Ahern stresses need for partnership in North

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has stressed the need for partnership between all sides in the Northern Ireland peace process to avoid a return to violence.

Speaking in the University of Ulster in Coleraine during a one-day visit to the North, Mr Ahern said negotiations in the peace process, including the review of the Belfast Agreement, were at a "critical" phase.

He said both the Irish and British governments were determined to ensure a deal was achieved, adding that Northern Ireland has been "transformed for the better" in the six years since the agreement was signed on Good Friday, 1998.

He also noted the huge advances in co-operation between the North and South on issues like trade, infrastructure and political engagement. Before Ministers from both administrations started regular meetings, elements of society like roads and energy were all planned and delivered separately, "with all the waste and duplication of resources" that that involved, he said.

"I am not for a moment suggesting that all of the problems and all of the  sensitivities have been washed away. But we do have a great deal more common ground."

Mr Ahern insisted consensus was the only viable option for progress. "If we are to consolidate peace and have stable politics that delivers good governance for the people of Northern Ireland, there must be full and inclusive partnership," he said. This can only be reached through "total equality" between the prospective partners.

"If partnership is being sought by one side in a context where the use or threat of force have not been finally removed from the equation, it is very hard to persuade a reluctant or fearful partner of the presence of equality. Likewise, if the offer of partnership only extends to its partial or selective operation, it does not represent an equality of inclusion between all sides," Mr Ahern said.

"There can be no half-way house between violence and democracy."

He repeated demands for the IRA to disarm completely, and for unionists to work in tandem with Sinn Féin in the Northern Ireland Executive.

The two governments are currently considering submissions by the various political parties in the North for a review of the Agreement. Both Mr Ahern and British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, insist the fundamentals of the deal are not up for re-negotiation, rejecting calls from the Democratic Unionist Party for it to be torn up. Despite this, the Taoiseach described his historic talks with the DUP leadership in London last month as "a good start".

He also pledged to continue talks with loyalist leaders, who he recognised as having major challenges in "leaving behind the negative agenda of the past". He said he hoped to help "create vibrant and confident loyalist communities" who can contribute to the future of the island.