Pressure mounts on DUP over power sharing

DUBLIN and London piled maximum pressure on the DUP to cut a power sharing deal last night after ceasefire watchdogs delivered a glowing verdict on the IRA’s commitment to the peace process.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Premier Tony Blair insisted the March vote for a Belfast Assembly would only proceed if there was a real prospect of a cross-community government for the North.

The two leaders used a Downing Street summit to publicly welcome the Independent Monitoring Commission’s (IMC) report on paramilitaries and Sinn Féin’s historic decision to endorse civil policing.

They also issued a thinly veiled threat to DUP leader Ian Paisley that if he did not show a commitment to power-sharing the planned elections would be cancelled and Dublin given much greater influence over the North as part of a direct rule “Plan B.”

Mr Ahern said there would be no point in going through the motions of a March 7 election if it was clear a cross community deal could not be done by the deadline of March 26.

The Taoiseach said Mr Blair was now “convinced” the DUP would share power following meetings with Mr Paisley.

“The basis upon which these elections go ahead should be very clear — it is that, on the one side, there is proper support for the rule of law, the courts, the criminal justice system and the police, and, on the other side, a commitment to power-sharing by March 26,” Mr Blair said.

The IMC’s 13th report insisted the IRA has abandoned terrorism and violence, including shootings, assaults or intelligence gathering and many of its members have taken the political path within Sinn Féin.

It also stated the IRA, as an organisation, continues not to be involved in criminality.

The report noted that during the period under review, September to November 2006, a number of dissident republican groups, including the Continuity IRA were still involved in crime.

The IMC’s assessment of the Loyalist Volunteer Force, remained that it is “primarily a criminal concern which does not have any coherent political purpose.”