MLA salary withdrawal unhelpful, says Ahern

A withdrawal of the salaries of members of the Northern Assembly would be unhelpful to the atmosphere of ongoing discussions to restore the North's institutions, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil.

Mr Ahern said the withdrawal of MLAs' salaries "will have a negative impact on a small number of parties, whereas other parties will not be much affected".

He pointed out, however, that Northern Secretary Peter Hain "has said he cannot indefinitely pay salaries to elected members of institutions that have not met for several years - since 2002 - and I also understand that point of view". But Mr Ahern stressed that Mr Hain's proposal to stop the salaries was "referring to the longer rather than the shorter term and I do not think he will take the matter further until this round of talks moves forward, hopefully successfully".

The Taoiseach was responding to Labour leader Pat Rabbitte who asked how could Mr Ahern persist in trying to "establish normal politics in Northern Ireland" if the Northern Secretary went ahead with the decision to withdraw salaries.

Could a democratic culture in Northern Ireland be maintained "if democratic representatives are deprived of a means of income", Mr Rabbitte asked. He added that the measure would "inevitably favour a well-resourced party with a large number of MPs in the House of Commons, such as the DUP".

Mr Ahern said a "withdrawal of salaries while discussions are ongoing will not help the atmosphere and I hope the Secretary of State does not do that".

He agreed that larger parties would fare better and the solution "is to end the debate by creating the trust and confidence for everybody to be able to make the necessary decision" to restore the institutions.

Finian McGrath (Ind, Dublin North-Central) asked if the Taoiseach would "encourage the unionist population, particularly those Unionists visiting Dublin in the next few weeks, to lay wreaths, whether they will consider laying a wreath in Talbot Street as a mark of respect to the 33 people killed and the 240 injured in Dublin and Monaghan on 17th May, 1974 by loyalist paramilitaries and members of the British security forces. Will he keep reminding Mr Paisley and company that there were victims on all sides of the conflict in the past 30 years?"

Mr Ahern replied that "I am sure those who follow the debates in the House will take note of the last suggestion.

"I always say to groups I meet from all quarters that everyone must realise that there were terrible atrocities on all sides and we should respect that."

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny asked if the Government would co-operate with the Opposition "if we put down a simple, non-political motion calling for a public inquiry, as per the recommendation of Judge Cory" into the murder of Northern Ireland lawyer Pat Finucane.

Mr Ahern said that in principle he had no problem with such a motion. It was an "open and shut case for us". However, he did not see any willingness on the part of the British government to change its view on its proposals for the inquiry. The inquiry "the British want to hold under the new legislation does not meet the needs of this case".