

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East Belfast? I think they deny the voters choice and this is the one

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opportunity to decide who is going to represent them for the next five

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years, and if we set behind closed doors and decide which party and

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which candidate will run then we are already taking the choice away from

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voters and the voters don't like it. I don't think it is the way we

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should do politics and we should put up and are of candidates and trust

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the voters because what you will find as they will make their own

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decisions and a lot of the time votes will shift to other parties

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during a first past the post election because they make a

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judgment as to who is most likely to win and they will back the candidate

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on the basis that is who they would prefer, and I think that is by now

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what politics is about, when you give people the option to vote for a

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positive message. Your party leader has criticised the Alliance Party

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for a statement it released about pacts yesterday. Why is the SDLP so

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sensitive on the subject?. I wouldn't see the SDLP is sensitive.

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We have to be mindful why Theresa May has called this election. It is

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to reinforce her hand for a hard Brexit and to decimate any

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opposition. The SDLP said was open to discussions around a broad-based

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Remain coalition and we reached out across political parties and said we

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were up around a agreed Remain candidates, and we were doing that

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because we believe it is in the best interests of people in Northern

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Ireland who voted in a majority to remain. And they want to protect

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them. You believe Alliance was too quick to level the charge of

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sectarianism. Why? To be honest, we found that accusation deeply

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offensive. It is possible to be a nationalist and anti-Brexit and

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anti-sectarian and we were not interested in sectarian pacts, but

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what were interested in was a broad-based coalition and Alliance

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dismissed that quickly out of hand. We engaged in a conversation with

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the Green Party and they had a now and we had any situation where we

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are still open to conversations around agreed candidates and if that

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doesn't work we will be standing. Why did that happen given that

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explanation? It wasn't just Alliance. Margaret Ritchie described

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the pact in sectarian when put forward by Sinn Fein. This was a

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couple of weeks ago, when Margaret Ritchie spoke she said the SDLP

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don't do pacts, so it is not just the Alliance party, at the time the

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SDLP thought they didn't either but what happened in this case and since

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2010 as Sinn Fein have held at the opportunity for some kind of pact,

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particularly around South Belfast, and they did this in 2010 and then

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refresh the idea around 2015 and then called for a Progressive

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Alliance, the term they used, and this time it has become an

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anti-Brexit pact, but at the core of it it is about two Nationalist

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parties coming together, neither of which bulked up the idea that a

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unionist pact was sectarian yet seemed outraged that anyone suggest

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the two nationalist parties doing the same thing. It is not

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nationalism that is sectarian because I think this is being taken

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out of context. Just because you a nationalist doesn't mean you are

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sectarian, or a unionist sectarian, but if you're going to ally that

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politics around that in question when it is not what is on the ballot

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paper, then that becomes sectarian in the context of Northern Ireland.

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You say that but the statement issued in your party's name said,

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the Green Party is now tainted from chasing a nationalist pact and

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pushing several constituencies into a sectarian headcount. Absolutely.

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You stand over that? I do stand over that and I didn't issue the

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statement sort is not the worst I would have used, but it is accurate

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in its content and if you listen to the euro package, the public would

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have seen it as a sectarian pact, and they would have seen, take South

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Belfast. At the start of the package we spoke about it being a united and

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diverse constituency and spoke about that dynamic, and what we would end

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up with as big unionist versus big nationalist and a stand-off in a

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constituency that should be inclusive.

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Does that satisfy you? No, it was an Alliance Party statement and we

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found it very aggressive. Does it help that she say she would not

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necessarily use of language? Yes, I welcome that. The party put out that

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statement and used that line which. The SDLP was clear that we would not

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enter sectarian pacts. We have been clear that pan nationalism is not an

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ideal of the SDLP. We think that it does nationalism greater harm,

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because it backs Unionism into a corner. Colum Eastwood was very

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clear from the start. Unfortunately, people didn't listen to what he was

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saying, they took an interpretation and run with it. I don't know how

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many times they have to make it clear. This was about a broad-based

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Remain coalition involving parties across the political divide and

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right across the community. The one sitting Unionist MP who happens to

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be in favour of Remain was not even approached about a pact. Sylvia

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Harman, the obvious go to unionist, was not approached. The DUP and

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Ulster Unionists already in talks about the pact. Do you really think

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that Alliance would have been wise to become a figleaf for what was

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essentially going to be a nationalist pact? There is no sense

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in that. What I think would have been helpful is for people to have

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the space and willingness to have a conversation around it. I can tell

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you that Colum Eastwood was genuine and what he was offering. It was not

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a figleaf, not a sham, not dressed about anything than what it actually

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is. That is a coalition to protect the democratically expressed wishes

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of the people of Northern Ireland, which is to remain within the EU.

