Battle begins to rescue Northern Assembly

THE strong performance of anti-Agreement parties in the Assembly election will not deter the Irish and British Governments from working to restore devolution to Northern Ireland.

In a joint statement last night, they signalled their intention to seek a political resolution to restore the Assembly with a quickly established functioning executive.

Insisting the Good Friday Agreement was the only viable political framework, Taoiseach Mr Ahern ruled out any renegotiation.

In his first detailed response to the huge gains made by the anti-Agreement Democratic Unionist Party, Mr Ahern confirmed both governments would contact the North’s parties immediately to begin a review of the Agreement.

“A review is not a renegotiation, it cannot be,” he said last night. “It’s about the workings of the Agreement. It is how, for good or for bad, the Agreement has worked over the past number of years.”

Mr Ahern also seemed to suggest a shift in Fianna Fáil’s position in terms of a possible future coalition with Sinn Féin in the South.

Asked about his party’s refusal to enter discussions on this issue in the past, he replied: “That is going back a few years. That was the position that I stated in 2002. Following that, both Tony Blair and I entered into discussion [with Sinn Féin] on acts of completion.”

"If the acts of completion were to occur, he said “that would change the whole dynamics of the situation”.

With the DUP winning 30 of the 108 seats in the Assembly, it has surpassed the UUP to become the largest unionist party for the first time.

DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said the party had a mandate to press for renegotiation of the Agreement.

However, Mr Ahern pointed out the Good Friday negotiations had produced an international agreement that could only be changed by plebiscites, North and South.

“It is an agreement in the terms of the Vienna Convention and in the terms of international agreements. It just cannot be set aside like that,” he said.

There was widespread consensus last night that the peace process was entering a protracted period of deadlock, with little prospect of the institutions being restored.

UUP leader David Trimble, under pressure following his party’s eclipse, said he had no intention of resigning, as dissident Jeffrey Donaldson repeated his claim that Mr Trimble’s position was untenable.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said he would seek to hold talks with the DUP, saying the unionist party had shifted its viewpoint away from total opposition to dealing with Sinn Féin.