Transcript of Press Conference with Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, Downing Street, London, (30 January 2007)

Transcript of Press Conference with Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, and Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), following the publication of the Thirteenth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), Downing Street, London (30 January 2007)

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

"Good Evening everyone. First of all can I welcome the Taoiseach here again to Downing Street at what is obviously a very important and I hope propitious time for the future of Northern Ireland and the future of everyone on the island of Ireland.

The St Andrew's Agreement provided the basis for us to find a way of restoring the institutions of devolved government in Northern Ireland and allowed us to have a stable and democratic future for people there. The basis was very simple, that on the one side there has to be complete support for the rule of law and for proper policing; and on the other side that there was an agreement to share power.

Since then we have had the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis on Sunday, the comments by Gerry Adams yesterday, we have also had the Independent Monitoring Commission Report today which confirms that the IRA has taken a political path and is dismantling its paramilitary structures. So the combination of all these things gives us I think the right context in which elections can take place. But I think we should be very clear that there is no point in having elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly unless it is for the purpose then of having those elections and forming a power-sharing executive out of it on, or by, 26 March.

So the basis upon which these elections go ahead should be very clear - it is that on the one side there is proper support for the rule of law, and for the courts, and for the criminal justice system and the police; and on the other side a commitment to power-sharing by 26 March, and I believe that there is a tremendous yearning now for this process to reach its proper completion. It has been several years since the Executive at that time was dissolved, during that process of time the people of Northern Ireland have been without the direct voice that they wanted, and now we have the prospect over these coming weeks of managing to ensure that the Executive goes back up and we have a proper set of devolved institutions upon a basis that is sustainable, that has support amongst the people of Northern Ireland and that gives Northern Ireland the prospect, finally, of the stability and a different future that its people desire.

So you know this has obviously been a process that has taken many years to reach this point, and may I once again thank the Taoiseach for all his efforts and his complete commitment to this process over the years. This is a very important moment. But in the end the decision ultimately, as we have always recognised I think, can only be taken by the people and the political parties in Northern Ireland, but they have that chance there now. And in this election that is now going to take place I hope everybody is clear on the basis on which it is being held and the need to make sure that this is now the start of a completely different future for the people in Northern Ireland.

Taoiseach: (Bertie Ahern)

Mr Prime Minister, again thank you for your time and patience and giving so much of your time to deal with these issues. And I think this part of the process, the long part of the process which we started in January last year with the meeting in Farmleigh in Dublin, and then led to the meeting in April in Armagh where we set out our work programme for the year, and then on to the meeting here in June, and at St Andrew's in Scotland then in October, and has now brought us to this stage. And we have had a good process of meetings and contact up until today, and today we have had a good meeting and a joint statement. And that statement is really about taking the final steps of the St Andrew's process that we agreed about three months ago, and in short we have reached the end game of the time to decide, and the Ard Fheis, as the Prime Minister said, has given a clear decision of support for policing, for the rule of law, and the statements by Sinn Fein leaders yesterday about going to the police and so that they can do their job to tackle crime across the entire community, are obviously things that I am glad, and we are glad to see.

The IMC report today, it gives further clear evidence of the IRA's campaign is over for good. And for the process to work we also need the DUP to understand that just as they have had expectations about Republicans and policing, so too have Nationalists and Republicans got a legitimate and not unreasonable expectation of the DUP in relation to power-sharing.

And so the election on 7 March has one single purpose, it is to democratically elect those who will serve in a devolved Assembly and share power in the Executive that will take office as per the legislation passed in November, on 26 March. And the conduct and commitment in this election has to be the St Andrew's Agreement compliant, because that is what we have been involved in. That is the deal - support for policing, support for power sharing, and a deadline of 26 March.

And so obviously the election campaign will start and the acceptance of the St Andrew's Agreement means that we can now get on with this and we will have the election on 7 March and a power-sharing Executive up and running after 26 March, and I look forward to everyone honouring that commitment and that agreement.

Question:

I have a question for the Taoiseach, if you felt during the election campaign that power-sharing was not possible, would you call the election off?

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

Well let's hope that we don't get to that point, because I think that the St Andrew's Agreement is very clear, but there is no point in having an election unless it is an election to a body that is then going to produce the power-sharing Executive. So that is the basis upon which we are holding it and we are not going into it expecting this to fail, we are going into it expecting it to succeed. But I think it does have to be very clear, on the one side there is the support, an active support for the police, the rule of law, the courts, the Criminal Justice System; on the other side there is the power-sharing Executive. And this isn't going to change, so if we can't get it done for the election on 7 March, the power-sharing Executive on 26 March, it is not, you know it is really not going to happen. So I think and hope that everyone understands that debate as we are going into this, and that was very clearly set out in the St Andrew's Agreement.

Taoiseach: (Bertie Ahern)

I agree totally with that. And obviously you know we have always been optimists, sometimes criticised for being optimists, but we have kept the process going. And of course what we agreed in St Andrew's is exactly what the Prime Minister has said, and if that didn't work, obviously we would proceed with a new partnership arrangement, but I have always said I don't want to go down that road, we will only do that if 26 March doesn't happen. But I believe all of the issues that we have had to deal with - and remember where we were less than 2 years ago, when we had decommissioning to deal with - we had to get clear statements from the IRA that the campaign was over, and we had to get an international body of the IMC to come together to arbitrate on that, we had the Independent International Commission Decommission to give their assessment, as they have done, and we have had to deal with policing and the rule of law. It was a difficult agenda, but I think all of us collectively, and the Prime Minister has worked harder than anybody in my view on this, but we have got to the end of that agenda. And surely the parties, as I have continually said now, would welcome an election and welcome being able to do what politicians the world over want to do, which is to share power so that they can help to run and function Northern Ireland into the future.