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Which has nothing to do with holding three SDLP seats. He was clear that

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if he did not have a quick conversation with Sylvia Harman,

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that is an issue. But he was clear from the beginning that he wanted to

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have a conversation with nationalism, Unionism and anybody

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that wanted to have strong Remain voices. I don't want to labour the

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point, but you said yourself, you volunteered that he would not have

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used that line which in that statement. Was that statement a

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mistake, and should you be apologising for the tone that

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contributed to the wider debate? I don't think so. If you look at the

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statement in the context of what we said, firstly through the

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discussion, it is not my words because I did and speak them.

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Everybody has their own form of language and speech. There is an

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implied criticism? There is no implied criticism, I am saying very

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clearly it is not necessarily the way I would have said it. I don't

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resile from the content. Let's be clear, nobody balked at the notion

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when Unionism joined forces in the last election, of calling it out as

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a sectarian pact. Some of the parties went as far as to say it was

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not a Catholic about the place. If you are willing to bandy that kind

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of language around about the Unionist you can't say on the other

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side, it is OK when we do it. If it walks and quacks like a duck, it is

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a duck. That is how the public will make their judgment. When people

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bring forward proposals, we should have the space and be willing to

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listen. Just because other parties have engaged in sectarian pacts

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within unionism, does not mean anybody that wants to have a

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discussion around the coalition is necessarily advocating a sectarian

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pact. I think that was the issue. If you wanted to have a genuine open

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conversation, unfortunately other parties were not willing to do that.

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The Greens had a conversation, Sinn Fein was willing to have a

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conversation. It was not out of hand, it was out of principle. I do

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not believe it is right to have pacts. I believe it is up to the

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electorate to choose who votes for what. Are the Liberal Democrats,

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your sister party, wrong, standing aside, against the Greens? Is that

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wrong? I am not leading the Liberal Democrats. It is your sister party?

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If I were, they would not stand aside. If you had been leading the

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Alliance Party 2001, would Stephen Farry have stood aside? I voted

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against that of the time. It happened? Of course, at that time I

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was relatively low down on the party. Could you say there is a

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degree of hypocrisy? I understand why people pointed out, but there

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was no pact, no reciprocation for Alliance, nor did we see Kenny. It

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was not just something aside for Sylvia Harman, we stood aside for

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those that work for the Good Friday agreement. It was not just Sylvia

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Hermon. We were advocating something similar, to protect the interests of

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the people that voted for Remain. We learn from our mistakes. Are you

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going to be the SDLP candidate in north Belfast? We have said we are

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open to trying to find agreed candidates. If it doesn't transpire,

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the party will be standing in North Belfast. We have heard that Sinn

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Fein has selected Mairtin O Muilleoir. What do you make of that?

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A bit of a slap in the face to your party leader, who wanted closer

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cooperation? We expressed disappointment that people were not

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willing to take the offer. Alasdair McDonnell is a veteran. One thing

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about him is that he can fight and win elections. We look forward to

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him winning this election. The most bizarre thing about this is, despite

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the fact you think it is important that people at Westminster in order

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to do the job, you're still open to a coalition and a packed with a

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party that is not going to turn up. Sinn Fein have been clear. It is a

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fundamental issue. If we are going to have any impact on Brexit, the

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least we can do is turn up and do the job. That is why we have

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proposed a green candidates that we will take their seats. And Sinn Fein

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said no. We have covered a lot of ground. Thank you both for joining

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us. There's been a new call from MPs

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this week for a Statute of Limitations for soldiers charged

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with Troubles-related crimes. It wasn't the only recommendation

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from the Defence Committee at Westminster, which also called

:18:55.:18:57.

for a truth recovery process. But it was the suggestion that

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former soldiers and police officers should be shielded from prosecution

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that grabbed the headlines. Surely the answer has to be a

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statute of limitations, preventing the prosecution of veterans? If you

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introduce that, it is only directed at state actors, it looks like state

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impunity, in effect. The committee are satisfied the Government has

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options and a statute of limitations would be the most preferred.

