Sinn Féin welcomes DUP’s ‘advance’ on Good Friday Agreement

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern’s belief that the Democratic Unionist Party accepts the fundamental principles of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) was a highly significant advance, Sinn Féin said yesterday.

The party's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said, if true, it represented a "huge statement" and if DUP leader Ian Paisley was prepared to reach agreement, so would Sinn Féin.

His upbeat assessment of last week's historic first official meeting between the DUP and the Irish Government in Dublin was qualified, however.