Ahern expects power-sharing push in North to go to the wire

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern last night made it clear he expects the push to restore power sharing in the North to go right down to the November deadline.

After meeting British Premier Tony Blair to co-ordinate strategy, ahead of intensive all party talks scheduled for Scotland, next month, Mr Ahern insisted Dublin and London would not budge from their ultimatum.

Both governments again warned unionist and republican leaders that if no deal on creating a cross-community Executive was agreed by November 24, Stormont would be shut down and that the administration of the North would revert to “Plan B”.

This entails the Republic being given much more influence over the government of the North, although Mr Ahern refused to go into details of how that would work on a day-to-day basis.

He stressed there was now only 10 weeks left to find a way back to devolution.

“The issue is, do the parties in Northern Ireland want to forgo this opportunity or do they want to get the power sharing executive up and running.

“There are not too many places in the world where people elected with the mandate to govern would walk away from that,” he said.

The Taoiseach met Mr Blair at the British Prime Minister’s country residence of Chequers, near London, to prepare the ground for talks expected to take place in St Andrew’s, Scotland in the middle of October.

“We were working out how we will use the period ahead. That will include engagement with the parties, including some intensive engagement with them which will be finalised in the next few days,” he said.

Mr Ahern dismissed suggestions that the fact previous “deadlines” had been allowed to fade away diminished the threat this time, and he pointedly noted that the November 24 cut-off point had been firmly set down in legislation passed by the British parliament.

“I think the important thing is that this has been an extraordinarily and thankfully, a peaceful year in Northern Ireland.

“While the parties, the DUP and Sinn Féin, aren’t dealing directly with each other, they are on the committee for the Preparation for Government where a lot of good work is taking place,” he said.

Mr Blair warned it would be “difficult” to reinstate the North’s institutions if the November 24 deadline was allowed to slip away without a deal.

Mr Blair’s spokesman said the two leaders had reviewed “what was the calmest most trouble-free summer since before 1970”.

However, DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley said after talks with Mr Blair this week the chances of meeting the deadline were slim and dismissed the proposed talks in Scotland as a waste of money.