Blair and Ahern attempt resuscitation of NI accord

The British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern were meeting with the Northern Ireland political leaders today in Hillsborough as the latest attempt to resuscitate the peace process got underway.

The talks are aimed at breathing fresh life into a process that has been in the doldrums despite an Assembly election last November and a review process conducted by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Paul Murphy and the Irish Foreign Minister, Brian Cowen.

The latest debacle to suck life from the political aspirations of the Assembly was the statement by Chief Constable Hugh Orde that the IRA had been involved in the alleged abduction of a dissident republican in February.

Mr Blair's official spokesperson said yesterday that the prime ministers wanted to "inject some momentum into the process based on the clear need to end paramilitarism and a commitment to share power if that was achieved".

Today's meetings, government sources claimed, should be seen as "work in progress" rather than a "make-or-break" event.

However, the "work in progress" is somewhat lacking in puff. The largest Unionist political party, the DUP are disinclined to speak to Sinn Féin until there is a "complete cessation of terrorist and criminal activity". The UUP led by David Trimble have already walked away from a review that they have likened to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic", and called on the DUP to do likewise.

The DUP leader Dr Paisley exited the talks today stating: "Now is the time for the government to demonstrate to Sinn Fein/IRA that the threat of terror will no longer buy them further concessions".

For their part Sinn Féin are unlikely to fully sign up to the Good Friday Agreement in the way that the Unionists would like to see. The Republican party is firmly entrenched on the approach to policing, going as far as spending some $25,000 on an advert in the New York Times to object to outline the party's objections to the PSNI.

A move that apparently did not go down well in some quarters of the US administration, the President Bush's special envoy Dr Mitchell Reiss blasted the advert, containing a statement by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams as "at best seriously misleading and at worst untruthful".

Sinn Féin have renewed calls for the British government to act on collusion and demilitarisation, and are seeking the publication of the Cory report in full.

The PMOS yesterday indicated that as Mr Blair had stated to SDLP leader Mark Durkan two weeks ago, the report would be published at the end of March or the beginning of April.

Following the Alliance Party's meeting, leader David Ford said: “The two prime ministers were supposed to kick-start this review today, but instead it is being kicked around.

"There is a real need for the governments to make it clear that the political process will carry on, whether or not paramilitary groups live up to democratic standards".

He added: “The publication of the Independent Monitoring Commission’s report in two weeks will provide the governments with the opportunity to show whether they will work with democrats or allow paramilitaries to hold the process to perpetual ransom.”

(SP)