Northern Ireland

Documents & Texts from America.gov

03 July 2006
U.S. Supports Blair, Ahern's Steps for Northern Ireland Home Rule

Washington -- The United States supports a June 29 statement by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern outlining the steps needed to restore Northern Ireland’s government by November 24, ending years of political deadlock.

In April, Blair and Ahern imposed the November 24 deadline for Northern Ireland’s political parties to overcome their differences enough to reinstate the Northern Ireland Assembly and its executive in the Stormont area of Belfast.

The two institutions were created by the 1998 Good Friday Accord but they were suspended in October 2002 over disagreements about weapons recommissioning and concerns about alleged spying activities of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).

In July 2005, the IRA announced it would foreswear violence, and in the fall of that year it decommissioned a substantial portion of its weapons arsenal.  (See related article.)

The Good Friday Accord of April 10, 1998, calls for Protestants to share political power with the minority Catholics, and gives the Republic of Ireland a voice in Northern Irish affairs. In turn, Catholics are to suspend the goal of a united Ireland unless the largely Protestant North votes in favor of such an arrangement.

“Political will is needed if the Stormont Assembly is to find a formula to restore devolution by the November 24 deadline,” State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in a press statement June 30. Devolution is the diplomatic term for the reinstatement of Northern Ireland’s home rule under a power-sharing arrangement in the Good Friday Accord.

“We call upon all parties to continue to engage in seriously and respectfully, to consult with their constituencies and communities, and to return to Stormont in the autumn prepared to work together for the restoration of devolved institutions,” Ereli said.

“We call upon the political leaders to demonstrate the courage and statesmanship necessary to return local governance to Northern Ireland,” he said.

Blair warned June 29 that he considers the November 24 deadline to be “the last chance for this generation to make the process work.”

On April 6, President Bush welcomed an announcement by Blair and Ahern aimed at restoring the Northern Ireland Assembly. Following that announcement, members of the Northern Ireland Assembly took their seats in mid-May but have not been able to elect a first minister or deputy first minister for Northern Ireland. (See related article.)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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