British and Irish group to meet

The difficulties facing the Northern peace process are expected to dominate the two-day meeting of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body which begins in Dromoland Castle, Co Clare, today.

The possibility of Ireland becoming a full member of the Western European Union is also to be discussed. It is to be raised by the Conservative MP, Mr Michael Colvin.

The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, who addresses the body this morning, will be questioned by the former Conservative and now Labour MP, Mr Peter Temple-Morris, about the Government's position on the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons and explosives.

He will also be asked about the Government's view on the impasse at Drumcree.

The Sinn Fein TD for Cavan-Monaghan, Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain, will press for an independent inquiry into the 1974 Monaghan and Dublin bombings.

Mr Austin Currie, the Dublin West Fine Gael TD and former leading SDLP representative, will seek a progress report on the recovery of the bodies of those who have disappeared and are thought to have been murdered by paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.

Mr Currie has raised the matter on several occasions in the Dail with the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews. In a question tabled to Mr O'Donoghue, he notes that Sinn Fein publicly promised assistance in the matter four years ago.

The Fine Gael spokesman on Northern Ireland, Mr Charles Flanagan, is to call for the setting up of a joint parliamentary forum of members from the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Oireachtas.

The Fianna Fail Donegal South West TD, Ms Mary Coughlan, will ask Mr O'Donoghue about the possibility of including Ballyshannon, Clogher and Belleek in the plans for the reopening of the Ulster Canal.

Other issues to be discussed over the two days will include education and inter-community relations in the North, the setting up of a task force for industrial development in the Border regions, and rural poverty.

The 50-member British-Irish body was established in 1990 as a link between Westminster and Leinster House. Members are drawn from the upper and lower houses in both parliaments.

The body is co-chaired by the Tipperary North Fianna Fail TD, Mr Michael O'Kennedy, and the Labour MP, Mr David Winnick. This week's gathering is its 18th plenary conference.

Mr O'Kennedy said last night that the choice of the mid-west as the venue for the meeting was particularly significant, given that many of the O'Brien family, descendants of the Earls of Thomond, were members of the Westminster Parliament, including the Young Ireland leader, William Smith O'Brien.

"The tensions and struggles between England and Ireland through the generations are reflected in the castle grounds, including the surviving Famine wall which surrounds the estate," he added.