Priority urged for Ireland bodies

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has urged his Ministers to give priority to devolving powers to the six new North-South bodies for which…

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has urged his Ministers to give priority to devolving powers to the six new North-South bodies for which legislation will be introduced by mid-March.

In a Cabinet briefing yesterday on the arrangements for the cross-Border institutions, Mr Ahern said a lot of progress had been made, but preference must be given in the relevant Departments to meet the deadline.

A Government spokesman described as "constructive" a 30-minute meeting between the Sinn Fein MP, Mr Martin McGuinness, and the Taoiseach yesterday.

The issue of decommissioning was raised, and the spokesman said: "We indicated that the way to deal with this is through Gen de Chastelain, and that is what we will be pursuing".

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A Sinn Fein delegation, led by Mr McGuinness, had more than three hours of talks with officials at Government Buildings assessing progress in implementing the Belfast Agreement.

During his meeting with the Taoiseach Mr McGuinness urged him to "move quickly to inject momentum and dynamism into this process".

"It is very clear that the next steps to be taken are the establishment of the executive and all-Ireland ministerial council, and these must be formed immediately," Mr McGuinness said. The UUP would have to "swallow the bitter pill" on decommissioning rather than insist on "changing the prescription," he said.

Claiming that his party had to accept unpalatable aspects of the agreement, Mr McGuinness said it was asking the impossible to call on the IRA to decommission as a precondition to Sinn Fein's participation in the executive.

Accusing the unionists of "adding to the climate of despair", he said they were risking the collapse of the agreement itself.