Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said tonight politics in Northern Ireland was now in the worst crisis of a crisis-ridden process. He said the situation had been made worse by the Government's decision to suspend the devolved institutions. Speaking in West Belfast ahead of a meeting with Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, Mr Adams said: “There is no legal basis whatsoever for the suspension and the maintenance of the suspension. But to compound that difficulty we also have the rejection by the British Government of the report of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning.”
He said the only response needed from the British and Irish Governments, but particularly the British, was to reinstate the institutions as quickly as possible - and that means now.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said that he and the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, have now agreed a strategy for the next week to try and break the logjam in the peace process. Mr Ahern said that it was the aim of the two governments to get the suspension of the institutions lifted as soon as possible. He also said that it was the aim of both governments to make sure that all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement are implemented. On the issue of decommissioning, Mr Ahern said that he now believed that the second report from General John de Chastelain holds the key to moving the process forward.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brian Cowen, met with the Northern Secretary in Belfast this evening. The Minister said that positive and constructive meetings had taken place, with a frank exchange of views. He said he believed that everyone wanted to see the institutions re-established, but that confidence was required to make sure that everyone moves forward together. Speaking to RTÉ this morning, Mr Cowen echoed suggestions by the Taoiseach that the re-imposition of direct rule in the North had placed the Government in a difficult situation because there was no provision in the Constitution for suspension. He also said that it was vital that the peace process be put back on track in a matter of days.
Earlier, Mr. Mandelson told the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary body that he hopes the suspension of the Good Friday institutions will be short. Addressing the tenth anniversary of the body, he said that he was not under-estimating the significance of the latest IRA move on decommissioning and the report of General John de Chastelain, issued last Friday night. He added that he shared the Taoiseach's view of the significance of the report, but he said that the context in which the IRA would put its arms beyond use having been indicated to the decommissioning body, needed to be shared with everybody else.
This morning the Taoiseach urged the Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, to hold talks with John de Chastelain and the Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams. Writing in this morning's Irish Times, Mr Ahern said that the International Decommissioning panel believes the IRA has, for the first time, given it a commitment that decommissioning will happen. However, Dermot Nesbitt of the Ulster Unionist Party said that the IRA had only given a commitment to consider decommissioning.
Meanwhile, RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan tonight accused dissident republicans for a number of hijacking incidents today. The police chief claimed republican hard-liners were behind the hijacking and setting on fire of vehicles and the destruction of cross-border train services in the Lurgan area. Sir Ronnie also said the threat from terrorist groups remained very real, even though military patrols and helicopter flights in the South Armagh area had been reduced by 50% and security force patrols throughout Northern Ireland were a quarter of what they were at the time of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