:19:56.:19:58.

Everybody has to be equal under the law, there can be no immunity for

:19:59.:20:00.

people that killed Irish citizens. Jeffrey Donaldson, should anyone be

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above the law? In each of these cases, there has previously been an

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investigation. Indeed, in some cases, up to two or three

:20:18.:20:21.

investigations of these killings. On each occasion, decisions were taken

:20:22.:20:27.

not to prosecute. How much longer, for how much longer are we going to

:20:28.:20:32.

see retired soldiers and police officers, some of them now in their

:20:33.:20:35.

70s, being subjected to what effectively is a witchhunt against

:20:36.:20:41.

them? In a way that nobody else in Northern Ireland is? We have a

:20:42.:20:46.

legacy investigation Branch with the PSNI, and the majority of its

:20:47.:20:50.

resources today are devoted to investigating what soldiers and

:20:51.:20:54.

police did, rather than the fact that over 90% of the killings in the

:20:55.:20:58.

troubles in Northern Ireland were committed by paramilitary terrorist

:20:59.:21:03.

organisations. Soldiers and supporters see this as their way of

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achieving equality under the law. As they see it, terrorists were

:21:11.:21:13.

released under the Good Friday agreement, that is unfair, as far as

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they are concerned, this proposal redresses the balance? The fact is,

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what this is about is trying to get immunity for people killing Irish

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citizens. Whether they wear a uniform or not, which is why I said

:21:25.:21:27.

there should be equality under the law and no immunity for anybody. If

:21:28.:21:31.

you believe in the law, surely that is the way you approach it. Jeffrey

:21:32.:21:36.

has been involved in these negotiations, and I remember he was

:21:37.:21:39.

the one that argued most that they needed to be an investigative

:21:40.:21:49.

process. We now have the HIU. You get the agreement around legacy

:21:50.:21:52.

structures and we continue the breakthrough of these talks, and the

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DUP and I are saying we should move off into something. Or we can have

:21:57.:22:02.

the HIU, but it doesn't matter in the end, it is discriminatory, they

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want certain people away. Today on the news we had the case of Mr

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Watts, killed in 1971. Let me make this point, it took them 46 years

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just to get the acknowledgement, just to get the acknowledgement to

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say that person was innocent. There are people that have been waiting

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for the same period of time for justice, for acknowledgement, even,

:22:29.:22:32.

and they are not given up. It is discriminatory. You know that

:22:33.:22:36.

critics will say they are very keen on balance and very keen on

:22:37.:22:38.

fairness. But you want to have your cake and eat it, frankly, you want

:22:39.:22:42.

to see soldiers prosecuted but you are happy that on the runs should

:22:43.:22:48.

have letters of comfort and not come before the court? You mention that,

:22:49.:22:57.

in fact, talking about the PSNI doing is investigations, one of them

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that has been done is into over 200 so called on the runs. That is a

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complete falsehood. If you want to deal with balance, let's deal with

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balance. There have been 23,000 Republicans that have gone through

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the processes of court and jail. On the other hand, we had three four,

:23:15.:23:19.

possibly five, British soldiers convicted of murder. All of them

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were released with a short period of time, some within two years and all

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of them went back into the British Army. A number of them, at least two

:23:29.:23:36.

of them, were promoted through their old regiment. What is your

:23:37.:23:39.

counterargument? Very easy, these were people acting within the law.

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They were there to protect the law. They were convicted of murder! This

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is what happens when you are in a conflict and have soldiers in

:23:50.:23:52.

uniform, police officers, whose job is to protect the public. When the

:23:53.:23:56.

