"The IRA's campaign is over" Time for a deal?

Dave!

Looks like they've reached an agreement

http://news.google.ie/news?hl=en&q=northern%20ireland&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wn

Can't imagine it's gonna last long, though. It just looks good.

mike65

I thought they'd find it within thesmelves to strike a deal. Plenty of room for cocks-ups yet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6046302.stm

A roadmap to restore devolution to Northern Ireland has been revealed by the British and Irish governments.

It contains a target date of 26 March 2007 for a new executive to be up and running.

The parties have until 10 November to respond to the plan. If they agree to it, a first and deputy first minister would be nominated on 24 November.

The plan follows three days of multi-party talks at St Andrews in Scotland.

Prime Minister Tony Blair said there would have to be some form of electoral endorsement of the plan - either an election or a referendum.

He said the two key components of a plan were that all parties accept the police and courts and have a clear agreement on power-sharing...

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Mike.

Villain

Looks like we may have a deal, this could be a great leap forward for the North, if a deal is done Sinn Fein and the DUP should be applauded. I don't think many posters here would have thought such a deal possible 10 or even 5 years ago.

Sinn Fein and the DUP are far from perfect parties to be governing a state but hopefully once the divide has been crossed they will develop real policies for the Northern Ireland which will benefit the state and the people who live in it.

Lets just hope Dr. No doesn't doesn't say no again.

Sgt. Sensible

irish1 wrote:

Sinn Fein and the DUP are far from perfect parties to be governing a state

Greatest understatement I've ever seen.

murphaph

Does anybody know what question(s) will be posed in any referendum here in the south?

lostexpectation

Sgt. Sensible wrote:

Greatest understatement I've ever seen.

or like south africa they finally get peace and then screw the poor.

what was the question the GFA, I guess would do you agree with st andrews renewal

I don't understand why they need a referendum, if only a chance for people to turn back the GFA.

mike65

Not sure why Free-Staters should have any role in this.

Mike.

Nuttzz

what is mcguinness rather than adams being touted has deputy fist minister? is this some short of power sharing agreement in SF?

mike65

Good question! Maybe its something to do with the SF party constitution, that the presdient can't also hold one of the top Stormont 2 jobs. Or maybe Big Ian trusts McGuiness more. (well you never know).

Mike.

Diogenes

mike65 wrote:

Good question! Maybe its something to do with the SF party constitution, that the presdient can't also hold one of the top Stormont 2 jobs. Or maybe Big Ian trusts McGuiness more. .

I think the term is "mistrusts Mc Guinness less"

Colonel Sanders

Surely one of the main problems re. policing is that the reforms of the psni still do not meet what ws agreed under the good friday agreement. A similar issue existed re. disarmament. The isue was fudged (can't rememebr the exact phrase but something to do with both sides using whatever influence they could to ensure paramilitary groups decommissioned) in the agreement but unionists still signed and looked for things that were not in the agreement before agreeing to powersharing.

Dave!

Paisley is after walking out of face-to-face talks with Gerry Adams today, because, he says, Sinn Féin won't pledge their support to the PSNI.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-10-17T142543Z_01_L17779504_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRISH.xml&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C2_worldNews-5

So much for that! When Martin McGuiness pledges an oath to the PSNI, I wonder what excuse Paisley will come up with next.

lostexpectation

isn't hte police that should pledge an oath to the government eh?

bik_ireland

The number of political genii (an bhfuil sin an focail ceart?) on the boards anseo is most comforting. So many lovely comments about Sinn Féin - AND the Unionist parties. However - I suspect that most of the cynical comments are from poorly or uninformed or politically atheist people. I so wish these people would keep the hell out of any comment on Irish political matters as they tend to come from silly southern Irish wannabe politicos who through no fault of their own have not experienced anything. AT ALL! - EVER! Please , guys - don't treat this topic as you would some silly Hollywood gossip story. Please - realise you have the luxury of forming your political opinion without the influences of intimidation, fear, anger and personal experience of history itself. For those whom I KNOW will respond negatively to this post - please don't bother. I'm not looking for an argument- just making a point.

Oíche mhaith -
Niall mac an Rí

mike65

I so wish these people would keep the hell out of any comment on Irish political matters as they tend to come from silly southern Irish wannabe politicos who through no fault of their own have not experienced anything

What a "silly-billy" you are. As the south likes to stick its oar into Northern matters on a dialy basis its reasonable we, the great unwashed/untaxed (delete as applicable) comment on matters Norn Iron. Hell our Masters are apparently trying to engineeer a take-over - sorry agreed merger so its fair game.

Mike.

Diogenes

bik_ireland wrote:

A request...

Boards.ie says, "NO!"