Ahern reaffirms commitment to the North’s peace process

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern last night insisted both he and British Prime Minister Tony Blair remained “absolutely committed” to seeing the North’s peace process successfully completed, despite the perception that last Friday’s dramatic day at Stormont was a setback.

Mr Ahern told a conference of British industry that he was confident power-sharing would return next March.

In a direct reference to the attempted attack by loyalist terrorist Michael Stone, he said: “Last Friday we hear an echo of a terrible past but we also got a glimpse of a shared future.