Transcript of Press Conference with Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern on the Peace Process, London, (17 December 2003)

Transcript of Press Conference with Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, and Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), on the Peace Process, 10 Downing Street, London, (17 December 2003)

PRIME MINISTER: (Tony Blair)

Good afternoon everyone. Can I first of all welcome the Taoiseach here to Downing Street again and thank him once more for his renewed commitment and dedication to the process of peace in Northern Ireland which despite all the difficulties has still brought us a very long way in the past few years. There's nothing really much to say to you this afternoon other than we have spoken to the main parties. I met the DUP yesterday, we met the other principal parties this afternoon together and we are all agreed it is important we try and find a way through.

There will be a review that will begin shortly.That review I think should have a timetable. We haven't yet decided exactly what timetable it is, but we will decide that in the coming weeks and then at the beginning of the review I think it's important that we specify the timetable for it. And I think there's a general agreement that it should be a short, sharp and focussed review of the way that the institutions worked and how we overcome the present impasse and get the thing back together again, because that's what we wantAnd in the end it is worth pointing out that I think everybody in Northern Ireland wants to see devolved government back in Northern Ireland. The question is can we create the conditions in which that comes about. And it is our earnest desire and intention that it does come about and we will as ever do our very best, and work as hard as we possibly can to achieve it, and we'll be in a better position to tell you how likely it is we can be successful in that when we get the review process under way.

TAIOSEACH: (Bertie Ahern)

I would like to thank the Prime Minister for this, our last meeting of the year, for all of the engagement that we have put in through 2003 on this matter, particularly back in the Spring time and in the Autumn. And it is good I think that we are back on the agenda, to start right at the beginning of the year under review, to get devolved government back.Nobody I think is saying that they do not want to achieve that.

Obviously the means of doing it and the capabilities of everybody endeavouring to find a way through the review is going to be difficult, but the Secretary of State Paul Murphy and Minister Cowan have sent both letters out and we look forward to seeing the replies to them and then trying to work the basis of the review.I agree totally with what the Prime Minister said. Short as possible, focussed, not changing the fundamentals of the Agreement, and I think if we can get into that agenda very early in the New Year, then at least it will quickly see where the difficulties are, and if it is possible to get back to get the institutions as set out in the Good Friday Agreement up and running. Naturally we want to see that done as quickly as is possible, and in all the polls in Northern Ireland it was quite clear that the vast majority of people of every persuasion wants devolved government, so I think it is our efforts to try to and achieve that and achieve it as early in 2004 as we possibly can.

QUESTION:

Prime Minister, both the SDLP and Sinn Fein after leaving the discussions have been very critical of yourself because the British Government apparently is not publishing the Cory Report yet the Irish Government is publishing its side tomorrow.I mean is there a fall-out between the two governments here?

PRIME MINISTER: (Tony Blair)

No there isn't, there's just different processes, and because the report actually impinges on the position of certain individuals, we have to go through a process ourselves in order to make sure that we are properly legally and judicially covered and that's the only reason for the difference. We've made it clear however that the report will be published.

QUESTION:

Taoiseach, can I ask you is it still the commitment of the two governments that they will carry out public enquiries if recommended by Judge Cory as promised at Weston Park?

PRIME MINISTER: (Tony Blair)

Again, we've made it clear what our commitments are in this regard, and I think the most important thing is to ensure that we have a situation where people have absolutely every confidence that the truth has been got and brought out and that those who are responsible, if any crimes have been committed, are brought to justice.And that's why we gave the commitments at the time, and those commitments stand.

TAIOSEACH: (Bertie Ahern)

We had two reports and the Prime Minister has far more lengthy reports. There's no disagreement between the two governments.No disagreement between the Prime Minister and I in this. We make our statement tomorrow, and the Prime Minister has made it clear to me that he will deal with his reports later on, so there's absolutely no disagreement.

PRIME MINISTER: (Tony Blair)

Just to emphasise yet again to you, the reason why we are not in a position to publish the report at this present moment is that there are certain legal questions that arise and they have to be dealt with properly, otherwise what we would find is that the very thing that people want, which is that justice is done in the end, may be imperilled and it is for that reason that the delay is.

QUESTION:

Mr Blair, you've been accused in the past in terms of David Trimble of having this "Save Dave" policy. Do you think you can do business with Dr Ian Paisley?

PRIME MINISTER: (Tony Blair)

Well I think I'll do business with anyone who has got the interests of all the people of Northern Ireland at heart. And who wants to see a situation in which there is peace in Northern Ireland, devolved government, and devolved government on the basis of sharing power between the parties, between the communities, and on the basis of equality and human rights for everyone within Northern Ireland because that's what I believe in. And I think it's too early to say whether it's possible to find a way through on this yet. But I will do my level best to find a way through and the Taoiseach and I haven't put in all these years of working commitment to give up on it now. The important thing all the time is to bear in mind that there has been enormous progress, and Northern Ireland is a better place than it was 6 or 7 years ago without any shadow of a doubt at all.The relations between the British and Irish Governments have been transformed. Even these parties who have had very serious differences are parties that can still work with one another. So we will give it our best shot, as always.

QUESTION:

Did you raise with Sinn Fein that more transparent acts of completion were required from the IRA?

PRIME MINISTER: (Tony Blair)

We discussed as ever the central question which is that everybody has to be clear and know that any party that is sitting down in government abides by the rules of democracy. And the rules of democracy are there's no place for violence of any kind, or the threat of violence of any kind.And that's been clear all the way through, and what we've got to do is to make sure that we can reach a situation where there is the confidence on behalf of the Unionist community that that's going to take place.And that's the issue we come back to continually. All I would say is we are coming back to it at least at one level in terms of what is actually happening on the ground in Northern Ireland, a better context than when we first started to negotiate the Good Friday Agreement five and a half years ago.

TAIOSEACH: (Bertie Ahern)

The International Monitoring Commission legislation which has already been passed here will be completed in the Dailtomorrow and that then will finish the enactment of that whole process of the Monitoring Commission and that will take up its formal duties from the 1st of January and I think that will help everybody in this process into the future.

PRIME MINISTER: (Tony Blair)

The Taoiseach makes a very, very important point there.The International Monitoring Commission will be a very, very important way of giving confidence to everyone that if allegations are made, then they are properly investigated, and we actually know the truth of what is happening on the ground, and the International Monitoring Commission will be a very important part of this.