No return to violence in NI - Woodward

There is "no question" of Northern Ireland ever going back to the violence of the past, Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward said today.

In an interview to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement, Mr Woodward said that the principles it enshrined would guarantee Northern Ireland "stability, peace and prosperity" for the future.

He predicted that the next major step in the peace process would take place later this year, when control of policing and criminal justice would be handed over to the devolved institutions. Mr Woodward said that the Queen's visit to Armagh on Thursday to hand out Maundy money for the first time in Northern Ireland was a symbol of how deeply embedded peace now was.

He told Sky News' Sunday Live: "This is something we couldn't have done two years ago, couldn't have dreamt of doing two years ago.

"I think nothing really could better symbolise the huge steps forward which the people of Northern Ireland - both sides of the community - have chosen to take and required their political leaders to lead on."

Mr Woodward said that the Independent Monitoring Commission was explicit that the IRA is now involved only in political activities. He dismissed hardline Republican groups like Continuity IRA and the Real IRA as isolated remnants who were "hated and reviled" and regarded as criminals by their own community.

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Executive, under First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, had become "one of the most successful governments anywhere".

"I take nothing for granted in politics, but the fact of the matter is what we have seen - over the last year particularly - in Northern Ireland are these institutions, the Assembly and the Executive, working together in a way that even those who dreamed it might be possible couldn't have anticipated," he said.

"I think there is no question that Northern Ireland will ever go back to the ways of the past. It is committed now to this new stable, prosperous future." T

he achievement of the Belfast Agreement was to establish the principles of dignity, human rights and mutual self-respect for all in Northern Ireland, regardless of their background, said Mr Woodward.

And he added: "In ensuring that these are core for people here, I think the stability, peace and prosperity of Northern Ireland for the future is guaranteed."