IRA opened fire on them, what are they expected to do? Use water

:23:57.:24:04.

pistols!? Individuals in a uniform, convicted for breaking the law? Yes,

:24:05.:24:07.

but many of the killings... Let's talk about these four 5ive cases...

:24:08.:24:14.

You might want to concentrate on four five of 8000 killings, because

:24:15.:24:22.

we need to concentrate. Samuel Donelson was murdered by the

:24:23.:24:24.

Provisional IRA on the 12th of August 1970, with his colleague, Roy

:24:25.:24:31.

Miller. That is a long time ago. Nobody has ever been brought to

:24:32.:24:35.

justice. Now, are his family not entitled to the truth? You talk

:24:36.:24:42.

about the length of time... Hang on a second... Who is arguing against

:24:43.:24:46.

that? All I have said is that people need to be equal under the law, and

:24:47.:24:50.

treated as equal under the law. Jeffrey is putting out examples of

:24:51.:24:54.

this. What he has said, essentially, is that anybody that way British

:24:55.:24:57.

uniform should not be touched, no matter what they did. That is

:24:58.:25:02.

exactly what you're saying, it is discrimination. I am saying weather

:25:03.:25:09.

has been an Article 2 investigation in the past and a decision not to

:25:10.:25:13.

prosecute, let's take the shootings by the SAS, and went all the way to

:25:14.:25:22.

the European Court of Human Rights. I know you don't want to hear this.

:25:23.:25:30.

I am going to have my say as well. I am going to have my say as well. It

:25:31.:25:35.

went all the weight of the European Court of Human Rights, who ruled it

:25:36.:25:39.

was lawful killing. That is the case in the vast majority of shootings

:25:40.:25:42.

that involved the police and the army. They were lawful killings.

:25:43.:25:45.

Jerry talks about people being above the law. Many of his colleagues are

:25:46.:25:50.

the recipients of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. They were

:25:51.:25:56.

allowed to go free. That is above the law? Jerry was the postman that

:25:57.:26:01.

went around handing out the on the run letters to comrades, telling

:26:02.:26:05.

them they could return home and not face prosecution. I want to ask you

:26:06.:26:10.

specifically, the point that Gerry Kelly made a moment ago. He went on

:26:11.:26:14.

to make another point, on a tangent, with respect. He said 25,000

:26:15.:26:18.

Republicans have been through the prison system during the troubles,

:26:19.:26:22.

only five members of the security forces, the British Army, have

:26:23.:26:25.

actually served time, for varying periods of time, for crimes they

:26:26.:26:31.

committed when a uniform. There is a huge disparity. How do you account

:26:32.:26:36.

for that? Easily. The Provisional IRA were an illegal organisation.

:26:37.:26:39.

Loyalist paramilitaries were illegal organisations. Every time they

:26:40.:26:43.

acted, they were acting outside the law. The British Army, the Royal

:26:44.:26:48.

Ulster Constabulary, they are lawful organisations. On each occasion,

:26:49.:26:52.

when I acted, they were acting within the law, except on a small

:26:53.:26:55.

number of occasions when there were some who acted outside of the law

:26:56.:26:59.

and they have been brought before the courts. There are outstanding

:27:00.:27:06.

cases. Senior counsel themselves, talking to the British defence

:27:07.:27:13.

committee, which brought through the report, they said if you pursue

:27:14.:27:17.

this, you will be held about holding state forces, that they can act with

:27:18.:27:20.

impunity, and people know that they did. You cannot give them immunity.

:27:21.:27:26.

So, even the advice to the committee are saying they are wrong doing

:27:27.:27:31.

this, and yet they are pursuing it. It is a very discriminatory process,

:27:32.:27:34.

they are saying it is just to deal with these people, and just to deal

:27:35.:27:44.

with the article 2 issues, the HMIC itself said it was not Article 2,

:27:45.:27:51.

and they did not cover that. The British military, in the early 70s,

:27:52.:27:55.

were investigated by the British military police. They were not

:27:56.:28:03.

Article 2 compliant. These people... We are getting very technical.

:28:04.:28:07.

People need justice, do not be discriminatory.

:28:08.:28:11.

