Unionism will be expected to share power with Sinn Féin and the SDLP if the IRA decommissioned and ceased all activity, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said yesterday. Altering the Belfast Agreement was not an option.
Mr Ahern rejected a comment made by DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley after his meeting with British prime minister Tony Blair on Thursday, that the Good Friday accord was dead and a new political beginning was required. Dr Paisley said also he saw little prospect of his party sharing power with Sinn Féin.
The Taoiseach, at the seventh British-Irish Council (BIC) summit held yesterday in the Isle of Man, insisted the Belfast Agreement had already been reviewed and was not going to be renegotiated.
"The review of the Good Friday agreement was politically accepted by everyone, including the DUP on December 8th," he told reporters. "We've had the review and the review is finished. We respect the good relationships we have built up with unionism, but the basis for moving forward is with the Good Friday agreement." Mr Ahern said the issue was discussed briefly at yesterday's summit and all British-Irish Council representatives, including deputy prime minister John Prescott, agreed with his view.
He indicated that, if the IRA unambiguously met Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams's requirement to fully embrace peace and democracy, he expected the DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party to share power with the two nationalist parties.
"We must still deal with all the outstanding issues like criminality, paramilitarism and decommissioning. If that happens, then we will expect unionism to participate in the power-sharing executive which is the basis of the Good Friday agreement. There is no other basis."
The BIC comprises the Republic and Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Its communiqué reaffirmed its commitment to the agreement: "The council recognised the ongoing commitment of the two governments to the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement." It looked forward to the restoration of the devolved institutions.
Meanwhile, the Independent Monitoring Commission's latest report on paramilitary activity is expected to be published on Tuesday. Sources say it will confirm statements recently made by the Taoiseach and PSNI chief constable Hugh Orde that, while the IRA is observing its "military" ceasefire, it is still carrying out "punishment" attacks, targeting and surveillance.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan will lead a party delegation to meet the Taoiseach at Government Buildings in Dublin on Monday. He will be accompanied by the new MP for South Belfast Dr Alasdair McDonnell and Assembly members Alex Attwood, Dominic Bradley, and Dolores Kelly.
Ulster Unionist Lord Kilclooney has said the party's sole MP, Lady Hermon, should be UUP leader at Westminster. There was no need to delay making this appointment as Ulster Unionists prepared to elect a new leader on June 23rd.
Lord Kilclooney - the former Strangford MP John Taylor - said Lady Hermon, who is not seeking the UUP leadership, should be in charge of the party's eight peers. "I am writing to our only MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon, to ask her to reconstitute our parliamentary party so that we may resume our weekly meetings."
Lady Hermon said it was "most thoughtful" of Lord Kilclooney to make the offer. "That said, I do think John's offer is rather premature as structures at Westminster will be for the new party leader to resolve in due course," she added.
