Opportunity knocks over the next year to put an end to years of “toxic” Conservative government, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MP said in an end of year message.
The damage the Conservative Party has done to Northern Ireland can hardly be underestimated, the Foyle MP said.
“Austerity, the erosion of public services, wage stagnation, Brexit, their unethical approach to the legacy of conflict and justice for victims and survivors,” Mr Eastwood added.
The next year also should be one for those who “believe in the power and potential of a new Ireland as a force to reconcile the traditions of our island open that discussion to as many people as possible”, he added.
Doug Beattie, UUP leader, said: “For Northern Ireland the drama goes on, the Windsor Framework will continue to be implemented with no input from Northern Irish politicians.
“Those calling for a continuation of the Stormont boycott until there is a Labour Government must realise nothing will change except a further decline in public services and unionist influence and representation.”
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said “2023 was a frustrating year in many ways”.
In 2024, the “restored institutions must be placed on a sustainable footing, financially and politically. Reforming of the Executive and Assembly to ensure they can not only deliver more effectively but not be collapsed by any single party is essential. That must be our priority going into next year”, Ms Long added.
Meanwhile, church leaders, in a joint statement, described the 25 years following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement as a “long walk, which on occasion picked up pace, at other times was reduced to a crawl, and is still ongoing”.
Bishop Andrew Forster, president of the Irish Council of Churches, Archbishop John McDowell, Church of Ireland Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, Catholic Primate of All Ireland, Dr Sam Mawhinney, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church and Rev David Turtle, President of the Methodist Church, issued the statement, jointly.
“Since the signing of the Agreement in 1998, a whole generation has now come and gone and much has changed in our world on a global scale as well as at a local level, but very few people living in these islands would want to return to the past,” they said.
“With our experiences here in this land, may we encourage and support others to take those first steps down the road to peace, to walk in the way of reconciliation, to seek to heal and not hurt.”