Strengthening peace agreement 'most important'

Foreign Minister Brian Cowen today identified consolidation of the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland as ‘‘the single most important challenge for the next Dublin government.

Speaking at a General Election campaign briefing in Dublin on his Fianna Fail party’s policy on Northern Ireland, Mr Cowen also called the negotiation and implementation of the 1998 peace accord ‘‘the most important political achievement of the past year years.’’