Bertie Ahern, Determined to fulfil Good Friday Agreement
The Taoiseach has warned that undercover armies were threatening to frustrate the peace process. In his speech at Arbour Hill, Bertie Ahern said that dissident paramilitary groups had the power to hold up political progress. He said that the very small minority of Republicans who opposed the Good Friday Agreement had the right to do so politically, but to try to set aside by force the will of the people was not acceptable.
Mr Ahern said that he is determined the Good Friday Agreement will become fully operational again within the shortest possible delay. Speaking at the Fianna Fáil Arbour Hill commemoration, Bertie Ahern said that the Government is consulting closely with the British government and the pro-Agreement parties to achieve this end. He added that every party must bear in mind that by the time the four year review of the agreement comes about in 2002, each will have to give an account to the electorate of their successes or failure in its implementation.
Last night, the Sinn Féin President said that it is up to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and not the IRA, to save the Northern Ireland peace process. Speaking at an Easter Rising Commemoration in Derry yesterday, Gerry Adams said that the question was not to Sinn Féin about guns, but to the British Government as to whether they had the courage to unlock the future by reinstating the political institutions.
