The Good Friday Agreement does not mention '˜settled will' of NI's people
Graham Gudgin (December 1) wrote: “the Good Friday Agreement boldly stated that the decision to remain within the UK was ‘the settled will of the people of Northern Ireland’.”
A quick internet search reveals the quote does not appear in the Good Friday Agreement.
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Hide AdIt does, however, appear in the Ulster Unionist Manifesto for 1998.
Dr Gudgin was formerly special advisor to David Trimble.
What the Good Friday Agreement actually says is “while a substantial section of the people in Northern Ireland share the legitimate wish of a majority of the people of the island of Ireland for a united Ireland, the present wish of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland, freely exercised and legitimate, is to maintain the Union”.
Is it too much to expect that a University of Cambridge academic would present quotations accurately? The “present wish” and the “settled will” are hardly the same thing.
Criostoir Mac Camlaoich, Drogheda, Co Louth