Statement by Sinn Féin chairman Mr. Mitchel McLaughlin, before Stormont talks, 13 April 1999

Text of statement by Sinn Féin chairman Mr. Mitchel McLaughlin, before the Stormont talks, 13 April 1999

"The Sinn Fein leadership met last week and studied the draft Hillsborough Declaration in detail. We reviewed it in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and of the peace process.

Our view is that the Hillsborough Declaration moves away from the Good Friday Agreement and makes the transfer of power and the establishment of the institutions conditional on the delivery of IRA weapons.

In our meetings with the governments today Sinn Féin will be proposing that the way forward lies in the triggering of d'Hondt and the establishment of the executive and other institutions, as agreed on Good Friday a year ago and promised many times since by the two governments.

I read in sections of today's press that Dublin government sources are being quoted saying that Sinn Féin has not formally rejected the Hillsborough Declaration. So that there is no uncertainty or confusion about this, and given this propensity to negotiate through the media - let me make it very clear that Sinn Féin formally rejects the Hillsborough Declaration.

It is rather ironic that it falls to us to remind the British and Irish governments of their responsibility to uphold and implement the Good Friday Agreement."