The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland's cross-community party

 David Ford

Durkan comments show nonsense of designations - Ford

11.10.23am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 6th Oct 2006

Portrait-yellow: FORD David (photography: Allan Leonard)

Alliance Party Leader, David Ford

Alliance Party Leader David Ford has said comments made by SDLP Leader Mark Durkan show up the SDLP's position on designations and mandatory coalitions in the Assembly as "nonsensical sectarianism".

David Ford stated: "The SDLP position amounts to the idea that they should be allowed into government alongside parties they claim to have no faith in.

"How can you have effective joined-up government if there are parties which openly have no faith in each other supposedly sharing power?

"Why on earth would anyone want to join a government if they didn't have any faith in it?

"If parties have no faith in the largest parties, they should go into opposition and we should develop a proper democracy.

"The truth is the SDLP is contradicting itself in its support for Stormont's built-in sectarian divide. It is time we ended sectarian designations and mandatory coalitions, and instead developed a proper democracy which operates for society as a whole."

ENDS

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