Hain to brief Rice on devolution progress
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will tonight receive a briefing in Washington from Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain on efforts to revive devolution at Stormont.
Their meeting with at the State Department is expected to cover expectations of what the IRA should say and do in response to Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams’ call in April for an end to armed struggle in favour of pursuing republican goals through peaceful and democratic means.
Mr Hain, who on Tuesday met key figures in the Irish American community in New York, is also due to meet a number of leading US politicians during his visit to the American capital.
They are expected to include Senator Edward Kennedy and Congressmen Peter King and Jim Walsh.
As he visited Washington, Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern met Northern Ireland Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde, Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan, the nationalist SDLP’s Alex Attwood and new Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey in Belfast.
After his meeting with Mrs O’Loan, the Irish Foreign Minister said the sooner the IRA reached a decision about it’s future, the better for everyone involved in politics in Northern Ireland.
“We are waiting for their views but one way or another politics will continue irrespective of what they do,” the minister said.
“Obviously we would like them and we have called on them to commit fully to democratic and peaceful means and we await their judgment on that.
“But we are prepared to move forward with the British government and other parties here in the north (of Ireland) to bring benefit to ordinary people on this island.”
Speculation has been mounting that the IRA will respond publicly to Mr Adams in a statement over the next month which could see the organisation fully commit itself to abandoning armed struggle.
Mr Ahern, however, was warned by Sir Reg Empey that unionists would only be interested in the IRA’s actions and not the words of any statement.
The Ulster Unionist leader said: “At the meeting with Mr Ahern I made it clear that, irrespective of what the IRA say in any imminent statement, the UUP and the Unionist community will judge them on their actions not their words.
“The people of Northern Ireland must see with their own eyes that the dark days of IRA violence, criminality and terrorism are gone forever.
“We have been waiting over eight years for the Provisional movement, led by Adams and McGuinness, to do this and to commit to exclusively peaceful and democratic means. We are all tired of waiting.”
