Spring repeats opposition to elected body in the North

THE Tanaiste has repeated the Government's opposition to an elected assembly in Northern Ireland. Mr Spring said yesterday any proposal which espoused the position of one community over the other would not be acceptable.

He added that he was likely to meet the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, to discuss the latest developments in the peace process within days.

Mr Spring said the Government would be seeking an assurance at the summit between the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister that Britain was still on target to have all party talks by the end of next month.

The Mitchell report was a solid, independent assessment and, as far as the Government was concerned, it should form the basis of discussions on the political track, which should take place as quickly as possible. The Government was seeking to have a range of meetings with the various parties to get their detailed responses.

While Mr John Major had expressed his preferences for decommissioning or an elected body, he had not given any indication to the Government that he was withdrawing from what he had signed up for last November, which was all party talks by the end of February, Mr Spring said.

There were conditions to be met before any elected body could be there had to be broad agreement, a clear mandate and it has to be within the three strands.

"I have to say that nobody has shown the Irish Government any model that meets those conditions If anybody wants to come forward with a model like that, let them come forward with it.

"I say to Mr Trimble and anybody else, if they have a model that meets those conditions, they have a duty to discuss it with the Irish Government and the other parties as quickly as possible," he said.

The matter was first raised on the Order of Business by the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, who said it was "absolutely tragic" that given the favourable initial response to the Mitchell report, the hope for a breakthrough in the peace process was dashed within a few hours.

He asked the Tanaiste if he would accept there was widespread anger among nationalist Ireland because of the way the report had been brushed aside by Mr Major on Wednesday. What the Prime Minister had posed was a false choice between Washington 3 and an elected assembly.