Ahern, Blair warn of last chance for generation
Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair tonight challenged the North's politicians to set up a devolved government this year or risk losing the best chance in a generation.
After a round of meetings the leaders held at Stormont with unionists and nationalists, both spelled out the consequences for the North’s politicians if they failed to meet the November 24 deadline for restoring power-sharing.
And they also produced a workplan for the North’s political parties to help them secure a return to devolved government.
In a stark warning Tony Blair said: “This is the last chance for this generation to make the process work. We have come a very long way but we need to get the rest of the way now.”
Devolution has been suspended since October 2002 when allegations of a republican spy ring at Stormont threatened to destroy the political institutions.
There have since been three failed bids to revive power-sharing.
However, last July in a significant move, the IRA declared an end to its armed campaign in a bid to smooth a way back to devolution.
Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists have remained unconvinced that republicans are serious about embracing purely peaceful and democratic means.
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