Taioseach seeks dialogue with all parties

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday said a detailed review of the Good Friday Agreement would be unlikely to start until the New Year.

Speaking in the Dáil, he conceded the success of the Democratic Unionist Party in the Assembly Elections had made the restoration of the Assembly and Executive much more difficult.

"It's certainly not going to be as straightforward as it might have been with the Ulster Unionist Party, Sinn Féin, the SDLP and pro-agreement parties generally," Mr Ahern told the Dáil yesterday.

Asked by Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte for his response to last week's elections, Mr Ahern said he would engage in dialogue with all the parties, and would be glad to do so as soon as possible.

When asked by Pat Rabbitte if he agreed the exclusion of the SDLP from the recent decommissioning negotiations by the two governments had been partly responsible for the party's poor performance, the Taoiseach said he rejected that view.

"I do not accept the SDLP position about being marginalised. I do not accept that argument at all," he said.

Saying he hoped the DUP would take an enabling rather than a disabling role in the political process, he pointed to Peter Robinson's recent statement that the DUP was prepared to work for a solution that would satisfy all the communities.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair told the House of Commons he was still hopeful the deadlock could be broken.

"I understand from the DUP that they are saying they still want some form of agreement to go forward. We will have to take it forward and we will have to acknowledge, I hope, the fantastic progress that has been made in Northern Ireland," he said.

"It is a more difficult situation, yes. But it is one that we will have to manage and we are used to managing difficult situations in Northern Ireland. What is interesting to me is that there is no sense that the political situation which needs resolving is going to lead to a security crisis," he said.

US President George W Bush's Special Envoy to Northern Ireland Richard Haass is due to meet in Dublin on Friday to discuss the deadlock. He is visiting Belfast and London over the next two days.

The DUP, which is expected to meet Mr Blair before Christmas, has said it is preparing to enter into positive, constructive dialogue.

Mr Robinson said the DUP looked forward to working with Mr Blair and others to bring about the change the unionist electorate had voted for.

"We recognise it might take a little time for some people to acknowledge that there has been a swing in unionist opinion and that change is going to be necessary," he added.

He dismissed speculation that his party would sit back and do nothing until the General Election when it would hope to pick up seats from the Ulster Unionists.