Transcript of Press Conference with Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern on the Peace Process, Hillsborough Castle, County Down, (11 April 2004)

Transcript of Press Conference with Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister and, Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), on the Peace Process, Hillsborough Castle, County Down, (11 April 2004)

PRIME MINISTER: (Tony Blair)

As you know, we had hoped and wanted to be back in Hillsborough today in order to make sure that we could take this process forward in the way that we had anticipated. Now the one thing that we have learnt over time about this process is that it never runs quite according to plan and as smoothly as we want. There are issues that are outstanding. The two governments are in complete agreement, however. For ourselves it is the right way forward. We have to make sure that there is total clarity and certainty always around in respect of the acts of completion for the Good Friday Agreement. Now that has always been the case, and we will be in contact with the parties overnight. We have got to make sure that people understand that time is urgent, and I hope, even at this late stage, any of the difficulties can be ironed out and dealt with, because one thing is for sure that for the people in Northern Ireland this is a very frustrating process. The stakes that we are playing for are very big because it is a real chance to make this thing work for the future, but there has to be certainty and there has to be clarity, and there can't be ambiguity, and that is what we set out last October, that has been the case all the way through, it remains the case now.

Anyway I should say I am delighted to welcome the Taoiseach here and to thank him once again for all his tremendous commitment to this process and we remain completely committed to it, and at any point in time we think we can really move this forward, we will.

TAOISEACH: (Bertie Ahern)

Thanks very much Prime Minister, and just to reiterate that it is always good to be here and working on the Northern Ireland peace process. I would have preferred today to be in Hillsborough frankly to finalise the joint declaration. We have worked 6 months on it, but hopefully the remaining few points of clarification can be finalised in a short space of time, because we only have a short space of time. I believe that is possible. We have spent the last few hours working on that. We do need certainty, we do need clarity, we need to have trust and confidence and an ability for people to work together with the two governments and to move forward in a peaceful environment, and that is what we have been trying to achieve particularly in this phase. This phase has been called the completion phase over the last 6 months. I hope we can succeed in doing that. We have I think finalised our views on the last few points of clarification and we will lay those before the parties overnight, and if that is the case we could be in Hillsborough tomorrow, and if it is not, we will just have to reflect on it.

QUESTION:

It is a disappointing day. Is it now a matter to restore confidence that the language that is used by the Republican movement and by the parties must be absolutely clear?

PRIME MINISTER: (Tony Blair)

Yes, the language all ways round has got to be clear. Look, the whole purpose of what we set out last October was to say we have deal with a negotiation, as it were inch by inch and successfully, in the sense that the peace process has delivered an enormous amount. But this has to be certain, clear, in all respects from all the parties, so that nobody is in any doubt about what the future holds. And that certainty and that clarity is absolute, it can't be negotiated. Now the two governments have been completely clear about our own positions, and this is one of the things that is remarkable about these past few months is how closely the two governments have worked together, there is no dispute between us about any of these issues at all. We have done an immense amount of work, we have come an enormous way frankly, but people have got to be clear. If there isn't clarity, there isn't confidence; and if there isn't confidence there isn't a deal.

QUESTION:

Taoiseach, do you think you can get this sorted out in time so that the elections can still go ahead at the end of May?

TAOISEACH: (Bertie Ahern)

I would hope, Brian, that we could sort it out overnight. We are talking about very narrow points, to be frank with you. I do not see the difficulty myself, and I don't think it is of the British government, we are in a position where we could sign off if we were all together, we could perhaps do it now, so we have to relay our position. So I don't want to see any delay, the election date is fixed, but I am not talking about even that kind of a delay, I think we should be able to sort this out. But there probably has been in the Joint Declaration 3 - 400 points, we are talking about one or two, but they are important, because as the Prime Minister has stated, we have to build trust and confidence, we have to be clear, we have to have certainty and we have to do that for everybody, we have to do it for the big parties, the small parties, all parties, the two governments, the people. And we promised back in mid-October that we would make the position clear, we would try and deal with all the aspects, we have done that, so now we are down to the last few points, so if we can do that we can move on and we can be back in Hillsborough in 24 hours, but it is no good leaving just a few important points, I am not saying they are the most important points but they are important points, and we want to continue to work.

QUESTION:

Could this sink the whole project?

TAOISEACH: (Bertie Ahern)

I hope that doesn't happen. Listen, if we can't issue a joint declaration in the way we want to do it and get everybody agreed to it, and get everybody's position on it, of course it is a difficulty for us, but let's not move it beyond that. To me it seems resolvable, we have had a meeting here this evening, it is resolvable to the two governments, to our colleagues, and now we reflect back and hopefully we can move on. If not, it won't be our fault.