Britain calls N.Ireland polls in home-rule push
Source: Reuters
(Adds quotes, DUP statement) By Katherine Baldwin and Paul Hoskins LONDON/DUBLIN, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Britain and Ireland pledged on Tuesday to hold Northern Ireland elections on March 7 in what they say is a final chance to restore home-rule to the British-governed province. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern confirmed the poll date after Irish nationalists, mostly Roman Catholics, ended decades of opposition to the province's police force that they once branded as being biased towards the majority Protestants. But doubts remained over the ability of rival political parties to trust the other's commitment to a process aimed at reviving by March 26 a Belfast-based assembly in which politicians from the two communities share power. "There is no reason for any further delay. The assembly election due to be held on March 7 is an integral part of the process," Blair and Ahern said in a joint statement. "Our purpose now is to ensure that Northern Ireland can build on all the positive developments ... the restoration of shared, accountable government committed to serving all the people," they added after meeting in London. The establishment of the Belfast assembly was central to a 1998 peace deal that largely ended 30 years of sectarian and political violence in the province in which 3,600 people were killed. But the assembly has been suspended since 2002 despite repeated efforts by London and Dublin to end a political stalemate between Protestant leaders, who support links to London, and Catholic leaders, who have traditionally backed the idea of unity with the Irish Republic to the south. MORE CLARITY NEEDED? Blair said the conditions were now right to hold elections, welcoming a report on Northern Ireland paramilitary groups issued by the Independent Monitoring Commission on Tuesday. The commission added to mounting praise for the nationalist party Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army's political ally, whose members voted on Sunday to stop opposing a law and order system they had long seen as biased in favour of Protestants. "The decision ... was a major step forward, reached because of the commitment and efforts of the Sinn Fein leadership," said the commission. But the biggest Protestant group, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has yet to commit itself to the London and Dublin deadline for restoring power-sharing, saying it wants to see concrete proof of Sinn Fein's support for law and order. Ahern said he would like to see "greater clarity" from the DUP but said he accepted Blair's confidence that the party would agree to share power with Sinn Fein. He acknowledged, though, the DUP may not agree and London would have to retain much of its control over the province. "If it doesn't, that's over, that process is over, there will be no executive, there will be no assembly, we'll then proceed with our partnership arrangements," he said. DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson welcomed Tuesday's IMC report as "further progress in respect of the winding down of the IRA's paramilitary campaign" but suggested he wanted more from the group's political ally. "There is a clear requirement on Sinn Fein to discipline any of its members that are involved in criminal activity," he said in a statement. "It is incumbent on them to report any such activity to the police as is normal practice for those who support the police and the rule of law." (Additional reporting by Jeremy Lovell in London)
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