Parties must come to 11-plus talks with open mind

Ahead of Wednesday’s 11-plus talks at Stormont, Alliance Education Spokesperson Trevor Lunn MLA has said parties should come with a constructive attitude because it could take quite a while to build consensus but only minutes to wreck progress. Just over two weeks David Ford wrote to Peter Robinson, Martin McGuinness, Mark Durkan and Sir Reg Empey on the issue to call for talks and Alliance has led the way in organising them.

Trevor Lunn MLA said: “The main purpose of the talks at this stage is to get all the main parties around the table to start thinking about where progress can be made and areas where common concerns can be identified.

“This problem will not be solved this week. It will take a number of substantive meetings before consensus can be built. Given the dogma and raised heckles on this issue in the past it may take some time for parties to build trust and develop a good working relationship.

“It can take months to build something, but only minutes to destroy it. All parties would do well to remember this and come to the table with a constructive attitude and an open mind..”

ENDS