Blair: “Moment of decision” for Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister has arrived in Northern Ireland for crunch talks on the future of devolved government in the region.
All the main political parties, along with Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern, arrived at Leeds Castle, Kent today for an intense three days of negotiations.
They are attempting to break the deadlock and restore the power-sharing regime at Stormont. Power-sharing was suspended in 2002 amid allegations that the IRA had an intelligence gathering operations in the parliament.
Since the suspension, the hardline DUP, led by Ian Paisley, have risen to become the leading unionist party. Until now they have refused to meet directly with Sinn Fein and have sought to attempt to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement.
Speaking to the media before the critical talks, Mr Blair said: “This really is the moment of decision for us.”
Indicating that he has no stomach for further delays, he said that now is the “moment” to undertake “acts of completion” in the peace process. To that aim he called for all involved to show that they are truly committed to “exclusively peaceful and democratic means.”
He described the upcoming talks as “a test of leadership, political will and whether we are prepared to listen to the yearning of the people”.
As the two premiers headed in to chair the meetings, Mr Blair insisted there could be no further delays on getting a deal that would see an end to IRA violence and stabilise the political institutions.
He said: “We have therefore to be very sure about an end to paramilitarism of whatever kind and that we are in a position to take this forward on the basis of all parts of the community in Northern Ireland share power together in the interests of the people of Northern Ireland.”
The Prime Minister warned: “We can’t go out of this and have another set of elongated negotiations.”
Bertie Ahern reiterated the same theme, saying that after two years in which the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended, he did not want these talks to become “just another part of a process.”
