Transcript of Press Conference with Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, St Andrews, Scotland, (13 October 2006)

Transcript of Press Conference with Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, and Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), following the talks at St Andrews, Scotland, (13 October 2006)

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

"Good afternoon everyone and my apologies for keeping you waiting a little time. I'd like to begin if I may by thanking all the parties for their co-operation over the last 48 hours, it's obviously, as always is in these situations, requires a lot of difficult negotiation and hard work and I'd like to thank them all for their commitment to this process. Now what I'm going to do is just explain to you essentially what we believe is the basis for an agreement here and this comes in the context obviously of knowing that the two issues we had to try to resolve were the issues of power sharing and the issues of policing and I think everyone's well familiar with the basic details of that. This is ground we've gone over many, many times to try and reach agreement. I think we have a way forward here.

What will happen is that on the basis of the text that we're putting forward today we will ask the parties to come back to us by 10th November and that allows us then to prepare legislation before the 24th November deadline. Then from next week the Preparation for Government Committee will meet, but this time with a strong leadership level representation on all sides and that's obviously important because it allows them to get on with the work that is going to be done. Then in and around the 24th November, I'm trying to get all the dates here right from memory, so you put me right if I stray at all! On the 24th there will then be the nomination of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister. There will then be a process whereby after that period of time, in order to make sure that everyone can be satisfied there is the right basis upon which to proceed. The institutions won't be operative for the next period of time having made that designation of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, but nonetheless over that time the Preparing for Government Committee will continue its work trying to draw up the proper programme for government. There will then be some form of electoral endorsement, that is an open question upon which we consult at the moment as to whether that is an election or a referendum. There will then be after that - on the 14th March there will be the nomination of the Executive and there will then be on the 26th March the Executive in place. In the meantime the normal work that will then take place after the time that the Executive takes its place will then be done before that period of the 26th March. So when you get to the 26th March, provided everything is alright, the Executive should be fully operational and able to carry out its work.

So in other words what essentially is happening here is that we are ensuring that before the 24th November we have a fully worked out agreement, that is enshrined in legislation. There is the nomination of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister in order to give everyone confidence the power sharing is to go ahead. Then there is a period of time through which there will be preparation for government and also an electoral endorsement, and then on 14th March you will have the nomination of the whole of the Executive and on the 26th March it will go live. So it means some delay as a result of people wanting to make sure that sufficient confidences are there within the process, but it is a relatively short delay and it allows us in the meantime to get on with the important work of preparing for government. In particular what this will mean is that all parties will fully support the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the courts system, making sure that everyone co-operates fully with the police and the courts in carrying out their duties and maintaining law and order and the rule of law throughout Northern Ireland and that we have a clear agreement by everybody to power sharing. So those are the two essential parts of it. We've been through different parts of this process many times over the past few years, but I think this is a sound basis. Of course everyone's had to make compromises during the course of it in order to get what we wanted, but nonetheless I think that is a proper and sound basis for doing it and it gives us the chance then to have institutions that are up and running, that are secure, that are on a cross community basis where all the parties are in government working together for a shared future in Northern Ireland and that is a tremendous gain.

So, as I say, we have published the proposals today, some of the details are reasonably complex but you'll see them set out there. We'll have the report back by 10th November, then the legislation and then we're ready to roll. So that's what the agreement contains.

Taoiseach: (Bertie Ahern)

I think we came to St Andrews with a very clear objective, to work with the parties to achieve restoration of the political institutions and to bring Government back to the people of Northern Ireland over these days and for that matter these last weeks. We have had intensive and serious discussions with the aim of addressing all of the issues that the Prime Minister has mentioned and I would just like to say I appreciate the commitment and engagement of all of the parties over what has been, even at our level, I think fairly intensive, difficult and challenging discussions. But we have presented a draft agreement for the parties to consider over the next few weeks. If there seems to be a lot of elements of it they are clearly understood by the parties. We have the run up to 24th November and then we have the run up to March. Really it is not any more complicated than that and I believe that we have all the elements that can bring satisfaction to all of the issues, if not perfect by everybody's agenda, it is a fair and sustainable balance to try to, by March, make sure that we have a working Executive based on power sharing and acceptance of policing and the rule of law.

