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| Volume 48 Number 17, June 9, 2018 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Michelle
O'Neill
Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Michelle O'Neill has welcomed the call given by leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn on May 24, 2018, to convene the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference was established under an Agreement between the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom made on March 8, 1998.
Michelle O'Neill was speaking after attending a lecture delivered by Jeremy Corbyn at Queen's University Belfast on May 24. He had opened his remarks by saying: "It's great to be back in Belfast. This is my first visit as leader of the Labour party, and I am delighted to have the chance to be here for the next couple of days to reach out and talk to people from all communities and all backgrounds to discuss their hopes for the future and listen to their ideas about how all communities can continue to work together to build on the achievements of recent years."
Michelle O'Neill said: "I welcome Jeremy Corbyn's call to convene the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference.
"Sinn Féin has been calling for the conference to be convened so that the two governments, working together, can take decisions to resolve the issues and pave the way for the restoration of power-sharing.
"And unlike the British Conservative party, who have slipped in and out of here without speaking to people and engaging with political leaders on Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn came here today to hear first hand about the disastrous implications of Brexit for border communities in particular.
"Sinn Féin wants the Labour Party to move further.
"We are at a crunch time in the negotiations on Brexit.
"The people of the north voted to remain in the European Union and that democratic decision needs to be respected.
"Our economy can't withstand being outside the Customs Union and the Single Market and we need to see our special circumstances recognised, with no hardening of the border, citizens' rights respected and the Good Friday Agreement protected in all its parts."
Jeremy Corbyn had said in his lecture: "If the current stalemate in Stormont cannot be sorted out in Belfast, I call on the UK government to reconvene the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. We must step up to find a creative solution, in the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement, that avoids a return to direct Westminster rule and lays the ground for further progress for all communities."
(Sinn Fein Newsroom)