Question:

Taoiseach and Prime Minister, you have both spoken about what Sinn Fein has done, what they did at the Ard Fheis on Sunday, what was in the IMC report. What does the DUP now have to do to illustrate that they have the commitment that you refer to to power-sharing? Do they explicitly have to come out with some form of words between now and the day people go to the polls, or do you just accept their bona fides?

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

Well I think the most important thing is that they understand, and we couldn't have been clearer today, that this is the basis we are going ahead. And you know the purpose of St Andrew's was always to say that you know there had to be a proper translation into action of the commitments that were given on policing and the rule of law, but there has also got to be the commitment to power-sharing. Now what we have said is that those two things are the twin pillars if you like of the St Andrew's Agreement, and the St Andrew's Agreement then envisaged that there was an election, and after the election there was power-sharing. So we couldn't be clearer that that is the basis we are moving forward here. And you know I think it would be absolutely pointless for us to go through the process of an election to a body that then wasn't going to produce a power-sharing Executive. The whole purpose of it is that we ensure that the institutions are then properly backed up and running. So obviously it is for people to decide what they want to say or not, but I don't think we could be any clearer about the basis upon which we are putting this to people today, and that is the basis upon which this is moving.

Question:

You have heard DUP representatives say when there is delivery from Sinn Fein we will not be found wanting. Is that sufficient between now and polling day?

Taoiseach: (Bertie Ahern)

I would like to have greater clarity, of course I would. But what the Prime Minister is saying, we intend to proceed on the basis of clear understandings and firm ground rules, and those understandings are that we believe that this election is for wanting the purpose, a democratically elected Assembly that will have power-sharing on 26 March, and if it doesn't - if it doesn't - that is over, that process is over, there will be no Executive, there will be no Assembly even though they will have only completed the election a few weeks, we will then proceed with our partnership arrangement, which is a second-best. What the politicians have the opportunity, and the rules are, St Andrew's is compliant, policing, the rule of law, the rule of justice has to be signed up to, and has to be seen to be signed up to. We have been very clear and persistent about that, and we expect a power-sharing Executive to operate. If that doesn't happen, the Assembly collapse, there will be no Executive and we continue with a new partnership arrangement, minus the political system.

Question:

Prime Minister, just to clarify, it is really for the voters rather than the parties, because no doubt the parties will be formulating their policies. But you said let's hope we don't get to this point when you were asked could the election be called off? So far as the voters are concerned, should they take this seriously, can you give a cast iron guarantee there will be an election even if you might have to you know come in with Plan B thereafter, will they definitely have an election on 7 March?

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

Look it is probably the least helpful thing is to sort of speculate on what goes wrong. But yes of course, the election is going to go ahead. Of course this is probably the most serious decision people in Northern Ireland have taken for many, many decades, because it is a major, major question. But they will want to know, the people will want to know the basis upon which they are being asked to vote. And therefore I think it is important for us, I mean we don't speak for the political parties, we speak for ourselves, it is important for us to say this is the basis upon which it is going forward. Now as I say it is probably the least helpful thing to start speculating upon whether things go wrong, but I think both political parties, when they are putting forward their programmes for the election, people will want to know where they stand, I mean are we going into a power-sharing Executive or not, is there proper support for policing or not? So I think these questions will be as it were pretty firmly determined during the course of that campaign.

Question:

Given part of the history where we had a campaign that started and then stopped, you expect this one to go the whole way, but obviously you will have judgments to make thereafter - yes?

Prime Minister: (Tony Blair)

Well we have judgments to make all the time frankly, but the only basis on which it is sensible to have an election is if you are electing to something, because I think one thing that has been very difficult over the past few years is having the Assembly in existence in a sense where there is nothing, there is no product out of it. Now there is no point in going forward with this election unless we are going to have an Assembly that is going to be functioning with an Executive alongside it. Now that is the purpose of it. You know as I say it is, I think both of us have got sufficient experience from dealing with this over the years to know that it is not a great idea to speculate what happens if something goes wrong, but I don't think we could have been clearer, the two of us, tonight, the only basis upon which it is sensible for this to go forward.

Taoiseach: (Bertie Ahern)

Just to be very simple about this, is that the people in Northern Ireland, as the Prime Minister said, they are voting for an Assembly that is going to elect a democratically power-sharing Executive. If that doesn't happen, 19 days after the election the entire thing collapses.

Question:

Is there responsibility on the British government and on the DUP to step up to the mark, and are you satisfied from what you have heard today from Mr Blair that those sort of things won't happen?

Taoiseach: (Bertie Ahern)

The Prime Minister is absolutely convinced that the DUP will live up to their responsibilities, and I said all the time the policing issue has to be dealt with, and be seen to be dealt with, and I hope we will see that. From here, I think from the remarks that were made yesterday from Sinn Fein leaders and Gerry Adams in particular were clear. On the other side of that, with the DUP, they will have to share power, and the Prime Minister believes that that will be the position and I accept that. If it is not the only issue between us is then that on the 26th, if it doesn't happen, we move on to the new partnership arrangement, and we both agree on that.

Question:

Are you not quite as convinced as the Prime Minister?

Taoiseach: Bertie Ahern

I am convinced. I haven't had as many meetings with Dr Paisley as the Prime Minister, and that is the way we have operated in this, and the Prime Minister is convinced that we will see a power-sharing Executive up on 26 March. I accept that."