Ahern meeting with Paisley 'a success'

THE historic meeting between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Ian Paisley yesterday was hailed as a success as both sides made it clear it was time for paramilitaries to get rid of the guns.

While the break-the-ice meeting with the DUP at the Irish Embassy in London was described as constructive and amicable, Dr Paisley's party remains opposed to entering direct negotiations with the Government.

The big issue for the upcoming review of the Good Friday Agreement is taking guns out of the hands of terrorists, Dr Paisley told Mr Ahern.

After his first face-to-face encounter with Dr Paisley, the Taoiseach said the meeting was businesslike and cordial and that the DUP had expressed its willingness to engage constructively and co-operatively in the review.

"We are here to try to do business and I think Dr Paisley and his colleagues said they were prepared to engage in that. Let's see how we get on. Today was a good start," he said.

Accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and Junior Foreign Affairs Minister Tom Kitt, the Taoiseach said he hoped contacts with the DUP would be broadened over the coming weeks and pledged that the Government would be even handed and fair and constructive in the review talks.

"We want to make progress. We want to see a peaceful and inclusive Northern Ireland. We want to see everybody's mandate respected and we want to see, as best as we can, an end to violence, whether that violence comes from one community or the other,"A said Mr Ahern.

Just last year Rev Paisley insulted Mr Cowen's "thick lips" and almost 40 years ago he threw a snowball at then Taoiseach Sean Lemass an incident recalled humorously yesterday but on departure from the embassy last night, the DUP delegation shook hands with their Irish Government counterparts.

Commending recent comments by Mr McDowell about Sinn Féin, Dr Paisley said they appeared to suggest the Government did not see the party as fit for Government.

Playing down the historic nature of the meeting by stressing that the party had previously sat down with Irish officials, the DUP leader said his party wanted good neighbourly relations with the Government.

"This time, with the DUP being the leading unionist party in Northern Ireland, there is a difference. The difference is that we are not here to pander, we are not here to ask for something that is not our right," he said.

Mr Ahern was told that the DUP would not negotiate with his Government on the so-called 'strand one' issues relating to the internal government of Northern Ireland something the Taoiseach confirmed he was not seeking.