Downing Street Says » Northern Ireland

Asked if Bertie Ahern’s recent comments about there being news this evening about the Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that it was better for people to wait and see. There was intense discussions going on, and we hoped that we would be in a position where the people of Northern Ireland could judge for themselves what we would put forward tomorrow. The important thing to remember was that people would be able to judge how much progress had been made over the past year, and also if there was a gap remaining, how narrow the gap was. The other important issue was the two Prime Ministers would continue to push for a successful outcome.

Asked if the gap would always remain, no matter what else happened, the PMOS replied that last week, the leader of Sinn Fein sat across the table from the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland; likewise people had said there would never be, however indirectly, discussions involving the DUP and Sinn Fein. Equally, if there was agreement that the key issues were complete decommissioning, a complete end to paramilitary activity, a commitment to power sharing, and those issues were addressed, then that would be progress. The PMOS said again people should not jump ahead until tomorrow.

Asked if the very act of a visit to Northern Ireland would upset Dr. Paisley, the PMOS said he hoped that people would understand that the people of Northern Ireland had the right to reach their own judgement about what was being proposed in their name as a fair compromise, and how important it was for them to do so.

Asked if the two governments thought if it was right or fair that the decommissioning was photographed, the PMOS replied that the question would be addressed tomorrow, and not today.

Asked what the statement would set out, the PMOS said what we would aim for was for people to be able to judge for themselves what was the fairest way forward.

Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to John de Chastlain today, the PMOS said no, and in terms of other communications, we did not give out details of meetings.

Asked how "we got so close" when there still appeared to be a "misunderstanding" and was it the Government’s view that someone had in turn changed their view, the PMOS replied that whenever there were people who had started from very different positions, as Sinn Fein and the DUP were, even a year ago, then there was a need to address the gap, and to keep closing it. The reality was that the gap was now a relatively narrow one, but people would be able to judge for themselves how narrow that gap was, and in a democracy, that was the right way to approach the issues.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.

» Tuesday, December 7, 2004

Northern Ireland

No Comments »

Post a public comment

Search

Supported by

Recent Briefings

Archives

Links

Syndicate (RSS/XML)

Credits

Enquiries