Durkan reveals vision for ‘New Nationalism’

A united Ireland must be built upon the foundations and principles of the Good Friday Agreement, nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan has said.

Addressing party members at the launch of the new SDLP logo in Belfast, the Deputy First Minister claimed his party believed in “New Nationalism”.

He told an audience of Assembly members, party activists and supporters: “Through the Agreement, we have delivered on our pledge to build an agreed Ireland by persuading others of the value and validity of our thinking about the necessity of partnership and equality.

“Now we must achieve a united Ireland again defined by our vision and values those same values that achieved the Agreement itself.

“For the united Ireland of tomorrow can only be achieved by respecting the same commitment that delivered the agreed Ireland of today.”

The Foyle MLA then unveiled the new party logo consisting of three swirls forming the shape of a shamrock.

The swirls are green, red and orange, signifying the party’s nationalist philosophy, social democratic principles and eagerness to accommodate unionism.

Mr Durkan said the party considered the principles of the Good Friday Agreement to be neither "temporary nor tactical nor transitional".

“The united Ireland the SDLP believes in will be built upon the rock solid foundations of the Good Friday Agreement. Just as the SDLP made the definitive contribution to securing the Agreed Ireland of the Agreement, we will make the definitive contribution to achieving the United Ireland of the future,” he said.

Noting that it was the fourth anniversary of the assembly elections, Mr Durkan insisted that the public had not lost confidence in the potential of the Agreement.

"Rather there has been a loss of confidence in the capacity of political parties to truly fulfil the Agreement's potential and to respect all its core principles and thereby to honour their responsibilities.

"However, four years on it is clear that there are some parties who are for all of the Agreement some of the time and there are some parties who are for some of the Agreement all of the time.

"The SDLP is for all of the Agreement, all of the time for all of the people."

(AMcE)