No going back on devolution deadline, says Hain
Northern Secretary Peter Hain insisted today there would be no going back on the November 24 deadline for devolution in the North.
Hain insisted salaries and other allowances for elected representatives would stop if an agreement was not reached.
He was speaking at Stormont Castle in Belfast ahead of an intensive round of talks this autumn aimed at restoring the local institutions.
Mr Hain said: “The onus is absolutely on the parties to make it work and make that prize their own.
“Only the parties can travel the distance and complete the journey, it is down to them.”
He added the British government had done all it could to build confidence and said the relatively peaceful marching season had helped lay the groundwork for a successful round of negotiations.
The Independent Monitoring Commission is expected to deliver a report on the IRA's commitment to an end to violence and criminality, which could hold the key to a deal.
Unionists’ unwillingness to enter government with Sinn Féin has centred on their alleged inability to accept the rule of law and policing.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair and are expected to meet soon to discuss the political process in the North.
Mr Hain said he expected the political parties to meet at a location outside the North for hothouse dialogue during the second week of October.
Mr Hain added: “Critical negotiations will take place outside of Northern Ireland. We need to concentrate minds.
“I think it’s much better to get away from the day-to-day issues and daily pressures that face all politicians.
“This will be a working conference of intense negotiations. This is not some kind of stately home exercise for its own sake.”
Mr Hain said any agreement would herald a new era for the North and urged politicians to grasp the opportunity to move forward.
“I am not trying to bulldoze anybody into doing anything that they don’t want to do.
“I believe it would be the people of Northern Ireland who will have lost out (if power-sharing is not restored) because democracy will have lost out.”
He added that the only people who would welcome the collapse of peace talks would be dissident paramilitaries like the Real IRA who fire-bombed a number of businesses in Newry, close to the border last month.
