Complete end to violence needed to restore North’s power-sharing, urges Blair

BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted yesterday that there must be a “complete and unequivocal end to violence” by paramilitaries in Northern Ireland if the power-sharing executive is to be restored.

Mr Blair, speaking outside his Sedgefield home following talks with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, said that new talks between the parties at Leeds Castle, Kent, next week represent a crucial juncture.

Mr Blair said: “It is two years now since I made a speech... about acts of completion, saying in effect we had to move the whole thing forward and get it done.