NI proposals ’ready for publishing’

Nov 26, 2004 18:23 IST

The British and Irish governments are ready to publish their latest proposals for the restoration of devolution if the local parties do not sign up to a deal.

Speaking after meeting Tony Blair at Downing Street, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said officials would provide the parties with written answers to their questions.
However, he added that the two governments could not go on clarifying their proposals forever.

Earlier, DUP leader Ian Paisley handed Mr Blair his party’s response to the latest British and Irish proposals for the restoration of devolution.

Both prime ministers were involved in a series of meetings with the political parties in London on Wednesday.

Afterwards Mr Ahern said, as far as the two governments were concerned, there was a package on offer.

He said the governments were happy to clarify issues but they wanted to bring the process to a close within days.

Expressing a certain amount of frustration, Mr Ahern suggested the endless search for perfect deals was unrealistic.

We don’t see this running on for more than a matter of days, he said.

Mr Blair’s official spokesman said: The talks have been serious, they have been constructive. I think the parties will want to reflect over the coming days.

Time is getting short. I can see this going into next week, not much beyond that.

We are not going to get into the game of precise deadlines but time is short.

DUP leader Ian Paisley met Mr Ahern at the Irish embassy in London and later met Mr Blair to give his response to British-Irish proposals submitted to the parties last week.

Speaking after his meeting with Mr Blair, he said there had been some progress.

The government must see to it that there is full decommissioning and when I talk about that, that must be transparent, it must be open, he said.

That is not to convince you or me but the people of Northern Ireland, he said.

Mr Ahern met SDLP leader Mark Durkan, following his talks with Mr Paisley.

He then met Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams and his negotiating team before travelling to Downing Street to compare notes with Mr Blair.

Speaking after their meeting with Mr Ahern, the Sinn Fein leadership said they were still hopeful of a resolution.

Party chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said: I have always argued that if you take the long view, then you can see that clearly we are making progress towards the achievement of a durable peace.

We are a long way from never, never, never.

The party is going to consult its executive on Thursday. Meetings with officials are to continue throughout the next few days.

Meetings ’useful’

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble said the difficulties did not appear to be that great and, that if the parties wanted, they could be resolved.

The question was if the parties had the will to resolve the issues, he said.

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said: There has been progress on some issues, and we are pushing for more progress. We are determined to be the bulwark of the Good Friday Agreement.

Both Sinn Fein and the DUP are backing the creation of a £1bn peace fund as the price tag for any deal - about one ninth of Northern Ireland’s annual budget.

Sinn Fein sources told the BBC they believed the government was ready to commit extra resources to any new executive over and above the current Northern Ireland bloc grant.

Sinn Fein is also understood to have asked the Irish Government to make a financial commitment to any restored institutions.

At the conclusion of intensive political talks at Leeds Castle in Kent in September, Mr Blair and Mr Ahern said the thorny issues of IRA disarmament and future paramilitary activity appeared to be resolved.

But, the two governments were unable to get the Northern Ireland Assembly parties to sign up to a deal over power-sharing after unionists and nationalists clashed over future devolved institutions.

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