Mr. Francie Molloy, MP, MLA:

I thank the delegates for their presentations which raised a number of important points. The key issue is to be underlined is that this process cannot be seen to be done and dusted. There is a mistaken view that, to some extent, the peace process is done and dusted. Once the Agreement was signed, the various political parties went back into their own party-political camps, which took away from the Agreement. People had high expectations that, having been through the negotiations, the political parties had a reached a new understanding but very quickly the various parties went back to their old ways. Having been in the Assembly for a number of years now, I note that the debates, instead of improving the atmosphere, have actually caused it to deteriorate in recent months. We are going backwards in some respects.

The flag dispute raised a number of issues of concern. One was the policing of the protests, or rather, the lack of policing, which undermined completely the Parades Commission. The sitting down with loyalist paramilitary leaders, whom many thought were out of the equation, was also a concern. The commanders are still very much in place and senior police officers meeting them indicated that they still have significant control within their own areas. That highlighted the fact that if financial support is not given to loyalist communities, we will see exercising of strength on the part of loyalist paramilitaries and the flags dispute was part of this. The flags issue started off as an issue for Belfast but was very clearly directed out into rural areas and was used in various ways. In my own area of Dungannon, the flags issue at the local council had already been resolved years ago but the issue was raised again by the Orange Order and by loyalist paramilitaries. There was a driving back, so to speak.

The issue of sectarianism was raised on the "Talkback" radio programme yesterday and was discussed from several perspectives. The first point is that sectarianism is nothing new. It is not something that emerged as a result of the Good Friday Agreement and it did not emerge from new-found loyalism either. It has been in existence in Northern Ireland for a long time and was used by successive British Governments. The orange card has been played many times, when it suited. The response to the parades and flags issues were similar in that we did not get anything more than the standard sectarian response that we got in the past. That is one of the failures of the Assembly, that we did not get clear leadership from loyalist and Unionist representatives or real efforts on their part to defuse the situation. If anything, the issues were played up and were used for party-politics in east Belfast as much as anything.

The Agreement itself, notwithstanding many issues in it, was something that was drawn up as a working document, to some extent. There are a number of outstanding issues within the Agreement that have yet to be dealt with. There seems to be an attitude now within unionism that the agreement is signed, sealed and is over. The St. Andrews Agreement is part and parcel of that, of course. There is now a clawing back process under way. All of the issues that have come up are part of that clawing back or stalling. One of the issues that has been raised and used a number of times in the Assembly is that of the 30 signatures mechanism, which has been used by all parties in various ways. Instead of that mechanism being used as a last resort, it has now become the first resort, more or less.

The issue of integration is not a simple one. I live in a rural area and while we may not have walls and gates, we still have divisions and everyone knows their boundaries. I lived in an area which was termed a "murder triangle", which was very much surrounded and where people felt surrounded, yet within that area people worked together. To say we can simply educate everybody together, by force, is simplistic. It will not work. The same applies to the integration of housing because people have fears and social issues can be more powerful than housing issues. These social issues must be addressed.

The major problem with the Assembly, which I support and which is better than direct rule, is that it has become almost too local, with local party politics directing Ministers and the Assembly instead of the other way round, where the Assembly should offer leadership. While we may have moved forward, we are far from seeing the situation of a republican president in the Six Counties, unlike seeing a black president in America.