Downing Street Says » Northern Ireland

» Tuesday, December 7, 2004

Northern Ireland

Asked if the Prime Minister was confident of progress in Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said that we aimed tomorrow to be in a situation where whatever happened the people of Northern Ireland would be able to judge for themselves. We had said all long that the people of Northern Ireland had a right to know what it was that had been proposed and debated on their behalf. The good news this morning was that the gap is narrow, but we would have to wait and see whether it could be closed. Asked if the Government hoped that people power would help close the gap between the parties, the PMOS said that people had a right to know how the last months of tense and constructive negotiations had been spent. The important thing was that people needed to know that progress was being made. Of course we hoped to be in a position to say that a deal had been done, but whatever the case, people had right to know whether progress had been made in addressing the issues that were set out over the passed year. Asked if the public would have the opportunity to express themselves through a referendum the PMOS said there weren’t any plans for a referendum. We will set out in a very clear way, the issues we had discussed and where we believe we were and people would be able to judge from that, that progress had been made.

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