Downing Street Says » Northern Ireland

» Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Northern Ireland

Asked how significant were the talks at the Treasury today, the PMOS said the important point was, first and foremost, that all the parties were represented. All the parties were signalling their interest and commitment to getting a good deal for Northern Ireland. In terms of the outcome of the talks the PMOS said he would leave that to the Treasury and to the parties. However, what we were seeing was people taking seriously the prospect of devolution in March. That did not guarantee that it would happen, but it did mean that people were taking it very seriously indeed. That was a good omen.

Asked whether this meant the Government’s hopes had been raised that we would get a deal, the PMOS said, what he consistently said, which was that we now had a pathway to devolution. We knew the timetable we were talking about; we know what the parties have to do collectively and individually to get there. But it was now a matter for the parties to decide what their attitude was. There was significant consultations taking place amongst the parties, and it was not for the PMOS to speak for the parties. However, our view was that they were serious consultations exercises. Probably the most detailed consultations exercises we had seen in Northern Ireland. It was not for the PMOS to prejudge or predict the outcome of those consultations exercises. The next step would see the parties indicate their attitude to St Andrews by 10th November. Asked whether the body language was positive, the PMOS said all sides were treating it seriously. What the PMOS was reluctant to do, however, was to translate that into a prediction about the future. That was for the parties to make clear, we had learnt to respect their democratic mandates.

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.