There are couple of other issues I want to talk about. Arlene Foster

:28:12.:28:18.

says the DUP has no deadline. She wants to get back to a functioning

:28:19.:28:23.

executive. Does that mean you previously stated opposition to an

:28:24.:28:28.

Irish language act has gone away? We want to hear from people who are not

:28:29.:28:31.

the weapon I think the Irish language like Sinn Fein, not

:28:32.:28:34.

politicising, but who genuinely want to see the Irish language promoted,

:28:35.:28:40.

and they want to hear from those people and that is exactly what she

:28:41.:28:41.

is doing. A spokesman for Conradh na Gaelige

:28:42.:28:46.

said today that that the DUP had confirmed "they were looking

:28:47.:28:50.

at content and legislative provision In terms of what it looks

:28:51.:28:52.

like we have yet to see," he added. Does that mean you're discussing and

:28:53.:29:03.

thinking about some kind of Irish language act? That may or may not be

:29:04.:29:10.

the outcome. Up to now you have said it will not be the outcome. I don't

:29:11.:29:14.

want to predetermine the outcome, we are also looking at what happens in

:29:15.:29:19.

Scotland and the Isle of Mann and Wales, all parts of the United

:29:20.:29:24.

Kingdom with minority languages. So the DUP's position is softening. We

:29:25.:29:27.

are looking to see how we can accommodate. Arlene Foster said

:29:28.:29:33.

there will be no Irish language act. That seems to have changed. I don't

:29:34.:29:39.

know that there will be an Irish language act. Up to know you said

:29:40.:29:44.

there wouldn't be. Let me put it this way, we remain to be convinced

:29:45.:29:48.

this is the most effective way to promote the language. But you have a

:29:49.:29:52.

lot less hostile, is that fair to say. We are willing to listen to

:29:53.:29:56.

what people have to say and take on board what they have to say and that

:29:57.:30:02.

is fear. Good news? Michelle O'Neill has welcomed the fact that Arlene

:30:03.:30:05.

Foster is owing to consider the Irish language act and I welcome

:30:06.:30:10.

that, but I don't know how you weapon I language, and if you start

:30:11.:30:14.

off by saying we're going to spot to the people who talk Irish but not if

:30:15.:30:20.

they support Sinn Fein or whatever, and if you talk about westernising

:30:21.:30:24.

and all that, the people who made the Irish language political was the

:30:25.:30:30.

DUP. Can I ask one last question. Is there going to be an agreed unionist

:30:31.:30:36.

candidate in south Belfast? I wouldn't just focus on South

:30:37.:30:41.

Belfast. I well because we have been focusing on that tonight. I listened

:30:42.:30:44.

carefully and we are not ruling out any option that the stage and

:30:45.:30:46.

continuing to any option that the stage and

:30:47.:30:50.

what our fellow unions, not just looking at South Belfast but a

:30:51.:30:56.

number of constituencies. We want to maximise unionist representation in

:30:57.:31:00.

the House of Commons, because we are unionist. That doesn't make a

:31:01.:31:03.

unionist pact sectarian because many people support the unionist parties

:31:04.:31:10.

who are not Protestant. All sitting DUP MPs will run again, is that

:31:11.:31:16.

correct? Yes and we will select candidates for other constituencies

:31:17.:31:17.

as well. We will we let the. And with me now to reflect

:31:18.:31:18.

on what we've been discussing tonight are Fionnuala O Connor

:31:19.:31:21.

and Alex Kane. Welcome to you both and thank you

:31:22.:31:31.

for joining us. A quick word about pacts first of all, what is your

:31:32.:31:34.

reading over what is happening in South Belfast? There may yet be an

:31:35.:31:41.

agreed unionist candidate and we know there will be someone running

:31:42.:31:44.

against Alistair MacDonald and you saw the report? It is un-readable.

:31:45.:31:51.

