Ahern, Hain play down DUP boycott of North talks
Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern and Northern Secretary Peter Hain have played down the Democratic Unionist Party's boycott of talks at Hillsborough Castle today.
Mr Ahern and Mr Hain had invited the DUP, Sinn Féin and the PUP to separate talks today as part of a series of "stock-taking" meetings with the main players in the peace process.
However, the DUP refused to attend, saying its position was already clear.
Asked about the matter today, Mr Hain said it was the DUP's own business whether it attended or not and he and Mr Ahern were relaxed about the party's snub.
Elsewhere, the Northern Secretary said he welcomed yesterday's statement from the Ulster Defence Association that it wanted to discuss its future with the British government.
He said he hoped it was a breakthrough, but more concrete actions were needed.
Mr Ahern, meanwhile, rejected DUP claims of double-speak over the Taoiseach's refusal to enter coalition with Sinn Féin in the Republic while expecting unionists to do exactly that in the North.
He said the Republic had had stable politics for decades, while virtually everyone agreed that power-sharing was the only way forward in the North.
