Ahern welcomes renewed faith in agreement

The Taoiseach has signalled that moves to renegotiate, amend, formally review or put new ideas on the agenda of the Belfast Agreement have been abandoned by the Northern parties.

He indicated that the talks conducted during the week by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, and the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, were "significant" and "helpful". All of the pro-agreement parties had agreed to support the position of fully implementing the Belfast Agreement, he said.

He intends to explore ways to overcome the current stalemate in talks with President Clinton in Washington next Thursday night and with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, on his return to Dublin.

After a day of engagements with the Irish-Australian community in Melbourne, Mr Ahern told journalists last night that the leader of the Alliance Party, Mr Sean Neeson, had put forward some proposals for round-table negotiations last Monday which were discussed by Mr Mandelson and Mr Cowen. Mr Neeson had, in the previous week, been talking to the other parties about getting things moving "within the Good Friday agreement, sticking to the Good Friday agreement, stop talking about moving outside of it, renegotiating it, or amending it". The Taoiseach said he had spoken to Mr Seamus Mallon and Mr Blair before he left for his official trip to Australia. "I stated that between now and the meetings in Washington next week that we would try and put all of the arguments of the last month . . . behind us and get on with constructively trying to see if there is some way we can square the circle," he said.

From the reports he had got on the talks, he added, people stated their positions but at least they were prepared to work within the terms of the agreement.

"I think that is massively helpful. It doesn't sort the problem and I don't want to make any statement that it does but at least everyone is determined that we stick to the terms of the agreement . . ." he continued.

Asked if there still had to be movement on decommissioning for a return of the executive, Mr Ahern said: "If you stick to the agreement, you follow a few terms that are there. Decommissioning is essential because it is part of the agreement. De Chastelain is the process that must be implemented. And then we have to try to explore the ways that you can try and move it".

There was no new formula. But it was evident from the remarks of Mr Mandelson and Mr Cowen that if they kept it very tight and if they just said it was about decommissioning and demilitarisation, "that allows us no scope to try to find a solution". In looking at the full terms of the Belfast Agreement, people believed there was only one issue. But there was also the criminal justice system, there was demilitarisation and, most importantly, there was the understanding that there would be trust, confidence and certainty about the future among all of the parties.

Mr Ahern said they would pursue the idea of round-table talks "hopefully, with the strong encouragement of President Clinton when he speaks at the American-Ireland Fund dinner on Thursday night". Asked about reports that the May deadline for the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement had been put back, the Taoiseach said it was too early to say that. At this stage, there was still May 22nd.

On whether there was a movement away from the handover of arms to the idea of disbanding the IRA, Mr Ahern said that was there all the time, but it was not going to solve the problem in the short term.

"As you know, there has been talking over the last month about renegotiation, about formal reviews, about new ideas being on the agenda. What this week has done - and it is significant - is that everybody, by agreement, has returned to the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement. Everybody is on side on that," he added.