-- McDonnell. Nobody has written it down or talking clearly, beyond

:31:52.:31:59.

that, which I think leads it up in the air, it means that unless

:32:00.:32:06.

unionists get themselves very quickly, Alistair McDonnell might

:32:07.:32:09.

just get through again. I imagine they will get together. What did you

:32:10.:32:18.

make of, I will call it a conversation earlier, no great

:32:19.:32:22.

meeting of minds on what pacts mean for the democratic process? That is

:32:23.:32:25.

a bit of nonsense about are the sectarian or not. I hear unionist

:32:26.:32:33.

saying that is dreadful, like the lovely summing up of nationalists

:32:34.:32:37.

getting together being anti-unionist. What a dreadful

:32:38.:32:41.

thing, an awful thing for nationalists to be. And likewise...

:32:42.:32:48.

The UUP and the DUP are clearly talking. They spoke for themselves

:32:49.:32:54.

over the M Nesbit story for South Belfast, the Belfast Telegraph.

:32:55.:32:58.

Whatever happens, Mike Nesbitt will not be the agreed candidate. If you

:32:59.:33:03.

look at South Belfast and the shift in the unionism from the UUP to the

:33:04.:33:10.

DUP, take away the argument of the big traditional unionism, the

:33:11.:33:13.

present, and if you're looking for an ideal candidate, I think Robbie

:33:14.:33:19.

McEwen is right, at someday like Kennedy. The DUP believes itself to

:33:20.:33:27.

be the party in South Belfast. They want easily accept it but they are

:33:28.:33:31.

still talking and looking at the possibility which involves South

:33:32.:33:34.

Belfast and a couple of other constituencies, my betting as they

:33:35.:33:38.

would find that they look at an Ulster Unionist candidate, they

:33:39.:33:41.

would not be looking at Mike Nesbitt, they would possibly look at

:33:42.:33:47.

somebody like Danny Kennedy. In the meantime, the pause button has been

:33:48.:33:52.

pressed on the detox process. Apparently there will still be

:33:53.:33:54.

bilateral discussions but I don't think anybody is putting any great

:33:55.:33:58.

weight on that. Everything there was focusing on June nine. And an

:33:59.:34:04.

unnecessary pause button, nothing to pause, and Jim might tell us that

:34:05.:34:07.

things have been achieved and agreement had been reached on

:34:08.:34:11.

various issues. I doubt that he even believes that, certainly not the

:34:12.:34:16.

people in the Cox. Alex, do you agree, your pessimistic? I am always

:34:17.:34:20.

pessimistic. More than you usually are? Which is quite difficult! Detox

:34:21.:34:26.

are going nowhere, but again talks are going on and with Jeffrey, we

:34:27.:34:31.

cultivate the Irish language, softening up the stands, and when

:34:32.:34:34.

Alan Foster says she's willing to talk and listen to be void

:34:35.:34:37.

accommodate, that is a willingness to say we are prepared to move.

:34:38.:34:42.

There is wriggle room and that in itself is important but that is

:34:43.:34:46.

outside the talks process. Interesting times, thank you both

:34:47.:34:47.

indeed. That's it from The View

:34:48.:34:48.

for this week. Join me for Sunday Politics

:34:49.:34:50.

at 11:35 here on BBC One. But we leave you tonight

:34:51.:34:52.

with a reminder that there's really Here's a Vincent Hanna report

:34:53.:34:55.

from February 1974 - see how little has changed

:34:56.:34:58.

in 43 years! But the Ulster voters confused by

:34:59.:35:11.

the whole thing, this is the fourth Paul Lee have faced in 18 months.

:35:12.:35:17.

The Westminster elections should be about Westminster issues but of

:35:18.:35:21.

course it isn't and we know that. I think it is either for or against

:35:22.:35:26.

the executive, that is my opinion. I think it is a bit mixed up. We are

:35:27.:35:34.

not quite sure but it is to start a new assembly. This election goes to

:35:35.:35:41.

show again how vast a golf villas between politics in Northern Ireland

:35:42.:35:44.

and the listed United Kingdom. 48 candidate standing and not

:35:45.:35:48.

campaigning about industrial relations are North Sea oil, they

:35:49.:35:52.

are worried about the constitution of Ulster and the Sunnydale

:35:53.:35:56.

agreement. 26 of the candidates are in favour of the agreement but they

:35:57.:36:00.

are in disarray because they are fighting each other and splitting

:36:01.:36:01.

votes.

:36:02.:36:02.

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