Ahern says Trimble meeting 'timely and useful'

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, described his meeting with the North’s First Minister Mr David Trimble in Dublin this evening as "timely…

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, described his meeting with the North’s First Minister Mr David Trimble in Dublin this evening as "timely and useful".

Speaking to journalists after the 40-minute meeting in Government Buildings, Mr Ahern said he still believed the IRA ceasefire was in place.

Meanwhile British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair and British Chancellor Mr Gordon Brown is to visit the North on Thursday in a bid to stabilise the political institutions.

Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr Trimble arrived in Dublin shortly after rival unionists thwarted his bid to have the IRA's ceasefire re-examined by Northern Secretary Dr John Reid.

READ MORE

The UUP clashed with Democratic Unionists Party during a debate by Northern Assembly members on the state of the IRA ceasefire.

Mr Trimble had tabled a motion calling Dr Reid to make an assessment of the IRA's ceasefire amid allegations that the group is targeting leading Conservatives and was behind the March 17th break-in at the top security Castlereagh Police Station.

Afterwards Mr Trimble hit out at the Rev Ian Paisley's party, saying: "The Democratic Unionists turned out to be the insincere hypocrites we know them to be."

Mr Blair and Mr Brown decided to travel to Belfast following today’s row at Assembly. They are expected to outline an economic aid package, as part of their efforts to appease the unionists.

Meanwhile Assembly Mr Peter Weir confirmed he had defected to the DUP this evening. Mr Weir was thrown out of UUP after a row with Mr Trimble last year.

Earlier the Assembly heard claims that the IRA was gearing up for a new terror campaign.

DUP deputy leader Mr Peter Robinson said: "This organisation is getting itself ready for war and it's time people in this House realised these aren't peacemakers sitting on these benches."

But Mr Gerry Kelly, the Sinn Fein MLA for North Belfast, claimed the debate highlighted unionist hypocrisy to paramilitary violence. "Four people have been killed in the last 18 months by loyalists and yet there has been in the benches opposite absolute silence," he said.

Before the Assembly debate, Sinn Féin’s Mr Martin McGuinness attacked a threat by Mr Trimble to use to pull down the power-sharing Assembly Dr Reid failed to act.

"I think there's every danger of us reaching a huge crisis within this process when I hear for example Mr David Trimble this morning talking about the nuclear option.

"We know what happened at Hiroshima, we know what happened at Nagasaki. Why are we talking about making the North of Ireland effectively a political wasteland?" he said.

Additional reporting PA