Ahern urges Paisley to talk to SF
The Reverend Ian Paisley was tonight urged to engage Sinn Féin in direct dialogue ahead of next month’s crucial talks to revive power-sharing in Northern Ireland.
Embattled Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who earlier faced questions in the Dáil about the controversy over personal loans he received, admitted he was worried by the lack of direct engagement between the parties ahead of the talks in St Andrews in Scotland on October 11.
However the Taoiseach also warned the North’s politicians that as far as he and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were concerned, their November 24 deadline for the resurrection of a power-sharing government at Stormont was definitive.
Mr Ahern told Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny of Fine Gael: “I regret the continuing absence of direct engagement between the DUP and Sinn Féin.
“It is unhelpful to the process of getting an agreement and I have urged the DUP to engage.”
