Debate contribution: St Andrews Agreement: 20 Years On
Debate contribution by Mr Daniel McCrossan on .
- MLA
- Mr Daniel McCrossan
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 13 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- St Andrews Agreement: 20 Years On
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5789606
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I have a prepared speech, but I will address a number of points that were made in the debate. First, I say to Ms Bradshaw that we will, of course, support the Alliance amendment. Turning now to the two lead governing parties of this place. Pat Sheehan began by describing how difficult it is to be in partnership with the DUP in government. Why has it taken 20 years to realise that? When it suits, the sun is shining; when it does not, they go into hiding. There are serious questions to be asked about where responsibility truly lies when taking on the privileged role of being in elected office and governing this place seriously, with all the various consequences that come with taking tough decisions. Sadly, that does not happen as often as it should here. I welcome the fact that Mr Sheehan's party has, following calls for reform from the SDLP and Alliance, accepted the need for reform and produced some documents. This place needs —.
I will make some traction, Pat, and then I will let you in. This place absolutely needs to be reformed. Anybody with a set of eyes and ears can recognise that this place is not functioning as it should. I will move on to Mr Peter Martin. I am very sorry to hear that he is disappointed in the SDLP. Peter, if I were to tell you honestly how disappointed I am in the DUP, you would have a very sore head, because the reality is that your behaviour in government and your mistreatment of the unionist electorate through your abuse of power in the House are atrocious. You do not represent the entire unionist bloc, as you describe it. There are people within the unionist bloc who do not share a shred
There are people within the unionist bloc who do not agree with any of the behaviour that you have been up to in the past number of weeks. It is ridiculous. If you are disappointed, let me state to you a point of my disappointment: a democratically elected party, which was the largest party here for almost 20 years, has been led by the nose by an unelected mouthpiece called Jamie Bryson — a man who has stood around winding everyone up —
— and has led you into this ridiculous mess.
Brooksy, you could have had your say if you wanted it, but you did not speak in the debate.
You are always mouthing in the corner.
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. You had your opportunity, Brooksy. You are a bit quiet on it today. The reality is that the DUP is being led by an unelected leader in Jamie Bryson, and, if it is not that, we can turn to Reverend Gaston, in the corner — the proverb politician and, it turns out, Carla Lockhart's fanboy. Imagine that for a situation. In the House, the DUP kicks Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the UUP and Alliance. The only three people the DUP is not kicking are Mr Gaston, "Big Daddy" Jim Al and Jamie Bryson.
It points to the reality of where your loyalties lie.
Whilst, sometimes, I do not agree with the direction or policies of Sinn Féin, the truth is that, recently, the DUP's strategies have been absolutely shocking. I represent everybody in my community.
Mr Brett can laugh all he likes, because he is definitely a very confused individual about who he is.
I tell you this, very simply: in my constituency in Tyrone — you can ask Tom Buchanan about this — people do not care about orange and green issues. They care about the future; they want to live free from the past. Your party cannot get itself out of the very dark days from which you enjoyed glory. We are moving forward.
If you think that road blocking is the worst thing that ever happened here, Mr Brooks, go back and look over the past 20 years and at your episode in government. Look at RHI; look at Red Sky; look at the various corrupt policies and issues that have arisen from your party in government. You are not faultless. You broke the law, continually, so stop talking about a peaceful protest on the Garvaghy Road that was brought about
in response —.
I will in a moment. It was brought about in response to Jamie Bryson stoking up tension about a very painful wound that cost all of us — Protestant, unionist, Catholic and other. That is the truth. The DUP's behaviour this week has been shocking.
I know first-hand that the DUP has done some damage, because its strategies are not working.
It is, "All hail the leader —".
It is, "All hail the leader of the DUP", who is Mr Gaston, in the corner. Will youse wise up? Him and his one-man band, and you are taking your lead from him? It is utterly shocking. Then, Mr Brett has the cheek to stand up and slag off peacemakers and peace builders in the UUP and the SDLP when talking about the Good Friday Agreement. You are busy criticising the UUP, but the reality is that you could not wait to get into its seat of power. It was not about delivering anything. That is the truth. I remind Mr Brett that, while Mr Paisley and Mr Robinson were slagging off Trimble for talking to the SDLP when the SDLP was in conversations with Sinn Féin and the IRA at the time about peace,
his party was having quiet conversations with Sinn Féin and the IRA behind the scenes. That is the truth. You lambasted Mr Trimble and Reg Empey and others,
but you have a poor concept of where things are. Here is the truth of what happened under the St Andrews Agreement. It was a carve-up for the DUP and Sinn Féin, and it was all about getting "Big Ian" into the First Minister's seat. It was never about anything else. It was never about making this place work. He was near his retirement, and he wanted a big fluffy job, so he took whatever came, and they carved it up between themselves. The Good Friday Agreement was the tool to change this place. Do you know what? Your two parties unpicked it. The consequences for our people today have been profound, because this place has been collapsed for longer than it has sat.
I heard it referred to earlier —.
I heard Peter Martin refer earlier to laws brought in by Westminster, including the abortion legislation. Why was that legislation brought in? It was brought in because you collapsed the Assembly.
You were sitting at home.
You were sitting at home. That is why the legislation came —
— in, yet here we have —.
— Carla Lockhart's fanboy in the corner is calling for this —.
"Pastor Gaston" may be more appropriate. I will bring the debate back to what it is about. Everybody has rehearsed history throughout the debate, but there is one fundamental point to be made. There is common ground in this place. It has been sought out before, and it can be sought out again. We need to work together. We need to work together on issues that reflect and affect people's lives: not marching, not flags and not issues to do with a parade by the Orange Order down the Garvaghy Road, which was unnecessary and unjustified. It is about people in the here and now. It is about people in emergency waiting rooms who want care. It is about people who, just yesterday, got a cancer diagnosis. It is about people who cannot get a home. The real reason for having this place is not to point fingers at one another across the Chamber and talk about who did what, when they did it and why they did it. Rather, it is to move forward together. That is the fundamental principle
of the Good Friday Agreement. There are parties that have presided over government here that have deliberately dismantled elements of that agreement. We need this place to work. Mr Gaston is constantly telling everybody, particularly the DUP, to collapse Stormont, yet he does not agree with very much that the British Government are doing. Is he saying that full authority should be handed over to the British Government, who have been an absolute disaster and cannot even run themselves? We have been through about seven Prime Ministers in the past few years. This place is what people elected us to. They did not elect us not to be here. They elected us to be here, to show leadership, to move forward and to build consensus, and we can build that consensus. The real issues, however, are not the Orange Order or flags on lamp posts. Rather, the real issues are the health service, housing and people having a future in this place. It is about stopping young people leaving on planes. That is what this place is about. The Good Friday Agreement was a promise of something greater, something better and something for us all, and the DUP has unpicked it at every opportunity. It will get to the stage at which it is too late, because, after the next election, unless the DUP wises up, Pastor Gaston will be sitting where its Members are sitting today.
1,575 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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