So I just want to thank the Prime Minister and his ministerial colleagues and to thank the Tánaiste and my Minister for Foreign Affairs and all of the officials that worked on this, and I wish the parties well over the next few weeks in their own consultation process and obviously we will stay very engaged in that. But we have a plan now. A plan that I hope is agreeable, that will bring us to the restoration of the political institutions and bring government back to the people of Northern Ireland and that was the task that we set ourselves.

Question:

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

Well just in respect of your latter point. There's a very clear part of this agreement that everybody's got to sign up for full support for policing, so that's part of the agreement. I mean if that's not agreed to, we don't have an agreement. In the same way it's absolutely essential that everyone is signed up for power-sharing on the basis as set out there. It's probably better to let the parties speak for themselves and those of us who have been there doing this for ten years, and some of you guys have been here almost as long as that, will know that it's a pretty brave and bold move to say no I'm absolutely sure there will be no attempt by anyone to unpick any aspect of it. But I think there is, from the talks that we've had, I think there is the basis for moving forward and, you know, it's very difficult. I mean a lot of people are overcoming very, very entrenched positions over a number of years. I don't think anybody on any side is going to find it very easy or comfortable to sit in an Executive with people in respect of whom they've been deeply opposed or indeed hostile. So it's never going to be easy, but the basis for the agreement is there and we wouldn't be saying what we're saying unless we had some reasonable expectation we could do it.

Question:

Taoiseach, Prime Minister, I see behind you the name St Andrews Agreement, is this replacing the Good Friday Agreement or adding to it? And secondly, in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement the DUP were outside the door, here today we have Doctor Paisley in the room, I understand you made a presentation to Doctor Paisley and his wife to mark their 50th wedding anniversary. Is the St Andrews Agreement the perfect deal as far as you're concerned because the DUP has bought into it?

Taoiseach: (Bertie Ahern)

Well the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 represented a historic opportunity for a new beginning and I think the benefits of all that are there to be seen, but it did provide the basis for a review and we spent a long time, many months in 2004 working on that review and Doctor Paisley and his colleagues played a full part in that review. But we didn't complete that work. I think and I hope, back to the earlier question, that we have now created the basis for that. St Andrews, I think, has given us the elements to finish that work and to allow the people, to consult on that work. So I think they have to be read together - the Good Friday Agreement provided for this in the first place and the fact that the largest party in Northern Ireland now, the Democratic Unionist Party, led by Doctor Paisley, are a part of that of course adds enormously to it. We always wanted a fully inclusive agreement for all of the people of Northern Ireland and to build a new relationship for the people on the whole island and have a different relationship than we've had in 800 years with my colleagues on the East/West basis, so I think we've achieved that.

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

I'm a strong supporter of the Good Friday Agreement and I don't believe we'd be in this position without it. As the Taoiseach's just rightly said it provides for a review mechanism and this is what we've been carrying out. Of course its important that Dr Paisley's party, the DUP, are part of the Agreement and of course we want everyone to come together and say, look on the basis of commitment to democracy and to peace, there should be power-sharing. That's at the heart of the Agreement, back in 1998, it remains at the heart of the shared future for people in Northern Ireland, and I hope that in the years to come that people will be able to reflect in the politics of Northern Ireland the concerns that people reflect in the normal every day politics everywhere else, certainly in the democratic world.

Question:

Prime Minister what's the difficulty when deciding between referendum and an election? And Taoiseach, if there is a referendum, is it North and South who are going to vote in it?

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

Well, the difficulty is we just want to consult on the best form of electoral endorsement and there are different views about this. We'll obviously have to call this, but we want to take account of the views that people have. I think the main thing is that the principle of saying, look this is, if you like, this is a very significant step forward and it should have electoral endorsement, I think most people accept that. There's a debate about, you know, what is the best way of doing it and rather than trying to resolve that in snatched bits of conversation when there have been all these other issues to resolve. We can do that over the next couple of weeks or so.

Taoiseach: (Bertie Ahern)

The logic of the situation and all that we looked at in terms of the Good Friday Agreement, that if there was a referendum in Northern Ireland and in the Republic on the same day on the same issues, that would involve a change to the Good Friday Agreement so it would be based on the calculation and the legal basis, the constitutional basis that we made in 1998, then, as I understand it, from a legal point of view, not to mind the political point of view, that it would be a referendum of the whole island of Ireland.

