The Taoiseach has said all parties must join renewed talks on the restoration of the political institutions in Northern Ireland, saying IRA decommissioning had helped clear the path to final resolution of all outstanding issues. Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent, and Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor report.
Mr Ahern will meet British prime minister Tony Blair in Downing Street next week, DUP and Sinn Féin delegations will separately meet the British prime minister also next week and Mr Blair will visit the North late next month as the two leaders signal their determination to push for political progress in the wake of the apparent decommissioning of all IRA weapons.
In a statement to the Dáil yesterday on this week's decommissioning announcement, Mr Ahern indicated his determination to resist DUP attempts to move away from the Belfast Agreement, insisting the 1998 deal was "the only way" to the future. "There is no going back to past and failed ways," he declared, echoing the SDLP and Sinn Féin analysis that the DUP is seeking to unpick key elements of the agreement supported by nationalists.
Dublin and London acknowledge there is little prospect of political progress until after the Independent Monitoring Commission report in January on the level of IRA activity. However, both governments are making it clear they want progress then, with the Taoiseach having said this week he would like some agreement by Easter.
In his Dáil statement Mr Ahern acknowledged there were "those who remain unconvinced about recent developments". But despite the doubts of some it was "important also to begin to move on.
"We have to do so as it would be unconscionable and unacceptable to fall back or to accept a political stalemate. This is not a time for pessimism and undue delay. Real opportunity is opening up for Northern Ireland and for all of this island." The governments were not relying on the words of the IRA alone, nor were they asking anybody else to do so. "But we do place our trust in the IICD. It is what they say that matters."
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, described the decommissioning as "belated" but welcomed IICD confirmation that it had taken place.
"I find it very regrettable that the Democratic Unionist Party have chosen to question the integrity of people who have given so much of their time and efforts to achieve this outcome." He demanded that the Taoiseach now "come clean with the Irish people and tell them if a vote for Fianna Fáil is really a vote for Sinn Féin's participation in government."
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said nobody could be certain all arms had been destroyed "but focusing on inventories and the like is merely an excuse for further procrastination".
Sinn Féin's leader in the Dáil, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, said: "This must be acknowledged as a most courageous and unprecedented step on the part of the IRA."