British and Irish Prime Ministers met with Northern Ireland's
political parties in Belfast on Thursday to restate the deadline
for a deal on devolution.
In a fresh bid to end the political deadlock in Northern
Ireland, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister
Bertie Ahern exhorted the main parties, the Democratic Unionist
Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein, to agree to power-sharing by November
24.
"We are convinced that November is the outer limit of an
acceptable timeframe," Blair and Ahern said in a joint statement.
"Failure to meet that deadline would be a failure which will put
the assembly in cold storage from November 24."
The two leaders reinforced their insistence that they would end
the assembly members' pay and allowances if there is no deal.
"This is the last chance for this generation to make this
process work," said Blair.
Ahern said "The reality of this is that if we don't do by
November 24 then we lose a huge opportunity." He wanted to see the
institutions up and running as soon as possible, he added.
DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said "We can not move on to the
next stage unless we move in the sequence of scoping the issues,
debating the issues and then negotiating the issues."
Sinn Fenn president Gerry Adams said he hoped the process could
move on. "We now want them (the two governments) to match that
verbal commitment with action in the time ahead." he said.
While there are still almost five months to November 24, senior
London, Dublin, DUP and Sinn Fein sources privately acknowledge
that there is no indication whatever that DUP would agree to go
into government with Sinn Fein by then.
Earlier this year, British and Irish governments introduced
emergency legislation to enable the assembly to be recalled on May
15 and imposed an "immovable deadline" of November 24 for forming a
power-sharing executive.
Northern Ireland's politicians took their seats in the Stormont
Assembly on May 15 for the first time since its suspension in
October 2002. Direct rule from London was restored in October 2002
and has been in place since.
(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2006)
