Mayor Graham Warke and Derry hailed as model of power-sharing in the north
Derry has been described as an exemplar of working power-sharing by the the Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, Fergus O’Dowd.
The Fine Gael politician praised the current DUP mayor Graham Warke for the welcome he provided TDs and senators when they visited the north west.
“If there is one place I have been in the North that has shown me how power-sharing works, it is in the city of Derry.
“I met members of my own party and I also met Mr. Graham Warke, the DUP mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council.
“There is power-sharing in Derry.
“It has a nationalist majority and a DUP mayor.
“The openness with which Mr. Warke welcomed us to his city and gave us the benefit of his views is a new generation of thinking,” he said.
“It is something I find very attractive. The DUP is coming forward with new faces and new ideas.
“They are all part of the same city of Derry.
“With the DUP and nationalists, we can all be part of a new Northern Ireland,” he said.