Cross-party Stormont talks set to resume

‘There is a need for the political leaders to explain some of this as well and be, not courageous enough is the wrong word, but to be confident in the argument that they’re making and explain it but you know if you pick back over every single thing somebody has said, then it will be really hard’.

“Quite honestly, the peace process has brought about a huge step forward”. But when it comes to Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench, and some of the issues on which Corbyn himself has strong and controversial views, the conference has seemed surprisingly well-behaved: so far, at least. There’s a lot of cross-border agreement, there’s a lot of cross-border institutions.

The first day of the second week of negotiations focused on ongoing paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland and how to end it for good.

“One of our six demands, and it will be no surprise, will be for a permanent structure to carry out that kind of review and, like the IMC (International Monitoring Commission), it should have sanctions applied to anybody who breaches it”, he said.

Last week the federation said uncertainty over the governance of Northern Ireland a growing tendency for firms to seek work in Britain – and not returning – had led to lowering levels of optimism for the future. Labour will play its part as it always has done.

That is one of the primary issues on the table during the cross-party negotiations.

CEF managing director John Armstrong said the statistics were “very encouraging” and offered “a glimmer of hope against what is otherwise a fairly uncertain outlook for the wider construction industry in Northern Ireland“.

“The British and Irish governments still have a huge role to play in this process as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement”.

A close ally of Greece’s Syriza, which won re-election on Sunday, Sinn Fein’s dogged opposition to austerity has lifted its support in the republic to an average of around 20 percent in opinion polls this year, from 10 percent in the 2011 election.

Mr Coaker replaced the Labour leader and warned against people being “castigated” for saying they support a united Ireland as the Good Friday Agreement allowed for opposing views and aspirations. I think there’s a better understanding actually of British-Irish relations than what’s been happening, that’s developed over the last 15 years since the Good Friday Agreement.

He said different parties in Northern Ireland had recognised that, adding: “That’s why the principle of consent is absolutely fundamental to that agreement”.