Haass in talks with Ahern and Cowen

United States special envoy to Northern Ireland Richard Haass was having talks in Dublin today with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Foreign Minister Brian Cowen.

Three items dominated the agenda of the separate high level exchanges.

They were the continuing controversy over the “Stakeknife” allegations, the Stevens report on security force collusion with loyalist murders and the desire of President George W Bush administration’s to see the Northern Ireland Assembly elections go ahead as soon as possible.

The discussions followed a series of meetings involving Mr Haass and political party leaders on the northern side of the Irish border earlier this week, when the need for an early poll was also underscored.

Mr Cowen expressed “serious concerns” about the Stakeknife affair after London talks yesterday with Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy.

Both he and Mr Haass repeated the need for the Northern Ireland elections to proceed following their meeting today in Mr Cowen’s departmental headquarters.

MrCowen said both Dublin and Washington were working towards the elections being held before the “target date” of next autumn, and stressed their joint commitment to “the primacy of politics.”

He said a verifiable end to paramilitary activity was vital for that to happen, but noted that the “deficit in trust and confidence” was “a two-way street“.

He said Ulster’s unionists had their part to play.

Mr Haass, scheduled to see Mr Ahern later today, added that the electorate of Northern Ireland needed to know that, should they go the polls, a restoration of the institutions would result.