THE UNION is secure. Northern Ireland is unrecognisably a better place to live in and the future can be faced with confidence, Peter Robinson told his annual conference.
The DUP leader and the North’s First Minsiter credited his party with creating the basis for what he called “the bedrock of peace and stability” and for the “solid foundations which have been laid [for] Northern Ireland’s second century”.
In a speech littered with arguments in favour of devolution and with sharing power at Stormont, he said the political dispensation meant unionists were now in control of their own destiny.
“We’re no longer reliant on others to protect our interests, no longer frustrated by governments negotiating over our heads, behind our backs and against our interests or by policies set in London and strongly influenced by Dublin,” he said. “Instead, we’re setting our own priorities and direction.”
He recalled his words when elected party leader, claiming there could be no finer honour. “I was wrong,” he said. “It has been superseded by the love, friendship and support I received from colleagues in the party over the last year. That loyalty can never be fully repaid.”
In a second rare admission of error, Mr Robinson added that in the upheaval and intense process leading up to the restoration of devolution in 2007 “we lost our close contact with the electorate”. But he insisted that link had been restored.
The Executive and Assembly were flawed, he admitted, but he said he would not trade them in their current form for a return to direct rule from London. He derided the Traditional Unionist Voice and its leader Jim Allister as wreckers whose actions could only bring about “the fall of Stormont and a return to Dublin rule”.
While not liking all the arrangements in place at Stormont, he said the system would not be fixed by “ripping up all that has been achieved”. Rather he looked to the future and to “working together with others to create a better way of doing things”.
He identified 24 achievements which he claimed the Executive had brought about – ranging from free prescriptions and transport for the elderly, to boosting inward investment. However, the global economic climate had changed and the Executive would have to adapt to changed circumstances, he added. “We can’t pretend that things haven’t changed . . . we must adapt to present needs and the modern world,” he said. “We must shape the new political environment and reach out to an ever-expanding audience.”
The union was secure for the foreseeable future and it was therefore imperative to attempt to build a more cohesive society.
“It means learning to live together,” he said. “The real question is how we can achieve a shared society in Northern Ireland and how we create a better future for our children.” He returned to his recent controversial speech about his call for a single state-run education system for all children. He appealed for those involved in all facets of education, and especially those who run Catholic schools, to engage in debate.
He ended by declaring the conflict was ended, despite the actions of dissident republicans, and credited Sinn Féin and other Assembly parties for their “united reaction” to the murders of a police officer and two soldiers in 2009.
DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said now that the Republic of Ireland was placed under international financial “crisis care” the notion of Irish unity was “dead”.