Blair and Ahern set NI assembly deadline
Blair and Ahern set NI assembly deadline
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Thursday, 06, Apr 2006 05:42
The British and Irish governments have set a new deadline of November 24th for the creation of a new power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland.
Speaking after a meeting in Armagh, Irish taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair laid out plans for restarting the stalled Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont.
They revealed that the assembly will be recalled on May 12th for the first time in nearly four years and that its first job will be to elect a first and deputy first minister before agreeing on the make-up of the 108-member assembly.
The usual period of six weeks will be given for this to occur, after which another 12 weeks following the summer recess will be permitted.
A joint statement by the two leaders said: "If by November 24th the assembly has failed to achieve this, we do not believe that any purpose would be served by a further election at that point or a few months later in May 2007.
"We do not think that the people of Northern Ireland should be asked to participate in elections to a deadlocked assembly. There would be no choice but to cancel salaries and allowances for MLAs and to defer restoration of the assembly and executive until there is a clear political willingness to exercise devolved power."
Mr Blair added at a news conference today: "At that point, we close the chapter or we close the book."
Devolved government at Stormont was suspended in October 2002 following allegations of an IRA spy ring.
Both Mr Blair and Mr Ahern had earlier vowed not to let Denis Donaldson's murder derail the peace process.
Mr Donaldson was a former head of administration at Stormont and Sinn Fein official who was allegedly murdered by republican paramilitaries on Wednesday.
Some sections of the unionist community have argued the killing is proof the IRA, and by historic connection, Sinn Fein, can still not be trusted.
Sinn Fein's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness rejected claims IRA members carried out the murder.
In the wake of Mr Donaldson's death, the prime minister said he wished to press ahead with devolved government despite the setback.
"The timing suggests that whoever did this wants to derail the peace process," Mr Blair said.
"Our response should be to deny them what they want."
Mr Ahern told the Irish parliament: "We have made it clear that the two governments will not be deterred from efforts to bring politics centre stage in Northern Ireland."