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.

The last time the prime minister came to Ireland for a one-to-one meeting with Mr Ahern on the Northern situation was in 2002.

The decision by Mr Blair to come to Dublin was being portrayed last night as a signal of a renewed urgency on his part to achieve a final and lasting political solution in the North.

A source on the Irish side described it as a “legacy” issue, with Mr Blair anxious to settle the Northern issue before he steps down from the British premiership, amid speculation that he may do so as soon as 2007.

This week’s meeting will take place the day before both governments receive the latest report of the International Monitoring Commission (IMC) into paramilitary activity.

The Irish Examiner understands that the report will be largely positive and will pave the way for intense engagement involving the governments and Northern parties.

There was some anxiety in Government circles in the run-up to Christmas that the report might have included adverse findings in relation to either IRA criminality or surveillance. That was fomented by the claim by DUP leader Ian Paisley that the IMC had told him it would not give the IRA a clean bill of health.

However, it is believed that any concerns about continuing activities have been largely dissipated and will facilitate the resumption of negotiations to restore the Northern institutions. They are scheduled to begin in early February.

The Government is anxious to move quickly to make progress in advance of the marching season.

A Government statement issued last night said: “(Mr Ahern and Mr Blair) are expected to emphasise the need for all of the parties to engage intensively in the coming months.”