DÁIL REPORT:PLANS TO achieve devolution of policing and justice in Northern Ireland "might drift for a few months", but the Government "will not procrastinate on this issue", Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil.
Mr Ahern also said "there are two chances" of corporation tax harmonisation between the North and the Republic.
He stressed that assessment of the activities of all paramilitary groupings was ongoing. While there had been ongoing reports of their activities over the past six months or so, "the situation has not changed greatly over the last few years".
Mr Ahern, who paid renewed tribute the North's First Minister and DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley who is to stand down in May, told Opposition leaders that they would wait and see how issues developed following the change of leadership in the North.
Mr Ahern told Labour leader Eamon Gilmore that while he held a lot of meetings with DUP Ministers, in reviewing the Belfast Agreement, developing and building on the St Andrew's Agreement, "the person we dealt with almost exclusively in those negotiations was very much Dr Paisley".
What happens in the North "is very important and significant for us. It is the reason so much has been done over the years and the changes we have made to make North-South bodies work. Dr Paisley has done that and I hope whoever replaces him will follow that".
Pressed by Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin about meeting the deadline to implement devolution of policing and justice, Mr Ahern replied that "we will do everything we can to achieve that as soon as possible. It might drift for a few months but, hopefully, we will be able to make progress on it. The British prime minister has assured me it is also his agenda. We will not procrastinate on this issue and we will try to bring it to a conclusion".
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny asked about the North's corporate tax rate, "which is a disincentive in comparison with our rate? If we are talking about an island economic entity, this is a critical issue for the economic conference".
Mr Ahern said however that "it is clear from my discussions with Gordon Brown . . . that the idea of harmonising the tax rate in Northern Ireland to an equivalent level with the Republic of Ireland has two chances. I will not go into the rest."
But there were other alternatives. "Most of these companies, for some years, might not have been paying too much tax anyway. If there was a capital allowance or accelerated allowances, that would entice them to develop in Northern Ireland."
Mr Kenny expressed concern about "the emerging problem with the Real IRA", who in media reports referred a renewed campaign and attempted murders. "Even members of the Northern Ireland Executive are within the range of what the Real IRA calls legitimate targets."
Mr Ahern said there was a "hard core of people who never accepted the changed position back in the mid to late 1990s". It "does not take a lot to create acts of terrorism".
