On October 9, 2002, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Mark Durkan (pictured) urges the British and Irish governments to do everything possible to minimise damage to the Good Friday Agreement during a tense period in Northern Ireland’s political crisis.

Durkan, the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland at the time, makes the appeal after meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street. The talks come a day after First Minister David Trimble had given Blair an ultimatum: expel Sinn Féin from the Northern Ireland Assembly by early the following week, or Trimble and his Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) ministers will resign. The crisis is triggered by allegations of an Irish Republican Army (IRA) spy ring operating within the Stormont government, which Sinn Féin denies.

Blair tells Sinn Féin he needs assurance that its members are committed to “exclusively peaceful means” for the peace process to succeed, and stresses that all parties must recognise their obligations under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Durkan warns that while the power sharing government might be suspended, the agreement itself should not be “crippled” but only “injured.” He says the SDLP will not support a motion to exclude Sinn Féin from the Executive, but acknowledges that the Ulster Unionists cannot be expected to continue sitting alongside Sinn Féin under the current circumstances.

Durkan also stresses that the best way to reassure communities is to end IRA-related concerns, calling for an end to IRA activity. He urges both governments to avoid an “orgy of mutual recrimination” and to keep the political agenda focused on protecting the peace process.

This moment is a critical test for the Good Friday Agreement, as the suspension of the Executive risks undermining the democratic path it has established, but Durkan’s stance reflects the SDLP’s commitment to preserving the framework of the peace deal even amid political turmoil.