The Taoiseach has said that this morning's meeting between the two Sinn Féin ministers and their southern counterparts was to have been a low key affair. Bertie Ahern said that it would have remained so if First Minister David Trimble had not drawn attention to it. Answering Opposition questions about the meeting with Martin McGuinness and Bairbre de Brún this afternoon, the Taoiseach said that the main subject under discussion had been child welfare, and that the discussions had gone well.
David Trimble had expressed concern about the meetings. The Ulster Unionist leader said that Sinn Féin was using the meetings for electoral purposes in the midst of campaigning for local and Westminster elections. Mr Trimble described the meetings between the Minister for Health, the Minister for Education, and their Stormont counterparts as a political stunt. He said that it had nothing to do with Ministers Bairbre de Brún and Martin McGuinness discharging their ministerial duties, and he said that he intended lodging a protest with the Taoiseach.
Mr Trimble added that he was disturbed and astonished by the behaviour of the Irish Ministers. "They must know," he said, "that they are being used as an electoral stunt by Sinn Féin, so why are they doing it?" He said that the meetings did not constitute a formal North/South meeting.
Mr Trimble imposed a ban on Sinn Féin Ministers attending cross-border meetings last November in an attempt to force progress on IRA decommissioning. The Belfast High Court later declared the ban illegal, but it remains in force. Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin said that the meetings in Dublin were not a gesture of defiance to Mr Trimble. He said that they were about the effective execution of their duties.
