Adams hoping for devolution deal

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said today he had not given up hope of a last minute deal to restore devolution in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said today he had not given up hope of a last minute deal to restore devolution in Northern Ireland.

Speaking ahead of a crucial meeting with Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble this evening, Mr Adams said that elections to the Northern Ireland assembly must go ahead whether there is a deal or not.

He added: “We are dealing with mainly the two governments, particularly the British government and the Ulster Unionists and I certainly haven’t given up hope that it can be sorted out.”

Speculation is mounting that the British government may next week announce plans for a November or December Assembly election.

The Sinn Féin leader said: “As far as we are concerned the elections have to go ahead anyway and there can be no pre-conditions on that.”

Devolution in Northern Ireland was suspended last year after allegations that an IRA spy ring was operating at the heart of government.

Unionists are demanding that the IRA decommissions all of its illegal arsenal and declares the war is over.

Mr Adams said that republicans wanted assurances from unionists that they would no longer threaten to collapse the institutions.

“It is essentially a matter for the UUP to agree to work them (the institutions) in an uninterrupted way, to sustain them and keep them moving along.”

He added: “What republicans can deliver is a process, and others should not be, as I have said a few times, unrealistic about what can be done.”

The Sinn Féin president dismissed speculation that the IRA had already carried out an act of decommissioning.

This possibility had been suggested by Lagan Valley Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson.

Mr Adams commented: “I don’t know if Jeffrey Donaldson is really tuned into what is exactly happening. He has his own little agenda with his own party and he’s not living in the real world. I have heard nothing about it.”

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