Ahern and Blair agree plan for North

THE Irish and British governments last night agreed plans for an all-out push to restore the North’s power- sharing Executive.

After a crucial peace summit in London, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the governments had charted a work programme for the next six weeks.

Mr Ahern said he remained hopeful that real progress could be made ahead of fresh Northern Ireland elections planned for May and also to mark the fifth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, signed in April 1998.

“We never thought the Good Friday Agreement was going to be easy but we would like to finish this five-year period by dealing with the outstanding issues,” Mr Ahern said.

The continuing volatile situation in the North also came into focus with the discovery of a crude bomb at a government building in Belfast which houses the Prison Service HQ.

Mr Ahern also held talks at the Irish Embassy in London with Ulster Unionist party leader David Trimble. But following that meeting Mr Trimble insisted that the next initiative remained with the IRA and Sinn Féin leadership.

“There have been times when we jumped first. That’s not going to happen again,” Mr Trimble said as he challenged the IRA leadership to totally disarm and then disband.

But Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams rejected Mr Trimble’s statement.

He said that Republicans were working to eliminate the gun from Irish politics but much depended on further police reforms and the scaling down of British security in the North.

The Northern Ireland Executive was disbanded last October for the fourth time to prevent its collapse due to a Unionist walkout. This followed allegations that Republicans were using their position in government to spy on prison officers, police and loyalists.

At the time the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair warned Republicans they had to make a definitive choice between democracy and paramilitary activity.

Officials close to the process last night said hope remained that the institutions can be revived ahead of the start of the election campaign in late March. Mr Ahern said in practice all sides now have six weeks to make progress.

Northern Ireland secretary, Paul Murphy, said yesterday’s meeting had been constructive and useful and would be followed by more talks in Belfast next week.

“The meeting certainly meant that we were upping gear in terms of discussions and negotiations. What was encouraging was that everybody involved in this process is absolutely convinced that we need to address the main issues,” Mr Murphy said. Mr Adams said he looked forward to seeing the detail of an implementation plan for the Good Friday Agreement from both governments.