Integration must form foundation of devolved institutions

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 30th Mar 2006

The Alliance Party will again make the case for replacing power-dividing with power-sharing when it meets the Taoiseach in Dublin today [Thurs].

Heading the delegation, Party Leader David Ford will say: "We have made the economic and social case for integrated public services, now we are making the political case that the same ethic must apply to the new institutions.

"The very terms 'cross-community' and 'shared future' are becoming abused by those who seek to maintain the status quo of two separate communities whose leaders can barely speak to each other. We want to replace this with a Government which thinks and feels for Northern Ireland as a whole, and which is equally at ease dealing with either of its neighbours or with Europe as appropriate.

"That can only come about through abolishing ministerial fiefdoms, scrapping mandatory coalitions, and ending 'power dividing' once and for all. The Alliance Party has been saying for 30 years that power sharing is the only way forward - it is about time we tried it properly."

ENDS