THE TAOISEACH has placed the responsibility for the recent violence in Northern Ireland directly on the shoulders of the British government.
In one of the most outspoken attacks by a Taoiseach on any British prime minister, Mr John Bruton said he had told Mr Major that a democratic State could not yield to force. It could not afford to be inconsistent or partial in the way it applied the law. All canons of democracy had been breached in the Garvaghy Road events, he added in a BBC interview.
People looked to a police force and to a government in any democracy to be impartial, not to be willing to yield to pressure, and to be consistent - "and on all three counts the force of order and government failed in Northern Ireland in the last few days".
There was also evidence, he stated, of lack of impartiality in the way individuals were treated when residents were removed from Garvaghy Road and later in the protection of some areas from rioting and intimidation.
The peace process depended on politicians who supported democracy all of the time, not on an a la carte basis, and took their courage in their hands to make agreements, said Mr Bruton.
The British government's authority had been seriously damaged by concessions made to the Orange Order in this matter, he continued. The British government was not seen to be firm in the face of the threat of disorder from the Orange Order.
"It is a very serious mistake but it would be foolish to pretend that very serious damage has not been done," he said.
Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Northern Ireland Secretary, later launched a searing counter attack on the Taoiseach. On BBC radio and television, Sir Patrick described Mr Bruton's remarks as a "most extraordinary outburst".
Sir Patrick said the Taoiseach had "ducked" the crucial issue which had confronted the Chief Constable of the RUC - of saving lives in the escalating crisis of Drumcree. And he accused the Government of "double standards" in its attitude to the original decision of the Chief Constable, reversed on Thursday.
Yesterday, the Government instructed senior officials to seek an early meeting with Sinn Fein.
It has also sought an urgent meeting of the Anglo-Irish conference in response to what the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, has described as a betrayal of the nationalist community and an abandonment of principle by the British government.
The Taoiseach's Office has also been in contact with the SDLP leadership and the main church leaders with a view to meeting them next week.
The meeting between Government officials and Sinn Fein, the first since before the opening of all-party talks on June 10th, is intended "to explore ways of calming and stabilising the situation and to re-open the path for peace". A Government spokesman stressed last night that, in accordance with the ground rules laid down since the ending of the IRA ceasefire, there would be no Ministers present.
The Irish Times confirmed yesterday that the Government only learned accidentally of the Garvaghy Road decision shortly after noon on Thursday.
Following a tip-off from community contacts on Garvaghy Road that the RUC was moving trucks, the secretary of the Taoiseach's Department, Mr Paddy Teahon, phoned Mr Major's diplomatic private secretary. He was told the RUC decision had been reversed.
Mr Spring yesterday called for a full meeting of the Anglo-Irish conference to get "the British government to show us how their policy over the last few days has been even-handed and fair to both communities".
The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, urged the Taoiseach to call a full emergency session of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation next week. He believed Sinn Fein should be present. A Government spokesman thought that such a meeting was "unlikely" in the absence of a ceasefire.