Renegotiation of Good Friday deal not an option, says Blair

RENEGOTIATION of the Good Friday Agreement is not an option, Tony Blair said yesterday as both he and Bertie Ahern strongly renewed their joint commitment to the peace process.

Speaking after their meeting at Farmleigh House in Dublin’s Phoenix Park before the IRA last night publicly released its full statement of two weeks ago, both leaders expressed their unified commitment to pursuing the terms of the agreement and the Joint Declaration published last Thursday.

“There is going to be no renegotiating of the Good Friday Agreement. That is the agreement. That is the only agreement upon which there is any possibility of getting the consensus of the people of Northern Ireland and it isn’t going to change,” insisted Mr Blair.

Held amid heightened security after a controlled explosion was carried out on a pipe bomb just yards from Government Buildings yesterday morning, the Farmleigh summit also gave both leaders a chance to smooth over any differences of opinion arising from last week’s events.

“I’ve made it clear that progress has been made in recent weeks by the republican movement but it is essential, as I stated last week, that we have clarity,” said Mr Ahern, referring to the postponement of Assembly elections last week as a temporary setback.

Mr Blair referred to the remarkable working relationship between the two governments saying: “whatever the differences about the decisions that we took last week, we are absolutely united and determined to work together to bring this process forward.”

Both Mr Ahern and Mr Blair said they were determined to proceed with as many elements of the Joint Declaration as possible in the absence of a solution to the current impasse in the North.

“Some of the provisions are explicitly linked to acts of completion, so obviously, we can’t go with those just now but we continue to work to create the political context which allows for those undertakings to be realised,” Mr Blair said adding that aspects related to criminal justice, policing, security normalisation, equality and the implementation of an Independent Monitoring Body would be pursued in any case.

“There’s a lot that we can do to put ourselves in the position when we do get clear and unequivocal answers to be able to move this whole process forward,” said Mr Blair.

However Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness countered the unified optimism of Mr Ahern and Mr Blair saying the political atmosphere in the North had soured considerably in recent days.

Mr McGuinness also said it was time for the Irish Government to start standing up for itself and repeated his view that the IRA statement given to the two governments would be made public in a matter of days.