February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
He said he had asked for the meeting with Ambassador Richard Haass to reiterate his party’s concerns over the collapse of the Stormont Assembly.
The assembly was recently suspended by the British government in the aftermath of arrests and allegations that several civil servants had been involved in the gathering of confidential information in the parliament building that could be of use to the IRA.
“I don’t accept that the U.S. supported the suspension,” Adams said after the meeting which lasted about 90 minutes.
When the British government announced the fourth suspension of Stormont power-sharing assembly, Haass said that he understood why the action was taken.
Adams, however, was less understanding.
“We have to get it right, these sort of ad hoc serialized suspensions of what is the political anchorage of a bigger process is not the way to go forward,” he said after his meeting with Haass.
Adams said he supported the talks on the North being organized for next week by Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen and the new British secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Paul Murphy.
After Adams left for Sinn Fein fundraisers in New York and New Jersey, Haass told the press he would be traveling to Belfast this week to assess the situation there.