UN General Assembly
1977

60. Secondly, and precisely because our objective is one of eventual unity by agreement among people whose present aspirations differ, there must be a full and generous respect now for each of those aspirations. This is the essential pre-condition for the process of growing reconciliation which we wish to promote. We consider that any approach which attempts to suppress or ignore either of the different traditions is doomed to failure, and we are happy to welcome the assurance given in our recent talks with representatives of the British Government that its policy still is to work towards a devolved system of government for Northern Ireland in which both sections of the community would, by a sharing of power, participate on a fair basis. I acknowledge also the very consider able role being played by the various voluntary organizations north and south of the border in the process of reconciliation and pay a tribute to the courage and dedication of all those who are actively working in them.