The SDLP is in the business of getting the agreement back into operation. The strength of the agreement is that its centre of gravity is right down the middle of the two aspirations. The Secretary of State has disturbed that equilibrium. Unionists and republicans have in turn taken up positions from which they demand that the rest of us who signed up to the agreement rescue them. The agreement was never designed to protect leaders from parties any more than it was designed to accommodate leaders with paramilitary wings.
Time is now of the essence.
There is little that a new review can cover that has not already been gone over in the Mitchell review. Gen de Chastelain has hinted that without a start to decommissioning he may not be minded to stay. The first marches of the season are eight weeks away. We were told last year after Hillsborough that republicans find concessions most difficult at Easter, only to hear unionists at the end of June tell us that they find compromise impossible as they move into July. What is needed is to create the conditions for an immediate and full exploration of the last IRA offer.