Downing Street Says » Northern Ireland

Asked if the Prime Minister was involved in attempts to get the DUP to deliver its intention to nominate and deliver documents, the PMOS said that the position regarding Northern Ireland was: tomorrow is not the point at which people have to finally decide whether to go into government. Tomorrow is the point where people do have to decide whether they are serious about going forward with the St. Andrew’s Agreement or they are not. Therefore tomorrow is a critical day and no one underestimates that. We all recognise that on the Unionist side there are concerns about policing and that those have to be resolved before the 26th March, and on the Republican side there are concerns about power sharing, and those have to be resolved before the 26th March.

We continue to believe that the leadership of both sides are serious about taking forward the St. Andrew’s Agreement, but tomorrow we really have to chose whether we use the period between now and 26th March to address those two areas of concern and prepare for local politicians to take the decisions on education and other matters in Northern Ireland, or whether, in a sense, the politicians are simply going to go back to debating in TV studios about who is to blame. Tomorrow is a critical day. The Prime Minister remains very closely involved in the process of preparing for tomorrow and there is an intensive round of discussions going on involving all parties.

Asked if it was correct that if the parties fail to nominate a first leader and a deputy tomorrow that the agreement would be dissolved, the PMOS said that yes, tomorrow was a critical day and it had always been made clear that while the Government wanted to continue going forward but if things were not progressing then the choice was simple – move forward or dissolve. That was the choice. That is why tomorrow is a critical choice for the parties, and we believe the leaderships on both sides are serious about moving forward but what the parties have to show tomorrow is that they are serious about moving forward on the Agreement.

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» Thursday, November 23, 2006

Northern Ireland

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