The Irish and British governments will "set aside" the Belfast Agreement and seek alternative means of political progress if a breakthrough is not made by June 30th, the Taoiseach said yesterday.
In a tough warning that the June 30th deadline (set by the British Prime Minister Mr Blair) is serious, Mr Ahern told the Dail the decommissioning issue had now been "debated to death. . .it depends on whether people are prepared to compromise. It is not complicated any more."
Mr Ahern in Dublin and Mr Blair, visiting Belfast, set out to show speculation that the deadline would be deferred should not be believed. Instead of the rapid triggering of the d'Hondt procedure for nominating ministers, London and Dublin are now understood to be seeking a formula to ensure in advance of any nominations that decommissioning does not block the final transfer of powers.
Mr Blair made a strong speech at Stranmillis College, Belfast, in which he stressed the need to adhere to the devolution deadline and warned that if this did not happen, "we will have to look for another way forward." The nomination of potential ministers in the Assembly has been delayed by disagreement among the parties over the conditions attached.
The First Minister and UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, maintained his tough stance on the weapons issue yesterday. "We have done everything we can to implement this agreement other than the one thing that would destroy the agreement, countenancing abandonment of the decommissioning issue," he said. "We are not going to sacrifice it for some sort of appearance.".
The Taoiseach said he believed he would be able to make a "quick judgment" over the next few days as to whether progress could be made. If the deadline was missed, he said, the agreement would be set aside, and he and Mr Blair would seek other means of making progress. They would try to bring forward some aspects of the agreement, but he indicated the institutional aspects including the Northern Ireland Assembly would be suspended.
The deadline would not be deferred, he said. If it was, the next obvious date would be September 30th, as nothing could happen in July and August. "I cannot think of anything which would change the position by delaying matters until the end of September on even December", he said.
He repeated this last night at a meeting with the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, in Government Buildings. Mr Adams told reporters afterwards that "both governments, through the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister, have made it quite clear that failure to move cannot continue forever".
Mr Ahern set out a "bottom line" interpretation of the Belfast Agreement that had to be accepted by Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party if progress is to be made: "It is my understanding that, under the terms of the agreement, decommissioning is not a precondition to the formation of the executive and that decommissioning is to take place by April 2000. If I know that is the understanding of both sides, I will negotiate an agreement. If it is not the understanding of both sides, I cannot negotiate it."