Irish, British want ‘final understanding’ by fall

A one-day British-Irish summit with the Northern Ireland parties in London last week ended with the announcement that there would be intensive talks in September to reach “a final understanding” between Sinn Fein and the Rev. Ian Paisley’s DUP, the parties at the center of the deadlock.
American envoy Mitchell Reiss was in Belfast this week to continue contacts with the parties and the two governments, but last week’s summit signaled that major political activity is over for the summer.
At the end of the London meeting Friday, September was described as a deadline for progress. However, there was no firm indication of what would happen if a deal is not completed.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair hinted that if those talks fail he may close the Stormont Assembly — which will have been suspended for almost two years at that point — and cut off the income of more than 100 Northern Ireland politicians.
“Most people in Northern Ireland realize you can’t continue with an assembly, people being paid salaries and not doing anything,” he said Friday. “The politicians are perfectly sensible people. They have their own credibility to protect.”
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern indicated that the two governments share a growing impatience the lack of progress in the North. “The question is whether we can come to a final understanding on these issues,” he said. “We can’t keep having discussions that do not lead us to ultimate conclusions.”
The central problems remain the inability to form a power-sharing administration that contains both the DUP and Sinn Fein, which are, respectively, the largest unionist and nationalist parties.
The DUP refuses to cooperate with, or even speak directly to, Sinn Fein, because of its association with the IRA. But both governments say the problem does not lie entirely with the DUP, recognizing that much unionist suspicion is fueled by the continued existence of the IRA.
So September’s talks will focus on many of the same issues that caused a similar summit last October to founder. Unionists will want a significant demonstration that the IRA will be wound up, while nationalists will seek assurances that unionists are serious about sharing power.
Blair said everyone recognizes “that it is time to come to the point of decision. The people of Northern Ireland want that.”
The prime minister added: “For the credibility of the process, for our own credibility, we need to make sure that happens.”
The DUP claimed they were pleased with the outcome. Paisley said it was “possible to detect the faint outline and context of a way forward that would be agreeable to us.” But he added that progress depended on there being “no tolerance of terrorism.”
However, Sinn Fein insisted they were ready to do a deal at this stage. They claimed last week’s summit was “a missed opportunity.” Party chairman Mitchel McLaughlin said Sinn Fein was “mindful of the fact that there have been many missed deadlines in the recent past.”