DUP refuses power sharing
There are no circumstances under which the DUP would share power with Sinn Fein, the Reverend Ian Paisley said this afternoon.
The leader of the DUP, which is now the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, said the Good Friday agreement had failed. “I think it should be given a reasonable burial,” he added.
Speaking after his first meeting with Tony Blair since the general election, Mr Paisley called for a “new beginning” in the Northern Ireland peace process.
He said he would not serve as First Minister with a Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister under the agreement “because I don’t trust them”.
However, the 79-year-old described today’s talks, which preceded a similar meeting by Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to Downing Street, as “very encouraging”.
When Mr Adams emerged from his talks with the Prime Minister, however, he immediately put himself on a collision course with the DUP leader.
Saying that the Good Friday agreement was “the only way forward”, the Sinn Fein leader said there was now a new opportunity to “put this process back on the rails”.
When asked about Mr Paisley’s comments that the agreement had failed, he said this was a “challenge” for the British and Irish governments rather than for Sinn Fein.
And commenting on the unionist leader’s adamant refusal to share power with a member of his party, Mr Adams warned that this was the only way to lead the people of NI.
Speaking earlier today, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said the two parties had a responsibility to find a way forward.
“These are important meetings because these two parties achieved the largest results and votes in the election,” he told BBC One’s Breakfast programme.
“They clearly, along with the other parties but they above all, have a clear responsibility now and a role in finding an end to this the impasse and in moving it forward.”
Earlier this week, the DUP and Sinn Fein leaders met with US special envoy to Northern Ireland Mitchel Reiss.
The DUP said in a statement following its meeting in London on Tuesday that Northern Ireland had “decisively voted against any terrorist representative being given a place in government and there was no question of the DUP changing its attitude on this issue”.
It added: “The provisional movement shows no sign of being prepared to make the transition which is necessary. It is therefore essential for the political process to move on with democratic parties immediately.”
Mr Adams, who is waiting for a response from the IRA following Sinn Fein’s appeal for it to find an alternative to its armed struggle, called for a “collective effort” from the parties to move the peace process forward.
Following his meeting with Mr Reiss in Dublin yesterday, he said: “While we all await the outcome of the IRA’s internal discussion, others have responsibilities also, not least the British and Irish governments, and the DUP. Sinn Fein is determined to rebuild the peace process.
“We want to resolve all of the outstanding issues. This will require a collective effort to move it forward.”
