UK/ BELGIUM: Power-sharing on the agenda for Northern Ireland parties after historic vote

Northern Ireland's political rivals Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, inch towards power-sharing as vote-counting from the province's assembly election shows the two parties dominated the historic ballot. The British and Irish prime minister urge party leaders to reach a deal quickly on a new local administration. Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said on Friday (March 9) that he was ready to join his unionist opponents in a new power-sharing administration for Northern Ireland in the wake of this week's historic elections for a new assembly for the British-ruled province. Adams was speaking at a Belfast news conference after results showed that the nationalist Sinn Fein party and the pro-British Democratic Unionionst Party (DUP) had dominated the voting in Wednesday's (March 7) ballot. He appealed to supporters to be "tolerant and patient" with the DUP. Both Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley's DUP favour reviving local government but have yet to agree on how to work together. "First of all, I think all of us have to be fairly tolerant and patient with the DUP, without patronising," Adams said. "Of course people will say it's the same old, same old. They're right, it is. But to come from where the DUP have been to where they are now, which is on the cusp of being involved in power-sharing arrangements and all-Ireland institutional arrangements with the rest of us, is a very difficult journey. "And if they end up in the institutions, I think they will, then we forgive them for their colourful language and for the over-the-top remarks." Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said the election result made him optimistic for the future. "So, whilst people out there might be expressing concerns and worries, understandably so, I am optimistic and I am hopeful about the future because we are all in a far different place now than we were 12-years ago," he said. "And if we continue on with the work we've been involved in, those 12 years have brought great benefits to all of the people we represent. Twelve years from now we will be in an even more different place and maybe some of us and Ian Paisley won't be around. This is a whole new ball game and I think Ian Paisley would be very foolish to miss the message that came out of that election." The British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, urged Northern Ireland's politicians to agree quickly on a power-sharing government. Speaking at a news briefing on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels, Blair said the election reflected what he felt was the belief of the people of Northern Ireland that elected politicians could work together. ''I actually think the strength of the vote reflects the difficult decisions in leadership that have been taken on all sides by the political parties, and also the belief by people in Northern Ireland that those people, if they were elected, would then work together in a devolved administration,'' Blair said at a joint news conference with Ahern. Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern said: ''The legislation is very clear, and it is British legislation and we've interpreted it like everyone else. That is it has to be set on the 26th of March, there is no other alternative." The two leaders reiterated their view that the alternative was indefinite direct rule from London, with help from Dublin, if the parties failed to agree on a government by March 26. Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain met DUP leader Paisley and Sinn Fein separately to discuss how reach a power-sharing deal by March "It's either devolution or dissolution on March 26," Hain told journalists. Blair and Ahern have tried for nearly a decade to reach a lasting political settlement, but their efforts have been frustrated by deadlcok between pro-British unionists and nationalists who want the province to unite with Ireland. Blair would like to achieve an agreement before he steps down later this year. This might also suit Ahern, who faces a general election in 2007. A 1998 peace deal largely ended three decades of violence in which 3,600 people were killed. With 72 of 108 assembly seats decided so far from Wednesday's election, the DUP won 25 and Sinn Fein 24. Twenty-three seats were shared among four other parties. MCF/AD/jrc

ITN Source | March 9, 2007

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