Downing Street Says » Northern Ireland Talks

Asked what the expectations of the talks in Scotland were, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that it was difficult to overstate the importance of this week. This was it. Last week, we said that the IMC Report on the IRA’s inactivity laid the basis for a final settlement. As a result, we were not taking anything for granted, and there were still issues that could trip us up, but the fundamentals were clear: unionism accepted that at some stage, they would have to share power with Sinn Fein. The question was: how and when, not if. Equally, Sinn Fein, according to the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) Report, accepted that it had to engage with the police. The question was: how and when, not if. Therefore, the issues essentially were about sequencing, not fundamental principle. The details could trip us up, but as the Prime Minister had said last week, this was the time for leadership should be encouraged, and to keep an eye on the big picture. That big picture was that there was an opportunity this week which might not come again in the foreseeable future. There was a window here to reach a final settlement, and the significance of that could not be overstated.

Asked what the PMOS had meant by "this was it", the PMOS explained that by the end of this week, we needed to have a good idea of where we were going. Of course, following on from these talks, the parties would need to consult their grass roots and their members, but we should be clear: if the conclusion of the two Prime Ministers at the end of this week was that a deal was not do-able, then we would say so. However, we believed that what last week had done, and what the quietest summer since the 1960s had helped create an atmosphere for, and what today’s meeting between Dr. Paisley and Archbishop Brady reflected, was a desire to reach the final settlement, and to let normal life flourish. We hoped that this week would bring that about.

Asked if sequencing meant that it could be sequenced after the 24th November, and was there a contingency deal, and did everything have to be sewn down by the 24th November, the PMOS replied that 24th November was the deadline, as it was in legislation. People needed to know where we were going very clearly by the end of this week. We accepted that people would need to consult, but the 24th November remained in legislation as the deadline.

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» Monday, October 9, 2006

Northern Ireland Talks

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