IRA statement came too late - Ahern
The latest IRA statements could have helped resolve the current impasse in the Northern Ireland peace process had they come earlier, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern claimed tonight.
Mr Ahern said it was a “great pity” the IRA’s endorsements of Gerry Adams’s clarifications were not forthcoming at any stage during the period of April 14 to May 1.
“I believe that an IRA endorsement would have been helpful – though I cannot say decisive – had it come earlier,” he said.
Mr Ahern told the Dáil that at the same time he did not wish to minimise the significance and potential of the statement.
“We embarked on this task knowing that it was going to be difficult and that it might prove protracted,” he said.
“In the frustration and disappointment of recent days there is a natural tendency for recrimination.
“I will not engage in any such recrimination.”
The Taoiseach also said it was essential to convince “reasonable” unionists if progress was to be made.
He added: “Without the support of moderate and reasonable unionists it is very difficult to imagine how we are going to re-establish the devolved institutions and allow the Good Friday Agreement to reach its full potential.”
Last night the IRA insisted they were committed to making the peace process work and the statement delivered to the Dublin and London governments last month confirmed they were poised to make a third act of decommissioning if agreement was reached to restore the power-sharing executive in Belfast.
The full and irreversible implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and other commitments would provide a context in which the IRA could proceed to definitively set aside arms to further its political objectives, according to the statement which was handed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Mr Ahern on April 13.
Delivering a statement on Northern Ireland tonight, Sinn Fein’s Dail leader Caoimhghin O Caolain said both governments had been engaged in a “charade“.
“They have tried to fool the people into believing that the clarification provided by Gerry Adams on 27 April was also inadequate in their eyes,” he told the Dail.
“I assert that these claims by both governments are totally false and I point to the reality that the vast majority of Irish people now recognise.”
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said stagnation would not just ruin the process - it would “ruin lives“.
He said: “Here in Dublin we got a mere glimpse of what a political vacuum can bring: the bomb squad back on our streets after almost 30 years.”
Mr Kenny was referring to a foiled bomb attack in Dublin yesterday, just hours before a visit by Mr Blair.
Security sources blamed dissident republicans for the incident.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said that even if the IRA had decided its war was over, the clarification offered may have been too little and too late.
He added: “It was certainly too late.”
