Blair to crank up North peace talks on visit to Dublin

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair will make his first official visit to Ireland in almost two years next Thursday as part of a renewed effort to restore devolution to the North.

Mr Blair will meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Farmleigh House, where the two leaders will review the current position in the peace process and examine issues that have yet to be resolved.

While the two leaders have met regularly in London and at the margins of EU Council meetings in Brussels, it is Mr Blair’s first trip to Ireland since May 2004, when the official ceremony took place to welcome the 10 new member states to the union.