Taoiseach admits Andrews went `over our line' on cross-Border body

The Taoiseach yesterday told the Dail he agreed that the Minister for Foreign Affairs had misrepresented the Government's position in his controversial remarks on cross-Border bodies. Mr Andrews has said he regretted using the phrase "bodies with executive powers not unlike a government."

Replying to opposition questions, Mr Ahern said: "I can understand the opposition wanting to remind the world at large that Minister Andrews went over what is our own line in one of about 22 interviews he did last week and that he has now corrected that position.

"I am sure it won't be the first time or the last time that he will have to do that. I am very glad that people have accepted that position and there was no mention of it in the (Northern) talks this morning and people went on about their business and reached a very successful end to the plenary."

The Fine Gael deputy leader, Mrs Nora Owen, asked if the Taoiseach was not deeply concerned about Mr Andrews's remarks and the implications for the Taoiseach's attendance at the talks next week. She referred to the "very damaging" impact of the comments by the Minister.

Was the Taoiseach aware that as recently as lunchtime, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, had said that the Government had got itself into a hole and that he might find it very difficult to continue dealing with it? She asked what action he had taken about the Minister.

Mr Ahern said the fundamental outcome that his Government wanted to see emerging from the talks was a stable agreement.

"We want something that is lasting and that all sides can live with, and, therefore, can be sustained. The outcome can only come about by consent, as we have made very clear," he added.

On North-South bodies, Mr Ahern said there would have to be unionist agreement about their functions. "The body is not conceived by us as a vehicle for taking over the government of Northern Ireland against the wishes of the majority. That was the interpretation that some people put on what the Minister had indicated. Rather it is a focus for the practical action at island level, for which there is ample scope, and as a necessary institutional expression of the identity of Northern nationalists."

Mrs Owen asked if the Taoiseach was disowning the Minister's remarks. "Will he now apologise for the comments that the Minister has made?" she added.

Mr Ahern replied that the Minister had clarified the situation. "These matters were dealt with yesterday in the North and everybody was back to business today."

He added that he had been talking to Mr Andrews the previous night, "and we reflected on the day as we do every day." He said that "in terms of the heat of yesterday we have clarified that issue and on it goes." He said he had been talking to some people in the North over the previous 24 hours, as he did every day.

The Labour leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, urged the Taoiseach to agree "in a more fulsome way" that Mr Andrews's remarks were "unfortunate and very unhelpful" and could have been avoided had the Minister stuck to his script. Mr Ahern should take every step to ensure, given the sensitive nature of what was involved and the history of the Sunningdale agreement on the Council of Ireland in particular, that "we don't stray from the script in these areas."

He asked if Mr Ahern had directly contacted Mr Trimble to reassure him of the formal position of the Government.

The Taoiseach said he did not want to put more heat into the issue than was necessary. "This matter has been well and truly dealt with."

Pressed further, he said: "I am sure there are lots of people concerned about lots of things to do with the Northern talks. Can I just assure the deputy that the concern of Mr Trimble has been well addressed yesterday and this morning. I want to thank Mr Trimble and all the others for the constructive role that they played at the talks today."

He said he was conscious that every word uttered in the Northern talks was important. "I want to say that I decline the opportunity every day of jumping on a remark made by somebody in the North. I will remind all my unionist colleagues that we do that because there are all kinds of remarks made at different occasions and at different meetings and ceremonies where we could get very irritated in this House, and we don't."

The Democratic Left leader, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said the Taoiseach should insist with the Minister for Foreign Affairs that it was the last time that such a mistake would be made, given that it was the third occasion on which serious problems had been created for the negotiations. Further such errors of judgment could only weaken the Irish Government's negotiating stance in the talks.