No done deal on NI elections, warns Ahern
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern warned today that a deal had not yet been done on the Northern Ireland peace process.
He said at least three important issues needed resolving and that the coming days would be of crucial importance for the democratic life of Northern Ireland.
Speaking in Co Kildare, Mr Ahern said: “I know there’s some talk this morning that it is a done deal. That is incorrect. Quite frankly, people saying that only put more pressure on various sides.
“I know people have to speculate and people want to read this and that out of it. It’s not a done deal.
“There are still at least three important issues that we need to resolve, which I’m not going to say what they are. But there are three important issues.”
The Taoiseach said meetings had been taking place around the clock in recent days.
“I would like to think that we could tie these things up in the next couple of days,” he said.
But he warned that the governments had been “within about 50 minutes” of securing a deal the last time.
He added: “We will stay at it tonight and all night if necessary. The obstacles are surmountable but so they were the last time. We are as near again as we were the last time.”
He said it was better to have difficulties now than afterwards, and that it was better to be “very precise and very clear“.
The Taoiseach was speaking to reporters after the annual Wolfe Tone commemoration ceremony in Bowdenstown.
During his speech, Mr Ahern said: “We have always said that we want elections to take place. We did not agree to their postponement earlier this year.
“The coming days will be of crucial importance for the democratic life of Northern Ireland.”
Mr Ahern said divisions could only be bridged if all political groups worked together.
“We have been here before, and close before,” he said. “Nobody should underestimate the scale of the challenge or its enormous importance. Building trust is essential.
“We therefore welcome the direct and intensive engagement between the UUP and Sinn Féin in recent weeks.
“We hope that this will be fruitful and that it will prove possible to turn a further decisive page in the long history of our island.”
Today, Mr Ahern warned that trust among parties was “not the same as confidence” – and spoke of the role the Independent Monitoring Commission will play in the future.
He said: “It is our intention that the Commission be in a position to go live by the end of November.
“It will report on the fulfilment of any commitments on the cessation of paramilitary activity and security normalisation.
“The Commission can, furthermore, recommend remedial action if they conclude that a party is in breach of its commitments, for example on the pledge of office.”
The body, part of the British and Irish government’s blueprint for restoring devolution to the North, will gather information from the public as part of its six monthly assessments of terrorist activities and scaling down of security.
Currently in shadow form, the commission will be formally constituted when the British and Irish governments give effect to a new International Agreement.
