Leaders must restore soured relationships - McGuinness

Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, have much work to do to restore soured political relationships in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness said today.

Speaking ahead of a Dublin summit between the two leaders today, the Sinn Fein chief negotiator said he hoped Mr Ahern would make clear to Mr Blair the “very deep anger and disappointment” felt at the decision to call off the Northern Ireland Assembly elections.

Mr Blair announced last week that the May 29 poll was being delayed until at least the autumn because the IRA had failed to clarify its intentions with regard to decommissioning and an end to all violence.

Mr McGuinness said people “feel cheated” at the scrapping of the poll.

Speaking in Belfast he said: “There is a lot of anger and a lot of disappointment and I think the two Prime Ministers have a lot of work to do to restore the relationships which for five years and beyond were crucially important for bringing about the type of political progress that we have seen.

“The situation has soured and it has soured considerably and it is time now for the British Prime Minister in particular to recognise the damage that his government has done.”

But Mr McGuinness said Sinn Fein was not giving upon the peace process despite feeling “left out” by the activities of Mr Blair.

He said he expected the IRA statement detailing their intentions – already in the hands of the British government – to be published sooner rather than later.

He said it was a very important statement with “all sorts of new elements in it”.

He added: “I think the IRA statement will make clear the IRA was prepared to do all sorts of important things in relation to the issue of putting arms beyond use.”

What republicans have done to try to break the political deadlock was “absolutely huge”, he said.

Mr McGuinness said now the British and Irish government had published their declaration they now needed to fully and faithfully implement it.

There was a huge responsibility on Tony Blair to ensure he was not going to hold back the tide of political progress on the island.

However Mr McGuinness said that given the opposition to the Good Friday Agreement from the Democratic Unionist Party – and elements within the Ulster Unionist Party – “I think serious questions are now being asked as to whether or not it is possible to save the Good Friday Agreement and to move it forward”.

The pace of progress has been considerably slowed by the undemocratic decision of Mr Blair last week to cancel the election.

The two Prime Ministers, he said, had a duty and responsibility “to tell us whether they are going to be part of a process which sees that Agreement implemented”.

Mr McGuinness reiterated his belief that Mr Blair had cancelled the election because he had assessed the Ulster Unionists were not going to do well in it and that after the election the government was going to be faced with unionist parties controlled by anti-Agreement elements.