Question:

Taoiseach, Prime Minister, why should Sinn Fein and DUP grassroots supporters buy into a deal which for them involves such radical respective moves on policing and power-sharing?

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

I think that the basic reason is this - if we want a new dispensation in Northern Ireland where there is a shared future and where people can resolve their differences in a democratic way, you can't have a democratic society unless the police are given proper and full support and you can't have a democratic society unless the electoral mandate of all parts of that society is recognised. And so, it is a simple deal in the end. It's about on the one hand, equality, respect for people who hold different views, respect for difference, respect for people whatever their background in terms of religion or community, and exclusively peaceful means being used in order to decide differences, political difference between people, that's on the one side. A commitment to justice and democracy and peace, and on the other side, a commitment to sharing power on that basis, and so, you know, I think for the grassroots supporters of all political parties in Northern Ireland, including Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party, the great benefit is that on the one side people have felt they've always been struggling for justice and for their mandate to be respected and on the other hand people have felt they have been struggling for a situation in which any disagreements are resolved entirely peacefully. That is the heart of the deal, it always has been, you know, peace and democracy on the one hand and respect for the law and on the other hand sharing power. If you think about it that's actually the basis of any democratic society.

Taoiseach: (Bertie Ahern)

I think in any democratic society people would want to see the political parties and leaders of their choice, looking at the diversity that would bring in any democracy, that they're at the centre leading the everyday policy issues, making the changes, making decisions, managing the issues. That's why I've always said I don't like the idea of a Plan 'B' because that would be the two governments taking it away from the people of Northern Ireland when in fact what we've been trying to do all the time is to create the conditions where the parties and people of Northern Ireland make decisions about their security, make decisions about their economy, make decisions about the quality of lives, make decisions about the future and that's, I think, you asked the question, why would people want to support it, because everybody, everywhere in the world would want to have a say in supporting issues that affect the education of their children, the health of their people, their future. Anybody, any society would want to have a say in that.

Question:

Prime Minister and Taoiseach there has been a lot of talk about policing being a key issue, but in the timetable that you have outlined there is no mention of a Sinn Fein Ard Fheis on the issue of committing to policing. We also heard talk rightly or wrongly, we heard rumours that there was a text of something that would go before the Ard Fheis, where are Sinn Fein on policing and where is that in the timetable?

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

I think in the end you have to decide, because a commitment to policing is one thing but people also want to see delivery on the ground, they want to make sure that it is actually happening. And the purpose of the time period is to make sure that that is happening and therefore, whatever of parties internal mechanisms, that is a matter for them, what is a matter for the whole community however is to make sure that when people say they support the policing in the work that they do and the people that co-operate with them aren't for example going to be intimidated but that the police are given proper co-operation, that is abided by. The reason why in the end there is that time gap is to allow people to see plainly that what was stated in theory is delivered in practice and I think that is a reasonable enough way through this.

Question:

Prime Minister, Taoiseach, I am reading specifically from a text called Agreement at St Andrews, I hope that is the same as St Andrew's Agreement? On policing it is specifically said 'it is our view that implementation of the Agreement published today should be sufficient to build the community's confidence'. Now on the question of when policing and justice will be devolved it is left to the Assembly, it is in the gift of the Assembly to decide when that issue of justice and policing is going to be decided. Why should anyone believe that the Assembly will ever move down that road to take control of policing and justice? Why should anyone believe that?

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

That was also the position in the December 2004 document as well; I think I am right in saying and in the legislation as well. The issue is this - the support for policing has got to be clear and implemented straight away. There is then the issue of the devolution of policing which people want to see at a particular time. But there has got obviously to be confidence within the community for that to happen and there is a legislative process that has to go through, it is actually enshrined in law in order to make sure that devolution happens. But the best way for that to happen, and to happen as quickly as people want to see it happen, is that there is real confidence that people are working together well in the Executive and that the support for the police that has been given in theory is actually being delivered on the ground. So the bit that you have read out is actually the same as we had in the December 2004 agreement and it states the facts that are there in the law, but it also states something of obviously commonsense which is if you are going to devolve something as important as this it is important that there is genuine confidence in the community that it will be done properly."