Debate contribution: St Andrews Agreement: 20 Years On

Debate contribution by Mr Stewart Dickson on 13 October 2026.

MLA: Mr Stewart Dickson
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 13 October 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Opposition Business
Heading: St Andrews Agreement: 20 Years On
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5789598

Text

Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I thank Members for their contributions to the debate today, particularly my colleague Paula Bradshaw, who moved the Alliance Party amendment. Although some who are here today want to relive old battles, we want to move forward and move the people of Northern Ireland forward. We know that the people of Northern Ireland want us to move forward. Twenty years on from the St Andrews Agreement, it is right that we take stock of where we are. St Andrews helped us to restore devolution at a difficult time, and that was important. I read earlier a quote from Dr Paisley in which he said that, on 8 December 2007, he had for the first time sat down and had a conversation with Martin McGuinness. Until then, they had not even exchanged a word about the weather. Importantly, St Andrews moved us forward at that point in time. To be honest, however, problems have followed, particularly when it comes to how our institutions operate and how easily political disagreement can bring government to a standstill. I first came to the Chamber in 2011, and we have lived through days of that. We have seen the consequences far too often: decisions delayed, public services left in limbo, and people wondering whether the politicians whom they elected are actually going to do their job. I think that is how people listen to and look at this place every day. It is no way to run government, and it certainly does nothing to build public confidence. That is why the Alliance Party has consistently argued for the reform of our institutions. We need arrangements that are stable, accountable and capable of making decisions, even when parties disagree. Disagreement is part of party politics, but it should not be enough to bring everything to a grinding halt. It is easy to get caught up in the mechanics of government, particularly here in Northern Ireland, where we spend an extraordinary amount of time debating who holds which office and how decisions are made. Those things matter — of course they do — but we also need to ask what progress we have made in bringing our communities together. That is the essential thing that the Assembly is here to do: to build a new future and a new space for all people in Northern Ireland. Yes, we have made progress over the past 20 years, and I do not want to dismiss that, but, for me and the rest of the Alliance Party, it is not ambitious enough. There are people and organisations across Northern Ireland that do incredible work in community relations, shared education and bringing together people from all sorts of backgrounds. Much of that work happens quietly and without the recognition that it deserves. Despite that, we continue to live with division in our schools, housing and many of the other spaces that we use every day. We cannot assume that, 20 years on, something will inevitably sort that out or that it will be sorted out somehow. The figures are telling: in 2024, 76% of adults said that they would prefer to live in a mixed-religion neighbourhood, yet only 37% of young people believed that relations between Protestants and Catholics had improved over the previous five years. Those figures measure different things, but they suggest a real appetite for a more shared society. That is what I believe in, and I know that the people of Northern Ireland want us to deliver a genuinely shared society. Twenty years on from the St Andrews Agreement, it is reasonable to ask whether we have made any of the progress that we had hoped for and whether the approach is delivering the change that people want to see. We need to understand what has worked, where progress has been slower and what still needs to be done. That understanding should inform a new shared future framework that should be developed with communities rather than simply being presented to them. Building a shared future is not a matter for just the Executive Office or the organisations working in good relations; it should reflect the decisions that we make on education, housing and public services as well as how we invest in our communities. The British and Irish Governments also have a role to play in that. Both were central to the agreement that helped to bring us to this point, and they have an ongoing responsibility to support reconciliation. Twenty years on from the St Andrews Agreement, we should be able to look at our institutions and ask whether they are working, what changes we need to make and what options we have to move things forward. That is what our amendment is about: taking stock of the progress that we have made, being honest about what remains to be done and making sure that there is a proper plan to take that work forward. We welcome the recognition by parties in the Chamber that reform is long overdue. Our amendment calls for that reform and invites genuine co-design in delivering a new shared —
— future framework for all.

859 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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