Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, believes we have reached a unique moment in the history of Northern Ireland, where every major political party wants to make Northern Ireland work.

Speaking to students at St Mary’s University College in West Belfast, on the theme of Hope, he challenged his audience to remember the last time they heard a senior nationalist or republican politician describe this place as a ‘failed, ungovernable statelet’?

Mike Nesbitt explained, “If you are the lead party of government, it’s not a sentiment you are likely to endorse. Especially if you are looking forward to a border poll and the potential for constitutional change.

“If you are voting in Dublin, or Galway, or Wexford or Limerick, what’s attractive about voting to adopt a failed, ungovernable statelet of 1.9 million people, people you don’t know or particularly like – and who will require thousands of your personal Euro in additional tax to fund the new dispensation?

While the Unionist Leader accepted there was no change in the stark divergence in constitutional preference between nationalists and unionists, he said every politician has a core responsibility to deliver for the citizens of Northern Ireland.

Mike Nesbitt continued, “I call it a Prosperity Agenda. Prosperity isn’t just about money, although being financially secure is important - having a few quid in your back pocket come the weekend can be very liberating. But it’s also about what the Americans so wisely referred to in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, when they wrote:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

For me, that means creating the circumstances where you, as an individual, can wake up feeling life is good, get out of bed with a sense of purpose, because you have things to do that you want to do – stressing “want to do”.

Mike Nesbitt said majoritarianism does not work in Northern Ireland and power-sharing is the only way forward.  

“Unionists – or most of us – realise we cannot govern this place without the active support of nationalists and republicans. Nationalists and republicans – or again the majority – realise they can no longer describe this place as a failed, ungovernable statelet.
 
“For the first time, everyone – unionists, nationalists and republicans – sense the need to make Northern Ireland work. Our motivations may be different, but that’s no obstacle to make this place function for the benefit of all.

“I am tired of hearing about the potential of this place. I want to turn potential into reality – for you, for your peers and for everyone.”