Blair cautious on Northern Ireland deal
Negotiations on a deal for Northern Ireland are at an “intensive stage”, the Prime Minister has said.
But he has refused to predict whether the talks will result in an agreement – noting that the public and politicians have been disappointed many times before.
Answering questions from the assembled media at his monthly press conference, Tony Blair said that as hopes have been dashed so many times before he is “fearful of raising them”, but that the “next few days should tell us” what the prospects for a settlement are.
Mr Blair’s comments came after the leader of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams, met the head of Northern Ireland’s police, Hugh Orde, in Downing Street. High up on the agenda was the demilitarisation of Republican areas. The leader of the DUP, Ian Paisley, has also met the head of the decommissioning body to discuss the IRA’s disarmament.
In addition, the SDLP leadership will meet the Prime Minister in Downing Street tomorrow. Their senior negotiator, Sean Farren, said that now was the “moment of truth” for both the IRA and the DUP. He added: “Nationalists will find out whether the DUP are serous about equality and all of us will know whether the IRA is serious about democracy.”
The Irish and British governments have set a provisional deadline on Tuesday for an agreement on the resumption of power sharing.
Mr Blair said today that he was not prepared to reveal details of any documents under discussion between the parties – though he said that the subjects under discussion are the same as ever, demilitarisation and power sharing.
The Prime Minister said that “all the possibilities are there” for peace, but “whether it happens or not is not simply down to me”.
