Kerry criticises Bush's demotion of North peace process

DEMOCRATIC presidential hopeful John Kerry has lashed US President George W Bush for pushing the Northern Ireland peace process down the foreign policy agenda.

In a comprehensive statement on the peace process to Irish American groups, Mr Kerry criticised Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists for "refusing to form a government with Sinn Féin".

He also urged the IRA and loyalists to get rid of all their weapons and end all paramilitary activity.

Mr Kerry, who has already won 15 of the 16 state primaries for his party's nomination for this November's election, accused the Bush administration of failing to build on Bill Clinton's efforts.

The Massachusetts senator's said: "John Kerry will put the Northern Ireland peace process high on America's foreign policy agenda. He will continue to follow the path set by Senator [Edward] Kennedy, President Clinton and Senator [George] Mitchell.

"There wasn't a US Ambassador in Ireland in more than a year. President Bush's lack of urgency in naming a new ambassador and the absence of presidential involvement in efforts to further the peace process are clear evidence Ireland is not a high priority."

Mr Bush has had two advisers on Northern Ireland: Ambassador Richard Haass and his recently appointed successor, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss.

In reference to the current political impasse in the North, Mr Kerry said: "The problem is not the structures of the Agreement itself, but rather the failure of all to fully implement it.

"The DUP cannot be permitted to disenfranchise half the population of Northern Ireland by refusing to form a government with Sinn Féin."

He also paid tribute to the role of the Irish community in the US and noted that his own country had also played its part in building peace and in the creation of the Celtic Tiger economy.

Economic ties between the two countries meant Irish companies were also a large investor in the US, creating more than 100,000 jobs, he said.

Arguing that Ireland served as "an important bridge between the US and the EU", Mr Kerry said he would work with the Dublin government to repair American ties with Europe, "greatly damaged in President Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq".